Topic: weedkiller - neighbour trying to kill dads trees/ causing mum ill health?

[Ellen K]

^^  :'(

But I know how it is, in fact most of us do with elderly parents we are trying to look after while having zillions of other responsibilities.

That's why I would speak to the neighbour - even talking to him might make him see that a solution might be closer than he thinks.

30 years ago leylandii was seen as a good cheap screen, now it is seen as the hedge from hell.  Times change.

Hope you Mum is better soon.

[chriscross1966]

Leylandii's do poison the ground around them, maybe that's why the eans are doing badly, the trimming is causing them to release more of the nastes that they do as a stress/survival response....

[brownowl23]

chris cross - aha so that might explain why one lot of leylandii and beans are doing oK and one lot are looking os poorly. See I knew that more heads were better than one.


Perhaps an alternative and easier t=route might be to persuade my dad to move his bean trench. Dh wont like this as he will be the one that has to dig out a new one but  hey ho it might be a good solution all round.

[louise stella]

If he has such a long garden, why is he growing veg so far away down the end of it?  I'd try and
A.  persuade him to move his veggies nearer the house nxt year.
B. Cut the trees down to hedge height!

[brownowl23]

ahh well the layout of the garden cpmes from the fact that we had two great big apple trees nearer the house  originallly and a bit of an orhcard a bit further down. Mum liked her garden to look like a garden as in flowers not veggies. so the veggies got relagated to the bottom end. The bean trench has been where it is for most of my life. So getting him to change is going to take some persuasion and my mohter has apparently been trying to get him to move it.

Still im going over there tomorrow so will see how far I get with suggesting moving it next year and suggesting we call in my cousin for a bit of a harsher tree trim this year. i.e make it more a hedge than reaching for the skies.  :-\

Wish me luck!!! im gonna need it ::)

[lottie lou]

The best of luck with your mission Brown Owl and keep us informed of developments.  My neighbours put up 6ft fences at each side and huge untrimmed buddlia.  Garden now in shade most of the day and nowt much grows in the borders.  Trying to keep privacy can cause so much misery for others.

[brownowl23]

well having been to dads today, I think I have at least managed to persuade him to find his bean plants a better home for next year. so round one hopefully won.

The leylandii trees got a closer inspection and the guy behind has trimmed the trees right back to the trunk to about 12-15ft high or more. it was difficult to see where the branches started again unoless I actually got in the thick of the trees.  So I guess oif hard pruning like that causes them stress enough to put toxins back in the soil then that may well be the cause.

As to whether I can persuade them to have the rees chopped off at the top. well..... I did suggest it, but if looks could kill i'd have dug my own grave and buried myself 6ft under.

So I guess ive made a bit of progress.

[lottie lou]

At least you have won one battle. 

[louise stella]

I think I would go down the road of persuading him to "make life easier" by bringing the veg patch nearer to the house!  Which as he is getting on must be easier and with some careful planning veg patches can look decorative too - so that will please your mum too! 

[brownowl23]

well the plot thickens or should I say perhaps is unravelled a bit.

Apparently  ( according to my sister) when the arguement erupted with dads neighbour a couple of years ago about him cutting the tree back to the trunk, both neighbour and dad were up ladders either side of the fencie hitting each other with things (not sure what things). It apparently got very ugly. My sister ended up pulling my dad off his ladder and frog marching him kicking and screaming back to the house before somone ended up getting done for GBH.

I can understand my  dad not wanting the neiighbour to be leaning over his property cutting the trees right back to the trunk, especially as your only supposed to cut things back to your boundary. The neighbour would also have been putting himself in danger hanging over a metal pointy fence with a chain saw, if he fell he'd have been impaled. dad would have been defending his property, however clearly not going the best way about it.

So my chances now of me getting dad to cut his trees down is a lot less than 0. getting him to move his veg patch will be a big enough acheivement.

As far as I am concerned the person who first  marketed these d**n treees as a good way to create a barrier between properties should be shot!!! I am willing to do the shooting!

