To lop or Stump Conifers

[crimsonlake]

I am hoping someone can advise regarding a decision I am struggling to make over my two tall conifers at the bottom of my garden which I inherited with the house a few years ago.

Do I lop them to gutter level or shed level or take them down to stump? I am not sure of the condition of the fence behind them or who owns it, but from what I can tell they do not appear to be falling down in any way. I have also noticed that there is a degree of browning at lower levels

Additionally I do not enjoy looking at a plain fence and enjoy lots of greenery, even ivy covering wooden fences.

Lopping them significantly or taking them down to stump would mean I become overlooked in the garden, so in some ways they are useful to provide a level of privacy. If I replaced them with something else it would take a few years to provide any decent levels of privacy.
I am aware conifers grow quickly, so basically I want to avoid as a single income house hold having to factor in the extra cost of continually having them reduced.
So to significantly lob or should I go right down to stump? Work booked in for next weekend and need to make my decision before then .
Any thoughts gratefully received.

What do you actually want to have there?

They look too big to me to be turned into a hedge, which is what you would be trying to get I presume if you lopped to shed height. I think you would see a lot of dead stuff on top and it would look pretty bad.

If it were me, I would bite the bullet and remove them altogether, and replace with something more suitable. A couple of deciduous trees would screen the back, even with the leaves off, as it would baffle the view. Yes, it would take a few years.

If you can't bear the loss of privacy, and your garden is long enough (can't tell from the photo), you could plant a couple of trees in front and wait until they get established before cutting down the conifers. They will take longer to get established, though, as they will have competition from the conifer roots.

Our neighbour had a huge conifer hedge at the end of the garden. When new neighbours moved in (a year ago) they had it lopped to about 6ft. The top - i.e. old wood - has never regrown so it is ugly, bare and brown. They didn't cut the sides so much so they are still green. But it means that the hedge is about as wide as it is high!
I'd go for it. Down to stump. It will be painful for a while but in a few years you will thank yourself. Think how much nutrient and moisture those trees are sucking from your garden.
Do a quick, temporary fix with trellis and fast-growing climbers (eg sweet peas, jasmine, clematis, etc) for privacy while you wait for your long-term plans to come to fruition.

I think you would see a lot of dead stuff on top and it would look pretty bad.
x-post!

They look awful. Get them cut down, ask for the stumps to be done with a stump grinder. You could have a fence with some lovely climbers or some attractive shrubs that you can maintain yourself.

Thank you CatherinedeBourgh and Senua , something so simple but a difficult decision to come to.
Last night I made the decision to reduce to stump, this morning I keep looking out of the window and changing my mind back and to.
The ground in front of the trees is very dry, so as a result part of the lawn does not look good. However reducing just to stump may not alleviate the dryness issue I suspect.
I downsized here a few years ago following a divorce. In my previous property the garden was huge and dominated by a lot of tall trees which were not a concern because of the size of the garden.
Planting trees in front would not be workable as although the garden is not exactly tiny it is small.
The ground directly beneath the trees
Not sure how long I will live here, possibly up too a few more years or possibly for much longer.

We've just removed two conifers. Cutting the foliage off was the easy bit. Dealing with the roots was something else. Get someone to do it and take them down as low as you can otherwise you'll always be stumped for what you can plant there.

I would and did get rid. You will lose some privacy but when I did similar and planted a quick growing clematis on a trellis, I gained colour and light and my garden suddenly felt massive.

Get the stumps ground down to under ground level.

The firm who are doing the work should have discussed this with you. We ve just had several trees stooled, thinned or felled, the tree surgeon discussed each one with us and gave us very clear advice on what the outcome of each option would be.

if they are leylandii , they will not regrow attractively, so probably better just cut down. We’ve had one cut down to about two foot and I have painted it, there is a large planter on top of it.Looks quite nice.

I've just done this and reduced to stump. Absolutely no regrets. It's totally changed our garden and the light in the house.

Thanks all.
Having just had a battle between branches to double check the fence panels behind the trees...Condition is okay apart from the one belonging to another neighbour. This seems to be basically much shorter, propped up and angled to meet the adjoining panel. Basically it looks like a piece of board which would not be at all nice to look at.

If your budget allows, you could buy a bigger specimen of a slower growing shrub to put in front of the less good fence panel.

If not, you could always put another panel/some trelliss in front of it.

Conifers like that will not regrow if you cut them back too much - you have to leave at least some green on the branches. If you cut back to stumps you will be killing them, and pruning too hard and leaving any cut branches without any foliage on them will cause that branch to die back as well.

