Apologize to your neighbor. Knock on the door, explain that you didn't plan ahead for that and offer a heartfelt. If they're a serious lawn buff they'll be ticked, but not much you can do at this point. If they're not, they'll be glad to know the new weed is edible and just might like having them there. Either way, it'd be good form. The real question is, how is the Roundup he's gonna spray on his side of the fence going to affect your stock?

dave

My understanding is that the root systems are not very deep. Theoretically you could pull them out. You could also shear the canes down and paint the stumps with Roundup, which might preserve the neighbor's lawn, somewhat.

If you want to save your raspberries, for heaven's sake don't put Roundup on the stuff that's on your neighbor's lawn. While I doubt it would kill your entire patch, it's certainly not going to do it any good.

With repeated mowing, the raspberries may just give up on your neighbor's side. Yeah, you can dig them out, but they'll just keep coming back.

Fruitgirl,

IIRC, Roundup interacts with the soil. That's why I wonder what's going to happen if the neighbor decides to spray em. Would be wise (as well as classy-polite) to talk to them about it and let them know that mowing will keep em down, and if not they'll get some fresh berries. If the neighbor sprays em with roundup, I'd expect to see a LOT of loss on originating side of the fence. I spritzed some volunteer trees in my yard with a lil round up and it killed a radius of about two feet. It's great stuff. God bless modern chemistry.

Apologize. I think mowing them down should eventually kill them, but you'll probably have more coming up unless you move your patch further from the fence. If you or your neighbor wants to use Roundup, then I'd starting trying to sever the roots along the edge of your patch to try to prevent the roundup from spreading through the roots. Once you've taken care of that, then you'll have to either put in a root barrier of some sort, or move your patch over away from the neighbors.

tdave, Roundup translocates through the plant and goes to the root, which it kills. Spraying it on the neighbors side of the fence will definitely affect the plants on the OP's side, but it probably won't kill them. Repeated applications might, though.

I doubt that mowing will ever provide a permanent solution. My parents have for 20 years had a small patch of what I think are Autumn Gold, and they have sent up new shoots in the lawn every spring, and continue to do so even though the shoots are mown down. it really isn't a big deal if you're not too fussy about the lawn. If the shoots are cut down before they become woody, they die and the soft stem that is left behind degrades pretty quickly. If the stems are allowed to become woody, the stem left behind can be tough on bare feet.

i would dig a trench along the edge of my yard and remove all raspberry roots that cross. then i would refill the trench, and plan on repeating the process once or twice a year. Once the soil is loosened, it shouldn't be too much work to re-dig the area and remove any new shoots. I don't like to use root barriers, because if the roots do cross the barrier, the barrier makes it harder to remove the roots. However, lots of people do install root barriers to hold things like raspberries, perennials, even bamboo in check and I hear it works.

Would tilling on my side of the fence work? I have a Troybilt. Regular shallow tilling. Or would it be better deep tilling----but I fear the roots might be tilled deep and get through.

This sounds like a lot of effort. Talk to your neighbor before you till and dig and bust yer butt for something. He might actually like raspberries and everyone's happy without the work. As a home owner, I also very much appreciate when a neighbor voluntarily takes responsibility for something on his side of the fence and approaches me first. If I have to come calling, I'm not gonna be friendly.

d
a v
e

I planted a large patch of strawberries that will probably be in the yard of the house next door this summer. When I planted them (about six feet from the fence) the neighbor was very happy and couldn't wait to enjoy the fruit.

Unfortunately, the neighbor has been replaced by a less friendly real estate guy planning to flip the house. When I see weeds on his side of the fence, I reach over and pull them so I don't have to worry about any chemicals getting to the berries I have on my side. I also have pulled the berries I've seen sprout up close to the fence. I'm trying to stay organic so I plan to talk to him when I see him out.

I planned to offer to pull the weeds and berries in his yard close to the fence if he would agree to keep the parties quiet at night. He obviously doesn't work much because he has parties almost every night in the summer that are loud and last until about 3 am.

After losing sleep for three weeks last summer, my last interaction with him was with one of his drunk guests that I politely asked to allow me at least one night of sleep at 3 one morning. Our houses are too close for all that yelling and laughing I had to put up with every night. I'm hoping that he's willing to be a considerate neighbor by working with me so we don't have major problems before he can sell his house.

