[*LucyE*]

Just wondering what others would do in this situation.

Our neighbour has an avenue of mop top trees that are planted near our boundary line. They are grafted onto a false acacia rootstock that's highly invasive. The slightest disturbance causes it to send out suckers. According to some, mowing or even just walking heavily over them will cause them to send up suckers.

So, me digging and planting in garden beds on our side of the fence make these things go beserk. If it was just near the boundary, it wouldn't be so bad, but they are several metres away from the main plant. Then if we don't remove the sucker, it sends out new roots which also sucker.

We've lived with it for nearly 7 years and have only ever just manually removed the stuff on our side (which usually causes more suckering!). With our landscaping works, we've had many people comment on them (they've gone crazy with the heavy machinery, earthworks and rain). Nearly everyone has suggested that we poison the suckers on our property. Those that haven't suggested that, have suggested killing the offending plants in a subtle way (along with techniques).

They are otherwise great neighbours so we don't want to do anything to cause problems.

Are we just super understanding or am I just meeting a lot of intolerant people?

[bjk76]

Not sure what I'd do in your situation, but I did meet a similarly intolerant person a while back, who stopped to tell me what he'd done (not sure why, never met him before!), while I was gardening in my front yard. His neighbour had a big tree on the fenceline and some big roots were coming under the fence onto his side. He decided he'd chop them off, which of course eventually caused the tree to fall over. It fell onto the neighbour's garage and caused some damage. His neighbour was understandably annoyed with him and said he was going to go to the council. Nothing eventuated (apart from ill-will) as the council said the man was within his rights to remove the roots.

[Jenflea]

I think you have the right to remove anything which goes onto your property. And it's up to you to decide how to do it I think as well.
have you TALKED to them about it yet? maybe they don't like them anymore either and might like the chance to remove them? I'd ask them first then decide on your course of action.
Does heavy mulch cut down on the suckers?

[ednaboo]

Yes, any damage to the roots causes suckers (which are barbed!) to sprout up over wide distances. These things are truly evil. We had one in the backyard when we moved in. We pulled it out as we didn't like it, not knowing what it was capable of.

Personally, I would be very tempted to poison the suckers. I don't know however if this will kill the mop top next door. We had to poison them with 100% strength glyphosate - cut off the sucker close to the ground then paint with glyphosate. We were initially advised by a Bunnings staffer to use blackberry poison which is way more toxic (as it stays in the soil) and total overkill. When this didn't work that well, I looked for other options. The glypho works well. At one point we must have had 40 or more suckers in our garden over a spread of at least 10 metres. But if your neighbours are approachable, I would discuss it with them first. Do they even know about the problem? When I realised suckers from our tree were going next door I offered to deal with it, but my neighbour got her gardener to take care of it instead.

Heavy mulch won't stop them. Pulling them out just makes them multiply. (WE pulled them out and they tripled in number.) They have to be poisoned.

I really sympathise. I am currently battling with wandering dew that has come from next door. This is incredibly invasive and my neighbour has it running rampant behind her shed, which is inaccessible. It appears to be harbouring zillions of mozzies. I *might* have sprayed some glyphosate over the fence recently.



This post has been edited by ednaboo: 17/11/2012, 12:57 PM

[MakeLoveNotBacon]

I had to google mop top trees and they appear lovely. I think you are doing what any normal neighbour would do and the other people are just intolerant, or exaggerating what they would do. I often fantasize and verbalize my dream of poisoning the barking dog next door, along with his owner who uses either his lawn-mower or leaf-blower every second day, but I wouldn't actually do it.

[ednaboo]

Madame Catty: they do look lovely, but I'm afraid you don't know what the root stock of these trees is capable of. The suckers are barbed! If you don't believe me, check out Burkes backyard!

[*LucyE*]

have you TALKED to them about it yet? maybe they don't like them anymore either and might like the chance to remove them? I'd ask them first then decide on your course of action.

Yes, we've casually mentioned it to them. They like their trees and on their property, it looks lovely lining their driveway. They are close to 15yr old trees so I understand them not wanting to remove them.

They understand the suckering problem because they have it on the other side of their driveway too. The only difference is that for them, it is an established garden area so minimal traffic or digging to disturb the soil.

On our side, we would have several hundred of these little suckers right now. As a PP mentioned, these things have sharp thorns (think rose thorns on steriods) and they grow quickly. There was one that I was breaking off the shoots above the ground. The hard knobbly stump base was an absolute PITA to eventually dig out.

the other people are just intolerant, exaggerating what they would do

I don't think these people are exaggerating. One was the arborist who had the tree poison on hand and offered to do the suckers for free. My concern is that poisoning the suckers could kill the trees and it would be pretty obvious what happened.

I have no problems with poisoning the fish tail ferns that come over onto our side of the fence. Nothing seems to kill them and it's just a maintenance issue to keep them subdued.

[purplekitty]

I wouldn't use poison until I had spoken to the neighbour.

The only solution is to remove the tree and if they are unhappy to do that then I would say you are going to use Roundup on the suckers, in an attempt to control them ,and it may result in the tree dying.

ETA: I see it's a whole row of trees.Eek.
Perhaps you could suggest they hire a professional to offer a solution. It might soften the blow before you poison.

This post has been edited by purplekitty: 17/11/2012, 01:16 PM

[*LucyE*]

or if the roots hit an obstacle, such as a clay soil, they will produce suckers.

Aaarrgghh! We have heavy clay soil.

[RunawayPrincess]

Poison without a doubt. It's frustrating when people don't think about what they are planting and how practical it is, not just what it looks like.