Moving a Leyland Cypress??

I bought my home a year ago and the former owners planted nine cypresses in a row very close together. They are at the corner of the acre lot and right next to a huge elm and the street. They are approx. 10 ft tall now and look really strange all crowded together . Is it better to try to move them or just cut them down and start over? If they can be saved, when is the right time to move them? Thanks for any advice.

They're pretty narrow trees so they can be crowded quite a bit more than many trees could, Plant Files lists spacing as 6-10 ft so if they're at least that far apart then you could consider leaving them. The only way I could see transplanting working well is if their roots haven't spread out to the point where their rootballs are all overlapping--once the roots spread out and all overlap with each other then it becomes very difficult to dig up a large enough rootball for the one you're moving without doing a ton of damage to the roots of the plants you're leaving there. But if you dig down a little bit in an area halfway between the trees and you're not running into a bunch of roots then maybe the roots haven't spread that much yet and then transplanting would still be an option (if you are able to transplant, I'd wait until cooler weather to do it)

Thanks ecrane, I was concerned about damaging the roots since they are so close together. Sounds like I'm going to have to try to incorporate them into the landscape plan, once I get one lol.

Actually, leylands get 60-70 feet tall in time and 12-20 feet wide. They can grow 3-4 feet a lear. It's a great plant for screenning but too many and they will crowd each other out. When the weather gets cooler transplant the babies. The process is easy, dig down about 2-3 ft if possible then cut over to make sure you don't cut through the roots. PLant them no lower than where they are now, at the soil level, and make sure you water it through out the winter

Thanks! I'm going to give moving a few of them a try once it's cooler.

Leyland Cypress are hardly what one would call "narrow" trees. Kitten is right about their width and height.

I think it was Resin who posted a picture of them and the size of their trunks in another thread somewhere.

Those things get enormous and they're also highly subject to a canker fungus in areas with warm summers.

These are one of those plants that people plant way too close together for a quick screening effect, but down the road they become a tangled, shaded out, floppy mess if not given regular maintenance to control them.

Someone should probably send in a correction to Plant Files then--that's where I got the info I posted on the spacing.

You might try to "thin" them by moving every second one, that way if they don't move well, you still have accomplished what you wanted with the ones that remain.

Not ALL the information listed in the PlantFiles is "gospel" (so to speak). It may be a huge collection of information but that doesn't mean there are no errors.

To rule out the success of a certain plant, or to assume it won't grow in a zone listed therein is erroneous thinking, given that there are no specific dividing lines between zones which are tangible, drawn out, and obvious.
Microclimates exist in every zone.

Constantly quoting from the PlantFiles can confuse people, as it's not the be all and end all source of 100% accurate information, nor was it intended to be, and never claimed to be such.

Parroting back information without actual experience can be misleading.

jasper you state the gospel. If you work in the industry you know first hand that what a book may say is not the whole truth. I come across plants all the time that shouldn't have problems but do and others say a certain height and width in plants that turns out to be wrong, Example, I have 4 ottos that should be 3X5, mine after 8 years are5x15.They are huge, not explain that. Everything has an average but you have to have that hands on to really know whats what.

BINGO !
(What are "otto's" ? )

otto luyken laurels. Books state 3X5, i've seen loads that are bigger than that. Youca keep them to that but i don't have the want or desire or time to prune. I'd rather buy something that is in the range of what I need.