Hello,

We recently purchased a new home, and the previous owner had planted a row of leyland cypress along the property line.

(actually i posted this in the tree section first by mistake, and one person said he didnt even think this was a leyland)

Four of them are nice and bushy, and filling in nicely, but I notice one is not so full, and upon closer inspection I notice it has split at the very bottom, and now is growing with two trunks.

Should i saw the shorter one off at the base? Will this help the other half of the tree, or stress it too much.

I am pretty clueless when it comes to landscaping, so I am nervous about cutting off such a big part of this tree.

Also, right now is the peak of summer heat and humidity here in North Carolina, would I be better off doing anything to it until next spring?

These trees are about 18 months old, so still babies and plenty of time to recover I think, but I hate to kill this tree

I have included a picture which I think shows the problem pretty well

thanks
michael