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Cutting a conifer in winter

Triple JTriple J Posts: 6
in Plants

Hello all. 

I have a problem with a neighbour's conifer tree which is overhanging into my garden. She is fine about me sawing off a few of the branches on my side but I have heard that doing so in winter can kill it off completely. 

Could somebody please advise if it is OK to do this in winter? 

Thanks.

 

John

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Posts

  • Triple JTriple J Posts: 6

    Hello Pansyface. I will get a photo in the morning. 

    Thanks

  • Triple JTriple J Posts: 6

    image

     

    Thank you Mike. 

    Yes, I can imagine there are a few myths (and general ignorance, as in my case as I am not green-fingered). 

    Some problems attaching a photo so I hope this appears OK. 

    The need to cut a few branches is fairly urgent. At least, if I wait for a warmer spell of weather I guess I will be doing the right thing. I understand the ice/bleeding/healing analogy. 

    Thank you very much and, hopefully, the photo will add something useful. 

    John

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    Hi John,

    It is actually the right time to prune conifers . If you prune them in spring and summer they will bleed unsightly sap. It is now when the sap is no longer rising that you can chop bits off a conifer. More information here:

    http://www.fourseasonsgarden.co.uk/www.fourseasonsgarden.co.uk/Pruning_conifers.html

    Doing the same job in our front garden a bit at time. I have a deep rooted hatred for conifers lol.

     

  • Triple JTriple J Posts: 6

    Well thank you very much for that Gemma. 

    My wife is the gardener in this household. I appreciate the garden and everything in it, but it is my wife who looks after it. She wasn't sure about conifers and wasn't sure if the whole tree would die if it was cut in winter. This is all very good information. 

    I will still wait until the current frosts have gone away, however long that takes. 

    By the way, I am one of those who LOVES conifers. Some people hate them. My wife is not a fan and would probably hope that the neighbour's conifer DID die off, but she's not so malicious as to do anything deliberate. At our previous address, our neighbours DID kill off our conifers and made it very obvious. 

    Thanks again.

    John

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Taking branches out completely will do no harm and as Gemma says - this is the time to do it. Trimming the green parts back into old brown wood is what does damage. If you wanted to 'trim' a conifer to maintain it's shape, you wouldn't cut farther back than that year's growth, and you would do that during summer/early autumn, which is not what you'd be doing John. image

    Unfortunately a tree that size pushes against (and often breaks) fences, which seems to be the problem you have there. I'd take as many branches off as you can - right back to the main trunk. I've been doing the same thing here with a mature conifer at the rear of my shed.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114
    That conifer is seriously in the wrong place. It is far, far too near to the wall. Try and persuade your neighbours to remove it completely. Suggest to them that if the tree damages the wall they will have to bear the cost of reinstating it.



    It will look ugly on your side if you cut it back. If it is Leylandii it will not grow from brown wood in the future. But needs must.
  • BamboogieBamboogie Posts: 239

    Hi Triple J, welcome to the forum.

    unfortunately Mike has a habit of writing rambling posts of irrelevant information, freezing water in pipes???! Anyone that has pruned a conifer, would tell you it's resin that bleeds out and this only freezes below -50 Celsius, hence conifers living in some of the coldest environments on the planet.

    Your neighbour has leylandii that has got out of control, you are allowed to trim off branches that are over your side as long as you give them back to your neighbour. Cutting back beyond the green growth, into the brown wood of leylandii will cut that branch, so unless you plan to remove all the green growth, it will survive.

  • BamboogieBamboogie Posts: 239

    *kill that branch

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Have to agree with most here, Conifer is not Mikes speciality, but the others are correct. I would take that thing right out to the ground, it wont grow back, but its going to have that sectional garage down soon.if you saw the branches off on your side, it will look awful because it wont recover and you will be looking at bare wood.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I'd agree with that Lyn but it's not too bonny at the moment with all that plywood anyway! Perhaps John adn his wife could plant some shrubs in front of the fence in the meantime and then gradually 'persuade' the neighbour that it would be better taken out. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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