herbicide vandalism - what chemical was used?

[sac-climber]

Make him pound sand. I'd plant a whole row of Lombardy poplars well inside of your property line.

Love this! Maybe trim them so it looks like a big middle finger

 

[MCW]

Before l read MCW's post l was thinking DIESEL!! Looks like diesel, smells like diesel, white milky appearence when washed with water (diesel). I think some folk from the ages have this idea that you don't need to buy specific chemicals for specific purposes when one has a can of diesel in the
shed. He probabaly also thinks it won't be detected and if it is it would be harder to prove 'intent to kill' as diesel is not a pesticide but will still do the job. A few things about this story seem fishy from the outset but l hope you sort out the problem.

The white Milky look can also mean that the herbicide used was an EC formulation (emulsifiable concentrate - oil based).

 

[7sleeper]

Don't know how it is in the us, but here having someone dump diesel onto the ground call's up the environment agency and the have all the earth dug up quite a few feet deep and transported to the dump yard at your expense and then you recieve a little fine on top of that! So it get's quite expensive fast, and further having any concentrated chemicals included gets the earth brought to the incinery plant to have it burned. Now that get's really expensive and we are not even talking about the fines included in that stunt!
And here the environmental agency does the testing!

So if the police don't want to do anything maybe you have an agency like that where you live?!

Good luck!

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[CR888]

The white Milky look can also mean that the herbicide used was an EC formulation (emulsifiable concentrate - oil based).

Yeah but to come to that conclusion one must have at some understanding of what they are talking about. lol

 

[CR888]

Don't know how it is in the us, but here having someone dump diesel onto the ground call's up the environment agency and the have all the earth dug up quite a few feet deep and transported to the dump yard at your expense and then you recieve a little fine on top of that! So it get's quite expensive fast, and further having any concentrated chemicals included gets the earth brought to the incinery plant to have it burned. Now that get's really expensive and we are not even talking about the fines included in that stunt!
And here the environmental agency does the testing!

So if the police don't want to do anything maybe you have an agency like that where you live?!
Good point.
Good luck!

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[MCW]

Yeah but to come to that conclusion one must have at some understanding of what they are talking about. lol

Just make it up like I do

 

[7sleeper]

Forgot to mention but it has a lot to do with drinking water and chemicals that get into it. I mean it should be quite easy to really get someone fuc.... on that account! Delibertly poisining water tables is not something funny! And I am sure the same counts in the us.

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[MCW]

Forgot to mention but it has a lot to do with drinking water and chemicals that get into it. I mean it should be quite easy to really get someone fuc.... on that account! Delibertly poisining water tables is not something funny! And I am sure the same counts in the us.

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Some chemistry binds with soil particles (clay) and doesn't leach. Phenoxy chemistry is one of these assuming it's Triclopyr.

 

[7sleeper]

Of course you are correct, but earth, as every system, has a saturation point. That is the reason you spray it finely misted onto the ground and not dump a high volume at one point.

But let the government agency find out what he is using. And I am sure that, as soon as they find out that it is going to get ugly!

Just having some goverment officials running around will not only make the neighbor, but also the police nervous! No body wants to be sued because of neglect... And I'm sure that the friendly neighbor, including his wife and family are going to feal the heat.
No reason not to inform other neighbors about the problems and that you warn them that if they have a well it might not be safe anymore to use the water...



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[ft. churchill]

You do something in the audio realm instead of visual. Take up raising fighting roosters as pets, or perhaps guinea fowl or beautiful peacocks. He might like peacocks. They are a nice addition to any view.

 

[LegDeLimber]

Read through this because I sometimes find these, neighbors with adjacent property issues ,
to be somewhat "educational". I haven't really seen any mention of what falls from the trees.
I'm an east coaster,so not familiar with this type of tree and what it drops.
Does it tend to be a continual shedder, or have a something like a fall leaf raking season/ How about the blossoms or seeds? Is there any reason your neighbor might feel that the tree creates
a cleanup problem or stains something. Do they have any landscaping that the seeds may land in and tend to be prolific starters?
My reason for asking, there was an elderly person on my block, who simply was totally hung up over raking and sweeping their yard. So any leaves that drifted in from adjoining properties
were a constant bother and this person would often spend entire days in the yard, wearing another rake to a nub.
Fortunately things never went to anything like what's happened in your case.
Just a few hard stares at the surrounding trees when the wind blew in a few more leaves.

Sadden me to say though, that there was a fairly healty, elder oak of a bit over 4' dbh on their own property
that fell victim to this penchant for a swept lawn.

 

[ncpete]

Plant Bamboo! mother-in-laws yard fell victim to a bamboo planting - someone tossed some bamboo over the fence, and it took off running. I am nearly constantly cutting down 50-60 foot tall plants, and they grow FAST, and haven't succumbed to anything I have sprayed so far.

of course, then you also have to deal with the bamboo trying to run all over your yard, too.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

Speak to an Attorney immediately. Discuss your options going forward. Your property has been damaged. That tree has value.

