Blazing Leylandi Hedges
adamgardener
Posts: 1
I was clled out of my house by an frantic neighbour carrying a young child and shoting fire as she pointed towards my carefully groom 8ft Lelandi Hedge. I couldn't believe my own eyes - smoke billowing up and 2ft hiigh flames shooting skywards.
I watched horrified as a 70 ft section of my hedge was swiftly gobbled up. A neighbour tried to contain the fire with a foam fire extinginguisher. It was only put out by the firemen who were on the scene within 10 minutes. No one knows how the fire started. Could the sun cause that on a winter's day? There was no evidence of arson. The hedge is facing the roadside. So, what do I do? There had been some evidence of Aphid disease, two summers ago, but the brown patches were few and not extensive. Is this type of incident common? Will the 8ft. bare leylandi trees grow back if fertilised well? How much would they cost to replace? Is it wise to replace if the same thing could happen again. Maybe this is a natural event or maybe due to a carelessly thrown lighted cigarette. Should I give the trees a chance to recover before taking drastic and expensive measures. Should I replace with a a decorative evergreen hedge ?If so what? I'd appreciate hearing some views from those wiser than myself.
Posts
Leylandii hedges do burn quickly once they're alight. They're dense so the leaf-litter on the ground beneath them is dry as is the centre of the hedge which is brown and dry and the growth is resinous which ignites and flares up quickly. There have been several reports of leylandii hedges burning away in minutes in our local press over the years.
I'm afraid that the hedge will not grow again - Leylandii does not produce new shoots from old wood.
Leylandii are very greedy plants and will have impoverished the ground around them, so before planting a new hedge you will need to dig lots of organic matter into the soil. Well rotted farmyard manure would be great.
There are so many options regarding a replacement hedge - I love a holly hedge - if you want something clipped and formal there's yew or beech, and Eleagnus x ebbingei also makes a fine hedge. Or is the site suitable for a mixed hedge of native plants which would attract a lot of wildlife?
I'm sure you'll gets lots more suggestions ............
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Sounds like a carelessly dropped cigarette or match to me. As Dove says you'll need to clear the remains, getting out as much stump as possible, and improve the soil a lot with plenty of well rotted garden or bought in compost and some well rotted manure if you can get it.
If you want to stay evergreen I would plant yew which does regrow form the wood if ever you need to prune it hard. Holly will look good and also provide food and shelter for birds and insects but is very slow growing. Escallonia is another possibility - grows faster than holly, has attractive, small leaves which lend themsleves to being clipped and flowers and berries for wildlife.
A mixed hedge with some hawthorn in it would extend the wildlife habitat but be bare in winter. Hawthorn does grow very quickly and pruning the tops will help it thicken out quickly. It's also cheap and can be planted close in single or two staggered rows depending on how much space you have at the base.
If this has left you with a fear of hedges catching fire, avoid other coniferous hedges [ I don't include Yew in that group] and holly as it is possible, though very unlikely, for them to burn if set alight.
I'm assuming the OP is in the UK. There is absolutely no way a hedge would combust at this time of year without 'assistance'. I would actually be very surprised if a discarded cigarette would start it off either, given the amount of rain we've had.
I accept that once started it would spread quickly, but I would suspect very strongly that the fire was started deliberately.
adamgardener, I was told years ago at a fire marshall training that fire extinguishers are there to help you get out, not to stop the fire, so small wonder that didn't help.