Leyland Cypress

Leyland Cypress Tree Care, Pruning & Disease Prevention

The Leyland Cypress tree is a stately, pyramid-shaped evergreen. It has a rapid growth rate (3 feet or more per year) and dense structure, making it ideal for use in privacy screens, windbreaks and hedges, and is used for Christmas tree production in some parts of the country. A single Leyland Cypress tree is also an impressive addition to the landscape. It has feathery, soft pointed needles arranged in flat sprays on long thin branches. Needles retain their rich color year round, starting out green in youth and turning a dark bluish-green hue as they mature. The tree's needles release a pleasant fragrance when broken.

Leland Cypress trees should be grown in full sun to light shade and tolerate most soil types. They are deer resistant and drought and salt tolerant making them easy to grow in many areas.

Size of Tree:     60-75 feet tall / 10-20 foot spread.

Leyland Cypress Tree Care

Prune your Leyland Cypress tree when young to encourage stronger growth and to minimize snow and ice damage. Regular fertilization, watering and pruning helps keep trees healthy and better able to tolerate stress and insect and disease conditions.

Mature and established Leyland Cypress trees benefit from fertilizer feedings of organic-based macro and micronutrients for the nutrition necessary to sustain their health.

Leyland Cypress Tree Pruning

The Leyland Cypress tree is a fast growing tree that can outgrow a small surrounding and shape if not pruned. Pruning is recommended to preserve or improve tree structure, vigor and life-span. Pruning can also reduce specific defects or structural problems in a tree to greatly lessen the risk of failure.

Broken, diseased, or dead branches are typically removed in order to prevent decay-producing fungi from infecting the wood in other areas of the tree. Also, removal of live branches is occasionally necessary to allow increased exposure to sunlight and circulation of air within the canopy. This assists in reduction of certain diseases. We also advocate the removal of branch stubs to promote successful and proper healing over of wounds.