I'm curious as to what the neighbor wants to see in his view.

Is it a water view he's after?

It's got to be more than the roof of the house next door that he wants to see.

And the saplings that are being planted that will block his view one day.

His view of what?

It not right that he kills trees on your property but I'm getting vibes that you are using vegetation to purposefully block a valuable view just for spite.

What is it he wants to see?

Del, I have no earthly idea why you are such a piece of work. You're "picking up a vibe?" What kind of vibe do you get from me? (Hint, wish i could send you neg rep). May your anus leak maple syrup and attract fire ants.

 

[Linma]

Interesting development--update. Police officer who took the report dropped by to give me an update. He spoke to the neighbor, and he said that the neighbor admitted that he sprayed RoundUp about 5ft away from the fence "clearing brush", so it's "possible that some spray got onto the tree". Office pressed him that the spray pattern is not a general spray pattern, it's concentrated on just that tree, and the saturation of the spray indicates that is impossible to get from 5ft away, through a 6ft fence. The residue pattern on the tree goes all the way to the ground and the leaves and branches near the ground is drenched. so the only way he can do this is to reach over the fence and focus the spray just on that tree...

the neighbor had nothing to say about that. and according to the officer "couldn't get me off his property fast enough."

Is RoundUp one of those herbicide being mentioned here? But given our neighbor's propensity to lie, I am not convinced that is what he actually used. The sapling that got sprayed today is starting to show striations on the leaf... same as the big tree that got sprayed late last year. Is there a special formulation of RoundUp that is oily-smelling that is used for tree killing?

Officer also noted that the large tree currently does not block the neighbor's view at all (we're so far down), and the only view blocked is if one stands near the window and look down... It actually blocks the view of our roof from their window when looking down. I specifically asked him whether he considers our wish to keep the tree around the current size unreasonable, and he said absolutely not, based on his observations from the neighbor's property view, he considers the tree reasonable size for the terrain. The planning commission who also visited their house said that the tree actually directs the viewer beyond our roofline, to the canyon and the hills. without the tree, when someone looks down you focus on our roof.

The neighbor's yard is severely uphill from ours. standing 2-ft away from the 6ft fence, his shoulder is above the fence (he's about 5'5"). He just sprays our yard from the his side of the fence, and the root, he dug on his side of the property, 4ft down (with no soil support. our yard is probably going to collapse into that hole since it lost lateral support.. and he illegally regraded the yard and used the fence as soil retainer.. so it shoved the fence 1-2ft into downhill into our property (verified by surveys done at 2003 and again at 2013...).

and it's not sweet gum (liquidamber). it's Corymbia Ficifolia... (Red Flowering Gum). around here, after 15 years, they grow to about 20ft high. (grow high first, then bush out). when the neighbor cut down the tree in half when it was about 35 years old, the tree was about 30ft high (about the same height it is now).

when he cuts our tree, he has it done while he has tree cutters doing job for him, and when I'm not home. neighbors just hears chainsaw and assume it's his trees or someone else trimming trees in the area. Trees are very dense in this neighborhood, so you hear pruning activity quite frequently.

 

[7sleeper]

Find out who did the trimming and file a legal warrent about trespassing and damage to your property! Word of mouth will go fast and any future company will be very careful not to cross the boarder line!

But it sounds great that the police stood up to their job and pressed on!

Do you have little children around? That would be my next step to show that clearly someone is endangering the little children! No one finds that funny!

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[Linma]

Plant Bamboo! mother-in-laws yard fell victim to a bamboo planting - someone tossed some bamboo over the fence, and it took off running. I am nearly constantly cutting down 50-60 foot tall plants, and they grow FAST, and haven't succumbed to anything I have sprayed so far.

of course, then you also have to deal with the bamboo trying to run all over your yard, too.

LOL. our friend recommended we plant bamboos too. but they're too water-hungry. we look to drought tolerant/resistant varieties besides we don't want anything that grows that tall!

 

[Linma]

I just realised you're from the US so I'm assuming a "Sweet Gum" is actually a Eucalypt? Apologies if it's not but most of what I've said still applies.

sweet gum = liquidamber
red flowering gum = Corymbia ficifolia, formerly known as Eucalyptus ficifolia <---this is our tree

 

[ncpete]

LOL. our friend recommended we plant bamboos too. but they're too water-hungry. we look to drought tolerant/resistant varieties besides we don't want anything that grows that tall!

the bamboo could "accidentally" start on the neighbor's side of the fence, but with the water issues you are having, the bamboo probably won't thrive, or it does, only at the expense of existing arboriculture
so, rats. as much fun as this would be as a 'fix', guess it is quite an unreasonable solution.

 

[7sleeper]

No problem watering accidently the neighboring foilage...



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[GrassGuerilla]

Linma, if by chance any member here becomes a nuicance you can easily "make them go away". Simply click on there name and this box will come up.


Then click "ignore". Done, no more problem from them.
Wish your neighbor was as easy to deal with.