Covertly 
Ideally some sort of action that would result in them quietly dying over the summer (so the nesting birds still get to use them this year).. and then by autumn when (if) its the year they get "trimmed" the tree surgeon will see they are dead and have no choice but to remove the rest of them?
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Caustic soda kills most plants.......dig round the roots and sling a ton down there
digging round the roots might be a problem...
is there nothing I can do at about 6 foot up it
I thought this was about a PS3 game 
no.... tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in
I think salt kills them ditty ..
I think salt kills them ditty ..
oooh.... I could lob a few bags of salt at them.. thats doable
If its a damp night then presumably it won't show
Yep! 
Only because that's what my next-door neighbour achieved by accident... or not. He killed off 2 or 3 beautiful trees that weren't gonna fit in with his suburban garden dream. He got a bunch of con-artists in to re-landscape his. They turned the garden upside-down, digging about and relaying a large lawn. Did the job I suspect he'd hoped for. The trees quietly died. Problem is, knowing him, he'll probably plant Leylandii instead. (He's the sort of neighbour who puts traffic cones outside his house so he can park one of his two cars outside his house, when the other is in his drive.) 
It was a very cunning plan, as I live in a conservation order road whereby all trees have TPOs. 
I take it they are in the neighbours garden? 
I'd spray with loads of salty water .They are the worst trees ever.They grow so fast,fine if you want a wind break and don't have neighbours and have acres of your own land.They have no place in suburbia.Our houses are getting renovated by the housing association,I've yet to be "done".The house next to me,separated by a road had a "hedge" of them,the previous occupants planted them. The work getting done is structural so tennants have been de-canted,the housing association have felled the lot of them!
I think salt kills them ditty ..
Nah...that's triffids!!!
Just do the soda on the floor near them...mind it will kill anything growing there....
yes they are in the neighbours garden.. and I have put up with them for years, but enough is enough.... its just rude!
they have made a good quarter of my garden bald & baron... nothing will grow there (oh, except the ground elder they kindly cultivate as well)..
They get them trimmed back once every 3 or 4 years... but only the tops lobbed off..
I will take photos tomorrow and show you..
I'd feel really really bad if I was doing this to a neighbour.
Thing is.. apart from the trees, I quite like the neighbours... and whilst hubby is going to try to have a polite word, asking if they could do something when summer is finished (giving them time to save up the money if thats the issue)... I don't think they realise just how much of a something I want doing.
Apparently there is a new hedge law that means it shouldn't be more than 2 meters high... if they were lobbed at 2 meters there would be no green on them.... the jungle starts at 2 meters.
But I don't want to get into it all with them... I don't want the nastiness... they have a row of 5 of them along the bottom of their garden... I only want rid of one or two that are closest to my garden, she can keep the other three.
...& Xochi...
there's nothing beautiful about them... I generally love trees, admittedly less so with conifers... the only positive thing I can say about leylandii is that they do provide a good habitat for the birds.. but there are lots n lots of other trees around they can use.
no.... tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in
Sounds like a pretty good description of one of my exes!
Croc...
where would I buy caustic soda from?
no.... tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in
Sounds like a pretty good description of one of my exes!
hahahaha... yeah one or two of mine could be mistaken for that description too..
hang on I will clarify the post..
tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in, though they do have slight trace of intelligence, and produce oxygen rather than thieve it
better?
I'd be very wary of handling caustic soda,it's highly toxic,it might be illegal even to chuck it around the environment...wildlife getting affected,birds,hedgehogs,domestic animals.Maybe check with your local council to see what they say about nuisance trees etc?
Croc...
where would I buy caustic soda from?
B & Q, Homebase...be very careful with it though....its that strong when i used to to unblock a drain it took the paint off the drainpipe leading into it...
no.... tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in
Sounds like a pretty good description of one of my exes!
hahahaha... yeah one or two of mine could be mistaken for that description too..
hang on I will clarify the post..
tis about the 20 foot trees that are blocking the sun from a third of my garden... & shedding loads of brown shit and they are basically doing my head in, though they do have slight trace of intelligence, and produce oxygen rather than thieve it
better?
The trees get my vote
I thought this was about a PS3 game
I thought it was about Lego 
my neighbour has some horrible trees I have no idea what they are called but they grow really tall and have enormous roots and seedlings keep reseeding in my lawn.
I couldn't grow anything as like you Ditty, they caused too much shade plus the root system was drinking all the water from all around. The roots were so bad they ended up breaking my drain and I almost had to have the house underpinned because of the damage they caused. 
The council chopped them down but missed a baby sapling and it grew to a monster with it's roots coming under my fence so I chopped them up to the border - put glyphosate tree stump rot on the exposed ends and wrapped a black bag around the remaining root on my side of the garden - it was dead within a couple of weeks
oh!
there are hedgehogs & we have the great frog migration going on as well at the moment..
Damn bloody damn...
Katty - the council charge ÂĢ250 - ÂĢ300 to begin an investigation into a tall hedge/leylandi complaint. they charge this for filling out the poxy excel calculator to work out if it is a legitimate issue.. its a farce... they just need to come & look at them. AND I filled out the calculator... but apparently it would still cost the same to get them to look into it.
Like I said... Ideally there would be stealth way of just easing them onto a mysterious natural death.
my friend paints glycowotsit on her japanese knotweed ... I have considered that... but where on a conifer would you paint it on? and would it matter what percentage of the tree I could paint.... cos at top whack the most I could cover would be about a tenth (and that would be with the aid of a stepladder & the paint sprayer)
and a torch
I thought this was about a PS3 game
I thought it was about Lego
Your fingers are about as green as mine then?
