to poison the roots of a huge tree overgrowing on my property?

[spegal]

OK so I won't actually do it, but this tree is so fucking big, neighbour likes it but I think its anti social.

I get the branches growing on my side chopped but that just makes it look ugly.

If I decided to just weedkiller everything in that corner of my garden and happened to infect the roots on my side and kill it, would i legally be in the wrong?

A lelandaii or however you spell it, the neighbour the other side is equally annoyed with it

Stanley that depends on your point of view. An oak tree? Beautiful. Conifers - ugly as.

Its about 2 ft from my veg patch.

Yanbu op! We have a huge huge tree over hanging our teeny garden. Every year it leans a little bit further towards our house and drops its leaves everywhere. I hate it!

So absolutely talk to them about getting the top chopped off. That is NU provided you speak to them politely or put a polite letter through their door. I agree that conifers are a really anti-social tree. If you have the cash, offer to have it removed and replaced with a lovely cherry or similar. Much nicer and good for the birds too.

We are surrounded by trees, plus a conifer hedge. I'd happily see the hedge go but I am pleased that the trees are all under preservation orders so they cannot be cut down - they are all lovely, native species.

If it is a leylandii get on to your local council website and search for nuisance trees. Their tree officer will be able to give you advice. Conifers should not be allowed to go over 6 foot if they are on boundaries (deciduous trees have different rules). I spend my working life protecting trees but leylandii and non-native and a complete bloody nuisance!

I DO see where the OP is coming from. they can he infuriating when too close to the property. I'm only saying this because proximity of neighbours tree has resulted in me having birds nest there for weeks on end when the storms blew off my roof tiles. Already had to have the path relaid and the branches trimmed back more than once but landlord refuses to budge and so do the council. Pagwitch I'd love to know how you managed it.

Are you my neighbour?

Me Lizzardface?...

pixies, I meant OP.

A copper nail into the roots should do the trick

Is it just the one tree or is there a number of them. You might be able to deal with a 'hedge' of evergreen trees under the HIGH HEDGE legislation. If it's just a single tree then it's harder to deal with.
If you think it may possibly be causing your house damage then you could get a report done and write to your nieghbour saying that you will hold them liable. There are details on how to do this properly on GARDEN LAW website

The tree is only going to get bigger so if you can it is best if you can get the neighbour to deal with it sooner rather than later. Have you considered offering to pay for the tree to be crowned or chopped down? You could even offer to replace it with a nice tree. Obviously, it's not fair that you should pay for your nieghbours ugly tree but it's often easier in the long run.

You ARE allowed to cut the roots as long as you don't damage the tree. You can then install a root barrier to stop them re growing.

Leylandii are hideous trees. I love trees but leylandii are light sapping eyesores that draw the life out of their surrounds. There are a million types of other beautiful trees. People who plant leylandii usually do so because it's cheap and quick growing they forget that leylandii need lots of expensive maintaience. (There are newer slower growing varieties)

People who plant leylandii in normal size gardens are inconsiderate.
Big Eucalyptus trees are a bit crap too.

You are entitled to cut off roots from neighbouring trees that encroach onto your property up to the boundary only.

More serious is having a tree too near your house wall and foundations as that can cause subsidence.

Spegal we need trees to live....there are or soon will be...more houses than trees....if you stuck a law on the table that made people have them smaller than houses can you IMAGINE the air quality in a city??

How ridiculously self serving.

"I want MY light and fuck the air!!"

autumnmum. There is no legislation, that I'm aware of that, requiring that conifers are kept at 6ft on boundaries. The high hedge legislation doesn't apply to individual trees and doesn't say that hedges have to be cut down to 6ft. Councils can only serve orders that require owners of 'high hedges' to reduce their height to the extent that they will no longer be causing a nuisance. This is done on a case by case basis.

Blimey, I don't think the OP needs 'advice' on why she should embrace trees. . She is complaining about one big ugly tree that is encroaching on her garden, lawn and light.

I've cut down about 10 huge ugly evergreens from my garden and replaced them with beautiful native trees that provide much better habitats for our local wildlife. I can't believe anyone that knows anything about trees thinks leylandii add anything positive to your average uk garden.

I googled just to see what a leylandii looked like and came across this article: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/07/gardens-leylandii which may or may not be helpful but made me giggle for this line: Its full name is x Cuprocyparis leylandii, which translates as "tree most likely to annoy your neighbours".

Spegal yet another controversial thread.

There are laws about leylandii, go check them out.

I'd feel just the same op.

Can you put in raised beds, so that your veggies are getting more water? It's what my parents did in a similar situation.

The OP is not against trees per se, just this one that is blocking light into her garden, which is perfectly reasonable.

Not sure about legalities but if you want to kill a tree then dig down to a nice big fat root and cut a Nice long, deep 'V' shape in the top of it. If you can fin a couple of roots then great. Fill it with salt, moisten and wrap with cling film. Check it every few days and once the salt has been absorbed, repeat. Eventually the tree will start looking very unhealthy and begin to die of salt poisoning.
Once you're happy the salt has done its job, remove the bit of root with the V in it to cover your tracks ( if you're ever questioned you can claim you were going some gardening hit the root and you needed to remove the root which as it is on your land, you are perfectly entitled to do).
Neighbours will eventually have no choice but to cut it down as it will begin to become unsafe.

Leylandii don't really count as trees IMO.

www.leylandii.com/leylandii.html

They are hedges. Here is a bit of advice on here for you

If the tree is taller than the house and the garden is tiny you can bet the roots are growing under the houses and probably breaking the drains.

The tree sounds inappropriately large for the garden. If it's threatening your house and cutting off light to your garden I'm sure you have a reasonable case for getting rid of it.