[doganjo]

I am so so glad I moved two years ago. Although I had a little damage up here, my old house fence and garden and my neighbours' have been devastated.  There were a number of 50 foot high Leylands both side of both properties. About 30 of them came down, blocking the shared driveway, and doors; and there are another 30 that will have to be dealt with, barely standing.

Why anyone would want to plant Leylands now is beyond me, they can't even use them in their log burners for at least a couple of years becasue of teh resin and moisture content

I took these photos when I went down on my Santa run with their cards and gifts, I was stunned at the damage!

[Fleecewife]

Same as Fir trees, leylands are very shallow rooted and those look very top heavy.  Awful damage.


When we moved here there was a row of leylands (4 trees, big and bushy) along the roadside.  In the first gale they blew down onto the road.  We removed 3 of them and kept the last, which we winched back into position. All these years later it has regrown its roots and survived many storms.


It's often said that leylands are of no use to wild birds, and I used to believe that.  However, that one remaining tree is quite close outside my dining room window so I get to watch what goes on in it every day. It's the only place I've seen Gold Crests, it's always full of various tits foraging for spiders. Blackbirds, collared doves, thrush, chaffinch, robin, wood pigeon have all nested in there and their chicks have fledged.  In the winter lots of birds roost there, also when it's windy.  In years when they produce a huge crop of their tiny little cones, they are a beautiful red which glows in the sun.
So leylands have gone from being my least favourite tree after blackthorn, to being one of my favourites.
If only people would keep them under control so they stay below about 20 feet 

[sabrina]

We have lost most of our Willow tree that we planted 20 years ago.Neighbour is going to cut them and have the wood.

[doganjo]

Same as Fir trees, leylands are very shallow rooted and those look very top heavy.  Awful damage.

If only people would keep them under control so they stay below about 20 feet 

Yes they are very shallow rooted, Juliet, and I had the 13 nearest the house chopped to about 15 feet for safety about 2 years before I moved, after having a middle of the night scare when one dropped 3 feet from my bedroom window parallel to the house.
The problem with chopping them in height is they look dreadful - no longer [pointed, more squared off at the top

[Glencairn]

We had an old Kilmarnock willow that I'm guessing had been there for decades brought down too, sad to see because that definitely housed birds, but we have a little one to replace it.

[Fleecewife]

Same as Fir trees, leylands are very shallow rooted and those look very top heavy.  Awful damage.

If only people would keep them under control so they stay below about 20 feet 

Yes they are very shallow rooted, Juliet, and I had the 13 nearest the house chopped to about 15 feet for safety about 2 years before I moved, after having a middle of the night scare when one dropped 3 feet from my bedroom window parallel to the house.
The problem with chopping them in height is they look dreadful - no longer [pointed, more squared off at the top

They do eventually grow back but I agree they look pretty awful for ages.  With other species side branches reposition themselves to replace the top shaping but somehow Leylandii take much longer to work that one out. I think it's probably better if owners start shaping them soon after planting, and keep them trimmed from young.  There are so many lovely hedging plants but because leylandii are so quick growing they were often chosen in the 70's and 80s - now we suffer the consequences.

[Rupert the bear]

A slight drift, after hearing that the compensation cheques had all be dispatched before Christmas, I emailed SSE asking if mine has been sent, a reply two days later,they were investigating  as they didnt have any record of my meter !
I wonder how they have managed to bill be for the last 32 years.
Having finnished assesing the damage , I will never complete the clean up in my life time, just a matter of prioritising the fallen trees on a safety basis.

[Penninehillbilly]

We planted Leylandii as a windbreak, it's great if kept to a reasonable height, but I'll need some scaffolding as it's been missed for  a couple of years, but the fruit area it shelters is a real suntrap.
And lots of birds nest in it.
Down at the far corner of our fields, out of our sight and rented out, at Christmas we heard there was a problem. The farm track on the bottom side has a row of old (200yr+) beech trees on the other (north) side, one had come down in the storm and pulled the next one down, the top half of the trees landed in our field, they had cleared the lane for access, but boy, is our field/wall/fence a mess! Don't know where to start clearing, supposed owner of land is denying ownership and responsibility .

[Fleecewife]

Do you have access to a tree surgeon PHB?  They will have chainsaws which are up to the job and the safety equipment needed.  You will end up with a big wodge of excellent logs from the beeches, not from the Leylands. Once the trees are cleared, do the fence next if it's to keep livestock in/out, then tackle the bigger job of the wall at your leisure.  A huge job divided up into doable chunks soon gets it done.


We are so lucky that our fences were not damaged in the storm, just a few trees down and our equipment is enough to deal with those. Our tups cause far more damage to fences than that storm did.

[Penninehillbilly]

They must have had some heavy lifting gear and big chainsaws to clear the lane (private lane serving various farms), I think most of the trunks have been left alongside the lane. Stuff in the field are some fairly heavy looking branches and all the rubbishy stuff from the tops. We'll get there, as you say FW, bit by bit. We 'loaned' the field out indefinitely for a community orchard, some apple trees and a plum were damaged, just as they are getting old enough to fruit.  . Hoping they will help/deal with fencing etc.

[Fleecewife]

Oh definitely get the community to help PHB - it's a perfect job for many hands, and beats paying for a course to learn how to co-operate and get along together.  Present it as a Green Gym opportunity to burn off all that winter flab