So if you are going to have work done on them instead of removing altogether, then make sure you use a proper tree surgeon (with qualifications in arboriculture who really knows what they are doing), and not just an bloke with a chainsaw licence.

Basically it looks like a piece of board which would not be at all nice to look at.

Better than that shrubbery! If you can afford it, you can put trellis across the lot. 2mx1m ish will cost around £40 per panel (not inc labour costs).

we felled a row of massive Conifer s to stumps, and I was amazed how quickly all kinds of young trees sprang up. I think the seeds had been dropped by birds roosting in the conifers - they were just wait ing for their day in the sun (and rain!) I soon had a lovely self-planted shrubbery!

Thanks for all the comments
ValerieDonican, I like the sound of that and in fact pushing my way between the branches I can see that has already happened. Some are quite tall amongst the conifers so I imagine I will lose them during the work.
I had planted a laurel to the left of the conifers a few years ago when I moved in to fill a gap which has filled out nicely. Unfortunately I guess it is in the wrong place to make a difference if the two trees go.
The firm have now readily agreed to wait until the day so we can discuss beforehand. Still a decision will need to be made.

Don't despair. Cutting the conifers to stumps will stop them regrowing, not so Hawthorn, Hazel, elder etc, if that's what's growing underneath . If the tree surgeons do chop them, they might well grow back next spring

I would take them out completely without any compunction at all. They are not native and generally are not useful to wildlife. They do provide shelter and privacy for you, but that's all - and other trees and shrubs could do the same job without being a massive water drain on the area.

I'm not a fan because my neighbour has one on the boundary of our gardens, it has created a rain shadow where nothing grows underneath, hangs about six feet over my garden and blocks sun to a lot of my garden most of the morning (not theirs though, as their garden is easily twice the width of mine ).

You can easily spruce up the fence panels or grow evergreen climbers along them to disguise tattiness, that's a very minor problem really. Be aware that plants which have seeded themselves are more likely to be pain in the butt plants (like ash saplings) than treasures, and clearing the space to start with a fresh slate is easier in the long run.

We chopped ours down to eaves level. They were very quickly back up to 4 storeys. If you want to keep them, I’d suggest cutting the main stem to 2m. They’ll look strange and square topped but may develop upward branches. If they dont, and you hate it, you can then cut them to ground level. If you go to ground level first, you can’t change your mind.

I took mine down to 6' - but basically they're just poles now (very close planted) - they don't re-grow like normal trees. It does look fairly terrible, but I've let Ivy grow up as a kind of half-hearted hedge-type thing while I figure out what I actually want there.

Along the side I took them down to stumps, and I kinda regret not doing that at the back.

I will say the difference in light into the house was dramatic - before it was a dark little gingerbread cottage, now I can actually see stuff without the lights on in the kitchen!

Thank you all for your suggestions.
I bit the bullet and had them chopped down to stump and whilst I will miss the privacy I am sure financially it was the best decision in the long run.
The garden is a lot lighter, although the trees never affected the light in the house.
I will have to get used to seeing the houses across the way but once the weather turns and we have much darker nights earlier it will cease to bother me so much.
I think I will look to plant a few fast growing laurels in that position. I planted one in the same corner when I moved in a few years ago and it has done well, but unrealistically I want the coverage right now.
Looking up how to grow laurel from cuttings and it looks easy, but the wait would be too long for me.
I have attached the 'after' picture, in reality things look better than that.
Thanks again

I would plant a deciduous tree, like a himalayan birch, or a few silver birches. They will very quickly fill the space without making the garden feel dark, and even with the leaves off will baffle the view enough to give you privacy.

I agree with Catherine. Laurels are pretty ugly IMO - and also useless for wildlife. If you are keen on an evergreen hedge, holly is surprisingly fast growing and when it is in the open (like the end of your garden) and trimmed regularly, will make a nice dense hedge that is easy to shape how you want. . There are other evergreen hedges too that I think are nicer - maybe have a mooch round a garden centre and ask the staff there to show you some examples.

Thank you both, I will consider those options.

@crimsonlake wow it looks loads better already without them! I have a huge conifer in my garden that needs cutting right down. If you do t mind me asking, how much does it cost to have it cut to stump? Thanks 😊

First quote by a company who were supposedly ' reasonable' was £1k to top, £1400 to take down to stump.
The firm I went with charged £800 to take down to stump. I went with these because apart from price they had done similar work for a family member, so were recommended.