Trees on neighbors side of fence stealing nutrients

I had that problem, an old maple grew like a weed and blocked Western light from rom my orchard.

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The issue is that there’s no reason why your desire to grow carrots on your side of the property line is more important than your neighbor’s desire to grow Japanese maple of his side.

And Japanese maple are gorgeous trees.

I planted a lovely stewartia pseudocamillia near my property line. The next year a wild crab apple sprouted on the other side, and my neighbor decided to let it grow. It grew faster than the stewartia, and it harbored every bug and disease known to apples, which didn’t help my fruiting apples trees any.

But you know what… It’s their property, and they are good neighbors.

I did vigorously prune any branches that grew into my yard, because that’s my legal right. I tried to do it gracefully, so i didn’t disfigure their tree.

Anyway, you can imagine my delight when their landscaper convinced them to take it down so they could better enjoy my stewartia.

Anyway. … I feel your pain, but other than either raised beds or underground barriers, i see nothing you can really do about the situation.

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I highly recommend that others not follow that advice. There are pretty severe penalties for intentionally killing trees belonging to others in most locales, and roundup damage is pretty obvious. You got lucky on that one.

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I appreciate you stating that. Plus he may have “gotten away with it” or maybe he didn’t/won’t… Karma is something else. :wink:

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You are correct on this, it’s standard common-law:

This site is saying in California you cannot pick fruit from trees growing over your fence, only pick up fruit that has fallen. (Info towards the bottom.)

50 States each with their own twist on the law!

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Because carrots don’t grow roots that end up on the other side.

There’s no need to cram 10 trees all within 4 feet next to each other. This isn’t a competition.

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Have your talked to the neighbor about it?

Maybe there is a reason. Maybe he’s trying to grow a privacy hedge to block his view of your yard. Maybe that’s where he has sun.

But it doesn’t really matter. It’s his property, and as a fact of law, his right to grow trees on his side has as much weight as your right to grow carrots on your side.

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So, you first prune the overhanging branch, and then pick up the fruit that has fallen?

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That’d probably work!

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I’m pretty sure my state lets me pick fruit in branches that grew into my property.

I doubt anyone has gotten into trouble taking fruit from a limb hanging over into their property.

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To be fair seven years ago i had two master gardeners tell me how i cannot possibly cram that many fruit trees this close to each other and what a huge mistake i was making and now they come over and have me help them order and plan their orchards.

I like to mind my own business as far as neighbors go but you two have a shared interest and space. Have you asked him what his goal is with his trees? Maybe he just wants a green barrier between you two and you could let your fruit trees get taller on the fence line for some fruits and veggies.

If he is planning on having a huge stand of trees it would be good to know now so you can get shade lovers placed there and put your veggies and orchard in a different spot. If you atleast explain why you need sun maybe you two could work out a mutually beneficial situation.

Also while I think all those root barriers sound cool when you see what roots do to pure concrete and metal forms in the ground it seems like it’s something more done for our feelings. The only thing I really see stop strong roots is copper and air.

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I think your only solution is to go out and buy 10 acres in the country.

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Synthetic root barrier sounds like an idea. Copper may leach into the soil and become toxic.

That’s what I thought Ribs but now I’ve got my neighbor’s dog digging in my garden, ripping up my garbage, sh$!!ing on my lawn and busting up my bow hunts. They seem to feel that it’s their right to let the dog run wherever bc we live out in the country.

Can’t win sometimes with neighbors.

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Seems that’s a common occurrence when people not from the country move to the country. Lots of dogs go missing in this area.

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Someone must have, if they have a rule about it.

get yourself a paintball gun and pepper him with pink paint. wont hurt him but your neighbor will get tired of washing him and keep him tied. :wink:

Buy some live/kill traps. Your choice. If you live trap it, you can call whatever passes for animal control in your area. Let them pay to get their dog back.

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I realize I never actually answered this question. If I were at all friendly with the neighbor, I would talk to him about it, and see if I could convince him to plant additional trees somewhere else.

Whether or not I was friendly with the neighbor, I would probably start digging a new garden patch, well away from his property. He’s not going to want to remove the trees he’s already put in, and they will not only grow roots into your property, they will also likely shade it.

Root barriers sound like a lot of work, and I’m dubious they will keep out an aggressive tree. Granted, I have dropped some root barriers around my lily of the valley patch, but while they are aggressive, they don’t grow far each year, and I also pull them out every spring to keep them confined. The root barrier is as much so I remember where the “deadline” is as it is to contain the roots.

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