[brownowl23]

Perhaps I ought to add to this my dad isnt a violent man, so for him to be doing something stupoid like being up a tree being violent does mean that he must have been pushed to his limits. KNowing my dads reputation for not calling 999 even in a medical emergency it wouldnt have crossed his brain to call the police!

[Ellen K]

May I ask: how tall are these trees exactly?  And how far away are they from the neighbours house (i.e. does he have a 100ft long garden or is it more like 25ft) ?

[brownowl23]

Denby - I know what your getting at and no the trees arent big enought YET! to cause damage to their house if they fell.  ifneither do they actually block the light from thier garden as the shade falls on dads side fortunately.  If they were in danger of causing damage to their property in a storm them I could persuade dad to have them cut a bit in order not to end up with an insurance bill :)

for the neighbour they are unsightly,  without beign chopped back they obviously intrucde into the grden and I totally agree with the neighbour that he is entitled to cut them back to his boundary, but NOT to the trunk.

To be fair on dad if the neighbour had come and asked nicely if dad would mind having them chopped a bit and gave his reasons in a pleasant way, dad would have been ameanble and got my cousin to come and give them a very harsh hair cut. Not asking and chopping them so severely has caused the problem and the resulting issues.

[Ellen K]

^^ no, that wasn't it, it's just that you said your neighbour hacked at them to a height of 15 ft or even higher.  So I wondered how tall they actually were and if your neighbours garden is small they must be sucking the life out of it. 

[brownowl23]

they are about 50ft tall. So yes I guess they would be sucking life out of the garden.

I have to say its a really difficult one, as I hate the beasts, and wouldlop them down to ground level in a an instant. But of course its not my garden and I have to contend with a cantancerous (sp?) 77 year old!

[Ellen K]

50 ft??  ******* *** !!!

You can see by how few posts you are getting here that people aren't in agreement with your Dad.  But if fact your Dad is going through a bad time; his wife is ill and he's scared.  And he's stubborn; keeping the trees is one way to show the world he's still in control - still alive and kicking.

But you know, if they are that tall, the neighbour must be able to get the Council to serve a rectification order on him.  And it's going to be a pro job to take them down to even eaves height.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[brownowl23]

Denby I dont agree with dad either!!

Actually thinking about it I dont think they are that high, not standing by them when asked that question it not easy to gauge. 50ft is very high!

If the neighbour got an order it would in some ways make things easier for me and my sis to sort it out. Dad wouldnt have a choice and we wouldnt have to try to persuade him. It would make my life alot easier.
Fortunately my cousin is a tree surgeon so getting a pro on board isnt a problem, and it wouldnt cost them tooo much. well not as much as if they didnt have someone in the family.

Sadly as they are dads trees its not my decision..................... its just for me to wear dad down with my powers of persuasion.

Im going to have to leave the tree situation for a bit though as im going to bebad daughter this week and no doubt for a while as im taking him to get his tablets sorted out that he has been putting off for weeks and im going to be asking for the docs to refer him for a hearing test.


Joys of having elderly parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think he'd notice if I whipped em off for a day somewhere and got my cousin in  :o

[brownowl23]

Well I went over to dads today and was in the garden. He has already lopped the tops off the trees, it was only when I looked from the house that I realised this, they have no tops at all. Mum said they had this done a couple of years ago as they had got way too tall and they didnt want them causing damage to a neighbours house if the fell
They could do with a hair cut at the minute though to tidy them up and lose a bit of bushy ness dad agrees but says he cant do it which I can quite understand

I looked at the conifers that border the sides of his garden (planted in the gardens eitherside so not his) these trees are about another 3rd taller than his leylandii, they make his leylandii look  respectable in a scruffy way.

The neighbour at the back has stripped the trees to the trunk to the top, its no wonder they are not looking healthy.

dads not coping with the garden at all, but being that ive hurt my back im barely keeping up with my allotment with hubby and kids help so there is no chance of my getting digging whilst im there. Sad really as the garden has always been mum and dads pride and joy.


Its amazing how much more information I get about the garden when mum is more compusmentus and when I open my eyes and look :)