Neighbour poisioned trees?

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BarTender

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#208395 9-Feb-2017 23:12

I'm fairly sure my neighbour has poisioned or put roundup on our trees. Every tree has branches broken in the upper section of the trees.

This is how they looked in 2015.

And this is one that has died, and all scorched earth around the area underneath the tree.

I've logged a willful damage report with the police and don't have the best expecations that something is going to happen.

Legal suggestions only, as lobbing roundup water ballons over the fence while may be amsuing is also illegal.

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#1718000 9-Feb-2017 23:15

Have you spoken to an arborist to make sure it isn't a disease or something else?

PaulBags

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#1718033 10-Feb-2017 06:28

That's silly close to the fence, good on them. The roots were probably going into a drain or something & got roundup/draino from their side. Pretty sure they're allowed to roundup etc on their side of the fence. What gives you the right to grow tree roots onto their side of the fence and/or try to push the fence over by growing a tree too close?

Dratsab

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#1718079 10-Feb-2017 08:21

Getting an arborist to provide an expert opinion is a good suggestion. If it's Roundup (or similar) that's been poured over the fence, it's been a fairly significant amount judging by the flow pattern.

Ignore the complete asshat style reply - no one has the right to take it into their own hands and simply destroy your property. They do have a right to talk to you and ask you to trim the trees, which are clearly large only in terms of foliage, not root structure, if they're causing a problem such as blocking light/view. Have they ever done this?

In terms of suggestions around legal options, a lawyer will be your best bet - @dejadeadnz may be able to provide some guidance here.

timmmay

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#1718082 10-Feb-2017 08:27

While Paul's reply may not be phrased perfectly, if your tree goes onto their property they have the right to trim it, possibly including the roots, within reason. They're not allowed to poison it. There's a good article here which outlines rights, responsibilities, and escalation.

Bung

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#1718091 10-Feb-2017 08:59

What's the drainage like? There are fungal diseases that cause "root rot". If it is just one tree/shrub in a row that's dying, that is what I would suspect first. Do you think the neighbour was going to take them out 1 at a time?

AFAIK glyphosate (Roundup) only works when applied to foliage or cambium (just under the bark). It becomes inactive in soil.

Edit: Any sign of possums in your area? They like those trees.

frankv

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#1718234 10-Feb-2017 11:59

I'm curious why you would think your neighbour did this?

Have their been problems with the neighbour before over these trees? Have you spoken to th neighbour?

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MikeB4

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#1718240 10-Feb-2017 12:17

May I ask if you are in Wellington? if so I have noticed some odd stuff happening post earthquake in our garden and have lost two established trees and some established shrubs. I have also notices some quite large creaks in the ground.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

dafman

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#1718241 10-Feb-2017 12:19

PaulBags: That's silly close to the fence, good on them. The roots were probably going into a drain or something & got roundup/draino from their side. Pretty sure they're allowed to roundup etc on their side of the fence. What gives you the right to grow tree roots onto their side of the fence and/or try to push the fence over by growing a tree too close?

Jeez. For a moment, thought I was reading a Trump tweet. But this didn't end in SAD or TERRIBLE, so I guess not.

Dynamike

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#1718288 10-Feb-2017 13:00

Bung: What's the drainage like? There are fungal diseases that cause "root rot". If it is just one tree/shrub in a row that's dying, that is what I would suspect first. Do you think the neighbour was going to take them out 1 at a time?

AFAIK glyphosate (Roundup) only works when applied to foliage or cambium (just under the bark). It becomes inactive in soil.

To check for a soil fungal infection such as Phytophthora, get a hand saw and cleanly cut off a dead branch. Look at the rings, dark discolouration in the rings is an indicator of a soil borne infection.

Pittosporum eugenioides is not a tough tree and is quite easy to kill with a bit of herbicide, or from root damage on the other side of the fence. It's also prone to sudden die back for no apparent reason.

neb

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#1718401 10-Feb-2017 18:26

Bung: What's the drainage like? There are fungal diseases that cause "root rot". If it is just one tree/shrub in a row that's dying, that is what I would suspect first. Do you think the neighbour was going to take them out 1 at a time?

+1. I would suspect root rot, that ground looks pretty soggy. If they've sprayed glyphosate onto them then you'd expect the nearby trees to at least have received some as well, but they look completely healthy. And why take out just one tree (or two if they're both dying)?

dejadeadnz

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#1718517 11-Feb-2017 00:21

In terms of suggestions around legal options, a lawyer will be your best bet - @dejadeadnz may be able to provide some guidance here.

Nothing much that I can usefully add to the sensible suggestions already given by various people, except for two observations:

1. BarTender, based only on the information you've provided on here, IMO you are way, way jumping the gun in concluding that the neighbour likely wilfully damaged the trees.

2. There's not enough evidence on the face of things for the police to take things any further. And they'd be right to take things no further.

3. I can't see you having any realistic legal options against your neighbour on current facts. Suggest you move on.

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mattwnz

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#1718520 11-Feb-2017 00:45

I suspect it has just died from some sort of disease or conditions. It happens with all trees and shrubs eventually. You certainly don't want to be accusing anyone without some sort of proof.

mattwnz

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#1718521 11-Feb-2017 00:48

MikeB4:

May I ask if you are in Wellington? if so I have noticed some odd stuff happening post earthquake in our garden and have lost two established trees and some established shrubs. I have also notices some quite large creaks in the ground.

Really? What suburb are you in and are you on a hill? If you are on a hill I would be a bit concerned that you may have a bit of ground slippage occurring which potentially could damage tree roots. But it sounds like a strange one.

MikeB4

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#1718540 11-Feb-2017 08:44

mattwnz:
MikeB4:

May I ask if you are in Wellington? if so I have noticed some odd stuff happening post earthquake in our garden and have lost two established trees and some established shrubs. I have also notices some quite large creaks in the ground.

Really? What suburb are you in and are you on a hill? If you are on a hill I would be a bit concerned that you may have a bit of ground slippage occurring which potentially could damage tree roots. But it sounds like a strange one.

We are on the flat in the Hutt Valley. From my days of learning, because the Hutt Velley is an alluvial plain created by a rock bed river ground movement can do odd stuff. The Kaikours event was a long period of shaking with lost dog ground movement. It has probably altered the water table and flow regions resulting in localised soil changes. Kinda cool really.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

BarTender

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#1718628 11-Feb-2017 12:26

Still following up with an arborist to see if they can come around and check them out.

The reason why I believe my neighbours have done something that every tree has a branch that points up that has been broken off or bent over. These branches are well within my boundry (over 1.5 Meters) and there are trees we planted on a different section of our property not on their boundry that are still fine growing up with no broken branches.

The reason why we planted trees is there were two massive 20+ year old trees one that we took out and one that had blown over 5 years ago that provided some privacy in our back garden from the number of houses that look down on us. I appreciate @PaulBags doesn't believe we should have any privacy in our garden. But as the father of three daughters I will respectfully disagree. It's a little uncomfortable to say the least when your neighbours look into your back garden over the fence from their 1st floor balcony and watch your kids playing in their togs in the back garden. That's why the trees went in.

Getting some better photos of the damage today.

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