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?

I've been told a copper nail hammered into it will kill it.

A FWIW older trees can actually be emitters of carbon. A bit of selective logging can actually stimulate more ecosystem benefits. Conservation does not equal protectionism.

A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.

What useful thing do you contribute to the world, OP? Besides from constantly starting threads and making posts slagging off people you know in RL?

It's not a tree it's a leylandii - a potentially 15 metre tall weed that fucks up the soil for a large radius around itself.

You can kill a tree by hammering a copper nail into it, less damaging to the surrounding environment than weed killer.
here

The idea that all trees are wonderful and should be preserved at all costs is extraordinarily stupid. Sometimes people and houses are more important, as when lack of light becomes an issue or subsidence causes problems.

Leylandii are bloody horrible trees and grow so fast as to be a nuisance. But weedkiller won't work, it will just kill the grass. I think you may have to put up with it.

The copper nail myth

Ring barking is the way to go if you can get away with it.

I don't think you would be unreasonable to pour weedkiller around in your own garden. Leaning over her side of the fence might not be a good plan.

I'm thinking of poisoning next door's dog.

Tree racism.

TheBloodMan, you'll be exhorting us all to save the Japanese knotweed next

We had similar problem, neighbours at the back of us had a whole row of leylandii that had reached up to our roof and stopped the light coming into our garden in the afternoon. Thankfully 18 inches of snow combined with 69 miles per hour wind at the end of march last year solved the problem, my 7yr old dd2 had a great afternoon watching them come down one by one and shouting timber!(not outside in the garden of course)

Weedkiller will do nothing at all. We put weedkiller around the base of our trees so that the grass doesn't grow there and we don't need to spend hours strimming. It doesn't affect the trees in the slightest.

csijanner we're practically neighbours then!
The owner of that house is a well known local weirdo character and for several years was banned with having any communication with any City Council staff except for in writing...

He uses several names and his command of the English language diminishes if you tell him something he doesn't want to hear...

There are laws about conifer hedges even if it involves a tiny number of conifers.

Yanbu in this case. I love trees and my house is surround by dozens of them, but I'm about to take out five pines that are overhanging the back of the house, which will make more space for slower growing deciduous trees.

I think I will measure how long a perimeter we would be talking about IF we were to replace ours. Fairly sure DH will not be keen!