Ramble,

speak to the guy. If he doesn't like the berries, take a cultivator and pull them up (they are not very deeply rooted in my experience) and cultivate the soil on your side of the fence as well.(btw, the cultivator device I'm talking about is one of those little 3-tined hand rake things) Then get a couple 12x12 inch pavers and dig them into the ground at least 1/2 way to form a wall on your side of the fence. (problem most likely solved)

Cheshire....you too need to speak to the neighbor, but you need to be a little more of a prick. I'd tell him each prospective buyer I see would meet me and hear how difficult it is to sleep in the neighborhood (without mentioning from whom the noise is coming). The real estate market is tough enough that he will most likely not want someone like you making it harder for him. Or start anonymously calling the cops.

~Chills

There was a row of black raspberries planted in a bed here when I moved in 26 years ago. They spread everywhere, took over almost a quarter of the back yard. The best way to get rid of them is to dig them out by hand, one at a time. Use a shovel and gloves. If you try to keep a few, the birds will eat them, spread them all over the rest of the yard and the neighborhood. The seedlings are rarely as good as the original plants. I'm still pulling out raspberry vines in back. Some entered the foundation of the garage, and even a termite treatment didn't kill them.
The plus side is that the plants' roots break up, mulch the soil, nourish the earthworms and other soil life. It makes it easier to grow something else there in the future.
If you insist on growing raspberries, grow them in pots, cover them when they are fruiting to keep the birds off, don't let them spread out of the pots. Good luck! You're going to need it.

As for the round-up......... I use it around my raspberry patches every year and have never had a problem with it killing or hurting my berry crop. I use it to keep down the weeds and extra seedlings trying to grow along the edges so I just have to rider-mow around the patch instead of using the push mower to get under the canes that bend over. So if they do use round-up I dont think you will have a problem regardless since I use it on purpose and I sell raspberries as part of my business.

Knipofia,

You're right, of course. Something people seem to be losing in this day and age is the concept of neighborly. You may just have to manually pluck the runners as they come up into your landscaping. I would stop short of suggesting other ideas, but one I had when my neighbor planted a blue spruce 5 feet from my privacy fence involved a preemptive round-up "accidental" over spray. No pictures, no proof. Maybe it was cane borers or root rot. Erm, I mean maybe it was blue spruce borers. Not making any suggestions here, just rambling.

So, what kind of ornamental grass do you have? heh. And what zone are you in? I'm in 4b (kinda) and I'm trying some pokers this year. You this far North?

d

I'm not sure what kind of grass it is as I bought this house 3 years ago and it was already here. It has very long deep-green blades and doesn't have quite as solid a base as most ornamental grasses I see. It almost looks like a special turf grass that grows tall and has some dainty little red flowers in the late spring/early summer. I tried to find it online but couldn't. Maybe it's not a true ornamental grass at all, LOL. It is very beautiful though.

I'm pretty new to gardening so I don't know names of a lot of things in my yard. The previous owner was a 2nd generation nursery worker and plant lover so we inherited a quite beautiful yard :) I'd really like to keep it that way.

I'm in Eugene, Oregon. Not sure what the zone is here, but I moved up here from Southern California and fell head over heels in love with the Red Hot Poker Lily's. Had never seen one before I moved here and they are all over Eugene :) I just planted my 1st ones last year along with a few purple pineapple lily's and a dappled willow shrub that are also gorgeous!! I've never lived this far north before but am really loving how easy everything grow up here.

I stumbled upon this board doing a search on my raspberry problem. I've been reading some other posts and plan on sticking around for a bit to see what else I can learn about gardening. I didn't mean to make the original poster feel any worse, but with everyone saying it's no big deal and how great raspberries are, I just had to let them know that there is another side to things.

In my research I found a root barrier system that only costs around $50 for a 12"x 20' roll (BioBarrier). It requires digging a 12" trench around the planting area and will prevent roots from spreading where you don't want them. I took this info over to my neighbor and she said "great, why don't you guys install that?" UGH!!! So if I want to prevent the spread, I have to dig up my existing well behaved landscaping to install this so that her newly planted raspberries (planted last fall) wont be disturbed. Or I could accidentally overspray some round up through the fence I guess. Just was hoping not to have to go that route.

Anyway, nice to meet you and thanks for the overspray tip.

It wasn't a tip, I'd never suggest such a thing. More of a rambling. And if she's not going to do anything about it and suggests it's your job to spend money to protect your investment from her carelessness, she's high. Matters, hands, taking into your own, etc. Make sure she's not lookin or she can do the same back. She might anyway.

