Leyland Cypress Sunlight Requirements

Thuja Green Giant and Leyland Cypress trees will tolerate partial shade. We want to discuss top canopy, shade on one side, the impact of how being south versus north can affect a shady planting site. We’ll also cover the symptoms of too much shade, pruning canopy shade trees, and also recommend a good substitute for privacy screens in shady spots.

A straight shade canopy is not the best situation for Thuja Green Giant or Leyland Cypress trees. The least desirable situation is an evergreen or pine top canopy, because trees under an evergreen canopy don’t even get sunlight during winter. If that’s your application, don’t plant there! Sometimes it can’t be helped. For example, on Long Island and the Hamptons area, some neighborhoods have rules about what can be cut down and are very strict about cutting down native trees to replace them with something not native to the area. Even so, I do not recommend planting Leyland Cypress or Thuja Green Giant trees under a canopy. I have planted these varieties under a canopy that was very high and yet the shade affected the trees.

Northern locations are more shade tolerant than southern locations if they come from deciduous trees! If the shade trees are deciduous trees, at least after those canopy trees lose their leaves, the giant green Thuja trees will receive full sun throughout the winter. This is more beneficial from New York and north than in the southern states, because they moult about five weeks earlier in the fall than southern trees and do not green up until a month later than southern deciduous trees. On Long Island, Thuja Green Giant or Leyland Cypress trees planted under a partial canopy of scrub oaks can receive full sun for seven winter months before leaf reappearance, while similarly situated southern states can only provide five months of full sun. Shade on one side of your row is usually fine, because your Leyland cypress trees will still get powerful direct sunlight overhead. Thuja Green Giant or Leyland Cypress trees can grow three feet per year if properly fertilized, so remember that if one side of your row is shaded by slower-growing species, the Thuja Green Giants or Leyland Cypress will outgrow the taller trees. slow to shade in most cases and therefore eliminate the problem.

There are two main symptoms of too much shade;

The first is that the trees thin out. In the first planting, if the trees grown in the field of balls and burlaps, they will be thick at first. Over the years, shady apps will take their toll and dwindle a bit. The second symptom of too much shade is slow growth rate.

Providing light by pruning offending shade trees is a great idea. If you cut back the branches of an evergreen tree that shades your Leyland cypress row, those branches won’t grow back, so it should be a one-time effort. If your arborists prune deciduous trees like oaks, maples, they are more likely to need to prune them again at a later date. If the branches of the deciduous trees are cut down to the trunk, on the side that shades the Leyland cypresses, you can completely solve it. The advice here is to do the overhead tree surgery before planting the privacy hedge below. The arborist will probably be able to drop the branches if you do so before installing the Thuja Green Giant row, but if you wait until after planting, the arborist will likely have to tie the branches down to prevent damage to your privacy screen below. .

A good substitute variety are Nellie Stevens Hollies for shade applications in Zone 6 and Canadian Hemlock if you are in zone 5. Also remember, when planting in a mature forest, nearby trees not only steal sunlight but will have established root systems that compete with your new plants for moisture.