tree advice for paddock please

[NeverSayNever]

we recently lost a large hedge which provided privacy and shelter.It wasnt planted on our side of the boundary and was taken down. It was a leylandi hedge which i know isnt good for horses but my lot never bothered with it.

Im keen to plant something as a replacement on our side but am not sure what would be best?

Any recommendations for trees that will be fast growing ,provide privacy and shelter that are safe for horses? Could I go with leylandi again or is it not worth the risk? Someone suggested willow to me but surely the horses will just eat them anyway.

 

[Enfys]

Willow, slow growing and yes, horses will enjoy eating it. Mine do

Conifers are the only thing that provide year round foliage with windbreak/privacy qualities. What you choose will depend on your soil type. Most are not detrimental to horses and they rarely bother with them anyway, my mare herd live in a forested paddock they strip the poplars and ash (saves my fence posts so I don't mind) and keep the willow and dogwood at browsing height etc, the conifers - white pine, scotch pines (useless for anything those) hemlock, spruce and a bunch of others are never touched but fully utilised for shelter.

Bite the bullet and buy 7' plants and plant them at 6' intervals if you really want them to act as a windbreak, further apart if you just want them to look pretty
If I was planting for windbreaks I'd go with the fast growing leylandii and just resign myself to having to keep them trimmed.

 

[canteron]

Willows are fast growing but the horses do love them - you can also get them with red or orange bark which looks lovely in Winter!

I think I would do an old fashioned hedge with a bit of everything, including Willow, Hawthorn, Holly, Hazelnut. Then put a fence far enough away so the horses can do the pruning for you without eating the whole hedge. I have a sneaking suspicion that the horses get good things from the hedge that they can't find in grass.

The holly will add a bit of all round cover and the hawthorn & holly will help to make it more stockproof. Just don't put blackthorn in - it looks lovely in spring with beautiful white blossom, but spreads and also has those long pointed prickles that can puncture the horses feet.

I would also wind a bit of wild rose and honeysuckle through it - why not while you are at it!!

It will take 3/4 years to establish.

 

[NeverSayNever]

perfect, thank you guys. I think I may just go with leylandi again then.

 

[Enfys]

Willows are fast growing

You must have speedy ones then, my trees are very slow, the 'bushes/shrubs' whatever you like to call them, on the other hand grow a lot a year, well, they would, if the horses didn't prune them!

 

[canteron]

You must have speedy ones then, my trees are very slow, the 'bushes/shrubs' whatever you like to call them, on the other hand grow a lot a year, well, they would, if the horses didn't prune them!

Yep, I keep the hedge at about 6ft but they grow so quickly I have to chop off about 8ft at the end of the summer!!! Thye are around the tennis court and really annoying as if you don't keep them pruned they turn into trees really quickly and put down huge shallow roots that would disturb the court surface.

They took about 3 years to establish and then vroom!!

 

[Fii]

Can you still buy leylandi trees i thought they had been banned from sale now (i may well be wrong though!)

 

[Cahill]

my OH cuts willow sticks (crack willow,i think) for his runner beans to grow up,they always root and we transplnt them the next year .last years are about 12 foot tal or more.
free plants

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Can you still buy leylandi trees i thought they had been banned from sale now (i may well be wrong though!)

You can still buy leylandii, the only new thing is that if they grow too high and are a pest councils have new powers to make you cut them back.

Nothing wrong with leylandii in the right place.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Hawthorn?? Most of the hedges round my way are hawthorns

 

[cheeryplatypus]

Leyandii are very toxic. I know someone who lost their filly to leyandii poisoning after the Christmas storms blew one down, into their field.
There must be a better alternative? It's such waste of a youngster

 

[Rob Lakeside]

Trying to put leyland back after an estabished hedge is that the ground needs time to recover and all the old roots may still be inplace so rest the land for 6 months.
Feed well with well rotted muck and lime the ground to counter the high acidity from conifers.

My surggestion.

Hormbeam hedge or phyllostachis aurea clump forming bamboo

 

[coss]

i'd go for willows too - they look pretty all year round especially the orange ones! Wouldn't go with holly - its poisonous as is hemlock.
poisonous plants