Dappled willows. How big do they get? Never seen em before yesterday when one caught my eye at the store. I might have to look into them, cause I liked a lot.

d

Dappled Willows will get as big as you let them, but they can take pruning any time as many times as you want. I planted 2. I keep the one in front of my house trimmed up and small. The one in back I have not trimmed at all and am just letting it grow as big as it wants to. This time of year they have florescent white/pinkish foliage on all the ends which even seems to glow in the dark. After the pink fades, it's foliage is light green and white and pretty, but not spectacular like the florescent pink/white of the spring. In my area it snows maybe 5-20 days all winter long and the willow keeps most of its leaves through the winter and then fills in the rest in early spring. It seems to be extremely hardy and does well in sun or part shade (the tag said it prefers dappled sunlight or part shade, but mine in front is full sun all day long with no shade in sight and it does well there too). I fall in love with it all over again every spring when the pink+white shows up. We're on a visible corner lot and I spend a lot of time out front with my kids watching them ride bikes, etc. and I've had so many people stop their car and ask me what it is because it's so pretty in the spring.

Also- I went to the Nursery today to ask what my "ornamental grass" is and it's actually Crocosmia LOL. Shows how much I know about plants :)

Crocosmia huh? I sorta figured it was kniphofia. Shows what I know. We're kinda hijacking this thread, but it was pretty much done on it's own anyway. I just noticed last night that one of my kniphofia sprigs is doing something different. I bought 6 of em about as big around as my little finger. So far they've all just put up new blades from the center, but last night it looks like the largest one might be trying a flower bud in the middle. There's something in there that's not a new blade of grass.

I don't really have any place to put a willow, but dangitt they're a neat lil plant. Maybe if my kniphofias don't survive the winter.

d

Seems like some of the points of attack on the errant raspberries are a little backwards since we aren't dealing with livestock. If you are the sender of the errant raspberries, you should put down a root block on your property line to try to keep them from infesting your unwilling neighbor. He shouldn't have to provide the blocking. At the same time, if you are the recipient of errant raspberries, don't even think of accidentally overspraying onto your neighbors. Simply keep a small container of concentrated Roundup, a rubber glove, and a cotton glove around. When shoots start coming up on your side of the fence, put on the rubber glove, then the cotton one, dip your fingers in the Roundup, then caress the new shoot. The Roundup will take it out and spare the rest of your landscaping. It might cause some deformed growth and sickness on your neighbor's side of the fence, but you can deal with that by explaining how they could install a root barrier to keep you from having to deal with the problem. That way you are not meddling on your neighbor's side of the fence and ending up in a landscape killing war.

When I built my privacy fence I poured a product called Ground Clear under it to keep any vegetation from growing there. I did'nt want to have to use a string trimmer to get at weeds and grass, because of how they can damage the wood. I discovered that it also acts as a barrier to invasive plants, and keeps them from moving into the treated soil. It even works to control the spread of my hardy banana "Musa basjoo", which has become quite a weed. It can spread in three directions, but can't send out a pup in the direction of the fence. It has also halted the spread of Bermuda grass from my neighbors yard into my garden.
I know that this stuff is no good for the environment, but it does prevent a lot of problems. I apply it once in the spring and again in late summer.
Garbird

My local nursery sold me some stump killer they said is very potent and this is how I'm dealing with the raspberries. When a raspberry plant shoots up in my yard, I cut the shoot off and use a dropper to drop some stump killer on the freshly cut area. It may or may not affect her raspberries, but it will definitely kill whatever comes into my yard. I'm glad I didn't decide to overspray because that would make me feel very guilty in the end. I also learned that this same neighbor planted English Ivy in the corner of her yard bordering the neighbor on the other side of her and the one in back of her where she just had a gazebo built. They don't sell English Ivy at the local nursery because it's considered too invasive so she went to a local park and dug some up to plant in her yard anyway. Guess I should consider myself lucky I have to deal with raspberries in instead of ivy.

I'll have to remember that rubber glove + cloth glove method just in case my stump killer doesn't work.

Thanks again for the advice.

Mowing will not stop it. They will keep popping up in different spots. I’ve had them for years. You would have to put a deep edging along the fence to keep them out. Persistently pull them out. I find that most successful.

We are contemplating reserving a lot in a new development in the outskirts of town. Very countrified and lots of horse ranches. Problem is the area where our lot is is covered with raspberry shrubs growing up through a field. There are about 10 lots in this strip. Only three have no raspberries. Can’t imagine how all the homeowners will cope when the canes start growing up through the new lawns. So frustrating.