What would you do with this tree?

[tedsletterofthelaw]

Been in our house for five years now and we have a lovely mature SE facing garden. There is a large coniferous tree at the bottom which provides great privacy from some low rise flats behind us.

The tree has grown a fair bit since we moved in and now a portion of the garden is shaded for almost all of the day as the sun moves across as the tree is so large and blocks it.

I really don't want to cut it down as we'd be directly overlooked by the flats then (plus I like it).

I know nothing of tree surgery, is there anything that can be done to maybe trim it/shorten it to give us that light back without compromising on privacy or ruining the tree?

(Please excuse my laundry )

It’s lovely, I’d leave it alone. You can’t chop the top off a tree without ruining the natural shape and encouraging untidy looking suckers to sprout up from the cuts.

Lovely garden, it looks nice and private!

I’m following this with interest as we’ve just bought a plot of land (part of a large garden) to build on and have 3 similar trees which we’ll probably have to cut down as they take up so much space. They were originally planted to block people nosying into the garden but are now way too big!

Conifers don’t respond well to chopping or lopping.

You could take it out and plant something airier that would filter the light and still provide some privacy. But it’ll take a while to reach a decent size.

I think you can get tree growth regulators / retardants that are maybe injected into the root area and could help limit growth whilst retaining the tree at around it's current size? I'm not 100% on this but maybe worth investigating.

Our neighbour had two conifers which had grown massively. They had two quotes for work 1st one said to cut both down as nothing else can be done but the 2nd guy recommended taking one tree out and thinning the other one.

They went with the 2nd guy and he really knew his job as the retained tree looks really lovely.

I suggest you get a tree surgeon out to advise.

Yes, it’s called crowning it, a tree surgeon will do it for you. They take the height down and it’s actually good for the trees. We’ve had several done like that.

DH is a tree surgeon of 40 years.
Your only option is to remove the growth leader at the top and reduce the whole tree to retain the same shape but smaller.

This would then need to be repeated yearly as if it were a giant hedge/topiary.

It's not that easy to do well.

It won't sucker from the bottom and if you allow anyone to cut beyond the green growth it will not regenerate.

Sorry just managed to get back to this thread.

Thanks all. I will look into the growth retardant as I really don't want to cut it but if it grown any bigger we are going to lose a lot of sunlight.

@Bluntness100

Yes, it’s called crowning it, a tree surgeon will do it for you. They take the height down and it’s actually good for the trees. We’ve had several done like that.

crowning is different ot thinning.

It is hard to crown a conifer to do with the way they grow. Once you crown it, you have completly lost the shape.

But you could definitely thin it. You could also raise the bottom, so take off some of the lower branches, allowing some light through but still providing screen.

I would also want to know what its final szie will be, conifers can be enormous.

This is useful.

www.trees.org.uk/Help-Advice/Public/A-brief-guide-to-tree-work-terminology-and-definit

Crowning a conifer would be difficult to do.

Our neighbours got someone to lop off the tops of their awful leylandii hedge and it looks just dreadful. But hedge wars are going on so they won't take it out.

Get a couple of opinionsquotes from local companies. A GOOD tree surgeon will be able to deal with it, so you can keep it but also lose some height & thickness. Don't get it removed.

There's a world of difference in skill level. So be careful why you get to do it.

It's the classic conifer struggle - they are often planted to give good thick quick screening, and there is a period of about 4 years when they are just the right height and spread to do that. But they will carry on growing - Lelyandii can grow to 40ft - and they respond very badly to any kind of cutting back. They don't regrow if you cut back into the wood, and if you top them they just end up a really weird shape.

So basically there is no easy answer, as you have seen above.

crowning is different ot thinning

Yes, sorry you’re right, we have had the tops cut off some and the lower limbs cut off others and I confused myself,,