Alas I don't think there is a "Right" to sunlight etc as in trees shading your garden.I have bloody council planted sycamores in a small green area to the rear of my house.They were small about thirty years ago now they are pretty large and in the evening they shade my back garden from the sun in summertime.However I have the full sun most of the day.I have to rake up their leaves in the autumn etc and I get loads of the "helicopter" seeds all over my lawn.They are sprouting now..however they are lovely trees so,live and let live.
my neighbour has some horrible trees I have no idea what they are called but they grow really tall and have enormous roots and seedlings keep reseeding in my lawn.
I couldn't grow anything as like you Ditty, they caused too much shade plus the root system was drinking all the water from all around. The roots were so bad they ended up breaking my drain and I almost had to have the house underpinned because of the damage they caused.
The council chopped them down but missed a baby sapling and it grew to a monster with it's roots coming under my fence so I chopped them up to the border - put glyphosate tree stump rot on the exposed ends and wrapped a black bag around the remaining root on my side of the garden - it was dead within a couple of weeks
the thing about leylandii is that (I am told) they have short roots...
I would definitely have a legal case to get the lobbed... but it will cost us, and destroy the relationship with the neighbours.
thing is... I will have to sort this at some point... one day I want to sell this house, and they are going to be an issue when that time comes. Plus I want my garden back...
Alas I don't think there is a "Right" to sunlight etc as in trees shading your garden.I have bloody council planted sycamores in a small green area to the rear of my house.They were small about thirty years ago now they are pretty large and in the evening they shade my back garden from the sun in summertime.However I have the full sun most of the day.I have to rake up their leaves in the autumn etc and I get loads of the "helicopter" seeds all over my lawn.They are sprouting now..however they are lovely trees so,live and let live.
there is a new law Katty (in England anyway)... the high hedge law... its under the Antisocial Behaviour Act.. we are entitled to sunlight! *gets excited about sunbathing potential*
copper nail?
Just found this....
But there is no general requirement that all hedges should be kept below a certain height. In particular it is not illegal to plant leylandii, and it is not illegal to have a hedge more than 2m high. Both of these are myths which are often repeated, but are incorrect.
If someone cannot settle their hedge dispute, they can take their complaint to their local authority provided that all of these are true:
The problem is if they suddenly die after all this time (and especially if they know you're not that keen), they're probably gonna suss it's you.
If it were me I'd have a word about the ones that are blocking the light into my garden. (I'm pretty sure there's a law about that too) As you said, you haven't got a problem with all of them, just the 2 or 3 that are covering your garden with crap and preventing you being able to grow anything. If you normally get along with them then I'm sure they'd be reasonable about it.
Section 69(3) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 prevents local authorities from ordering works that involve reducing the hedge to below 2 metres in height or its removal. In our view (based on legal advice), works that would result in the death or destruction of the hedge amount to the same as removing it and so are outlawed under the 2003 Act... Within the constraints imposed by the legislation, it is for local authorities to decide what height the hedge should be reduced to whilst ensuring its survival...
copper nail?
I'd heard that didn't work... when I first heard about copper nails I got all excited at the prospect, but I have yet to find anyone that has killed a leylandii using a copper nail.
have you killed one with a copper nail?
Just found this....
But there is no general requirement that all hedges should be kept below a certain height. In particular it is not illegal to plant leylandii, and it is not illegal to have a hedge more than 2m high. Both of these are myths which are often repeated, but are incorrect.
noooooooo! 
but there is a section on the government website about it
The problem is if they suddenly die after all this time (and especially if they know you're not that keen), they're probably gonna suss it's you.
well... I have no problem if they suspect its us... or even if they are sure its us... we can suspect each other from afar..
we have the kind of neighbourly relationship that consists of polite chat now & then when walking the dogs (our dogs hate each other).... and then I reckon they slag us off behind closed doors, as we do them (a bit).
they aren't bad neighbours... but she is a bit of a dozy mare.
Hubby is happy to have the polite conversation with her... but I reckon this could cause real awkwardness between us... as opposed to smiley to each others faces... grumble when indoors.
that makes me sound really bad doesn't it?
Covertly
Ideally some sort of action that would result in them quietly dying over the summer (so the nesting birds still get to use them this year).. and then by autumn when (if) its the year they get "trimmed" the tree surgeon will see they are dead and have no choice but to remove the rest of them?
Planted one in innocence......in the 80's.....grew to outgrow my "Patch"......cost me pennies to cart it back from the garden centre in the pram basket..........in the late 90's it cost me over ÂĢ300 to get it chopped and shredded........
I thought this was about a PS3 game
I thought it was about Lego
Your fingers are about as green as mine then?
yep...and my garden's just about the same shade of green
The problem is if they suddenly die after all this time (and especially if they know you're not that keen), they're probably gonna suss it's you.
well... I have no problem if they suspect its us... or even if they are sure its us... we can suspect each other from afar..
we have the kind of neighbourly relationship that consists of polite chat now & then when walking the dogs (our dogs hate each other).... and then I reckon they slag us off behind closed doors, as we do them (a bit).
they aren't bad neighbours... but she is a bit of a dozy mare.
Hubby is happy to have the polite conversation with her... but I reckon this could cause real awkwardness between us... as opposed to smiley to each others faces... grumble when indoors.
that makes me sound really bad doesn't it?
No! Not if that's the relationship between you. Let them moan all they like, if it was the other way round I'm sure they'd be banging on your door about it. Forget the wife, have a word with the husband 
ahh... there is no husband.
its her & her son & the dog. The son is now an adult, he must be about 20 ish.. (they have some humdinging rows )...
ok... I have found a pic that shows them... this was taken in 2008 when they last had them lobbed, hence why I am managing to grow stuff in the garden. They haven't had them cut since and they are at least 4 times as tall now..
oh & yes... that is panels of mdf up on my fence... my dog keeps trying to chew through the fence to eat their dog..
