His shed behind your oak is just as much to blame for lack of sunlight as your oak tree! The tree and the shed can not exist in the current placement if he wants his hedge to live. By that I mean no matter how much you trim up your tree, his shed will still block sunlight from the other direction. I would suggest a privacy fence if he wants that particular area to be screened.

John

It looks pretty healthy to me, but I am not an expert in trees. But my sister has an Oak like this. If you prune a branch, that branch will die back to the trunk. So the only way to prune is to take the entire branch out back to the trunk. But once you prune it up, I think there is no going back. So be sure before pruning. I dont think you can hurt it pruning it up higher.

Hmmm. How to maintain neighborly relations...

He probably has the right to prune your tree where it is above his property.

I am unaware of any "sun rights" for suburbia. Silly of him to plant that hedge where it will not grow like he wants and expect you to help him.

It is been a tough spring and summer around here for trees. I do not know if branches without leaves are dead or just defoliated. Regardless dead wood should probably be removed from the tree finances dependant. Not that a dead branch casts much shade.

Good luck.

I would cut away all branches about 10 feet up, that will not harm the tree and that corner of your yard will be much nicer

trimming up.. is not a problem

where you are .. and when you do it.. might be ... there are disease/bug issues in mid summer ...

ken

I'm located in Ottawa, Canada. I never even considered that his shed might also be causing the problem. I'll mention this to him.

When I spoke to a buddy about it, who's a bit of a nature guy, I said "my neighbor says he wants me to cut down my oak tree because its killing his hedge"...my buddy immediately replied back "well, tell him to cut his hedge down because its killing your oak tree".

Yep and the only way his hedge will thrive in that back corner would be to cut the whole tree down. Certainly not something I would concede to do and I don't see a good compromise to the situation either besides a fence.

Good luck!

John

Shoot this person on site. I'm baffled why anyone would spare the sad, ugly, overplanted hedge over an oak.

If you do trim up, do it during dormancy.

Gee whiz, when does he ever even see that part of the hedge, it's behind his shed!

Maybe someone else can chime in on those bushes, are they arborvitae? I don't think they will ever fill out again, even of you do cut down the tree.

Alex

He could plant a row of shade tolerant evergreen bushes in the area by the tree. Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata' is a neat evergreen and shade tolerant shrub that can grow to zone 6, also Taxus baccata âÂÂFastigiataâÂÂ.

Yep, arbs at least from what I can tell.

They actually could fill back in but would take many many years.

Couple of questions...Which direction are we looking in that pic? Where is the lot line? How much of his hedge is in your yard? BTW, arbs planted that close together are likely doomed. He will have a stockade wall eventually.

tj

It's pretty obvious if he has no trees on his property, with what kind of regard he holds trees in general. I suspect that oak was growing long before he installed his 'living fence'. He created his own problem but wants you to remedy it, just like the guys who plant paulownia trees under the power lines and then complain about the power company prune jobs. I just have this sneaking suspicion that he might not be satisfied with a fence to replace those shrubs since he is meticulous with his yard. He'll want them 'all to match' or it will bug his sensibilities. LOL. Good luck.

Looks like you are using that part of the yard for "storage" of unnecessary or unused items. He probably figures you don't really care about that part of your yard anyway so you wouldn't mind removing the tree. Of course, if you removed the tree, all those items would be exposed much more and you'd have to remove them, so in that sense the tree is acting as "cover".

Tree appears to be a red oak which will grow vastly larger than it is now, if that matters.

Your neighbor is a bully so you should just ignore him and take no notice of his stupid request to cut down your oak.

Marko

Here is a link that might be useful: neighbor cutting my tree

Calling the neighbor a bully is going way too far. The OP said he had a good relationship with the neighbor, and that the neighbor merely asked the question. It's not as if he went behind the OP's back and secretly killed the tree.

Op, I can't tell by the picture, but if any of your tree's leaves overhang his property he has the right to trim anything that overhangs. I plan on doing that to my neighbor's sugar maple that he planted 2 feet off our property line. It's only 12 ft tall now but when the time comes, it's getting pruned up to our property line. The guy was an azzhat to plant it right there in the first place. We're also, next spring, installing a root guard along the property line over there to prevent the maple's roots from coming over. I admit, I can see the neighbor's point of view somewhat. I can't believe though he had the nerve to ask you to cut it down. Wow!

I like the idea of suggesting some other shrubs that would be shade tolerant and would probably result in a much prettier and natural hedge. Maybe you could even treat him to one (a small one that will be inexpensive!) and help him get those others out. With that shed, it doesn't seem as though the aborvitae/hedge would be terribly visible to him. I think a shrub/shade perenial (think hosta, ferns,helllebores) border there could be lovely on both sides of the fence which would then disappear from view! :) Definitely don't remove the tree!

Root guard for a maple is a hopeless endeavor....our neighbour excavated their yard for a foundation and there were little root stubs left from the Silver Maple he cut down sticking up out of the bottom of the hole @ 5'6" deep.

Is Sugar Maple really as aggressive as Silver Maple, though? I suspect there's quite a difference. Sugar is a maple, so its still going to be somewhat invasive, but I think Silver Maple tends to stand by itself for its aggressive tendency to take over an area with its roots.

It doesn't matter what kind of large-growing maple it is, the whole basis for people becoming bothered is that the tree is big. Small-growing maples are easier to have in non-palatial settings precisely because they are not big.

If that's a hemlock hedge it could be dying b/c of the hemlock woody adelgid. That should keep him busy til you can trim up the oak in the fall.

Pretty sure there's no wooly adelgid in Ottawa. Too cold.

famartin, Sugar maple roots aren't as aggressive as Silver, but at least under the canopy they suck the soil dry.

Famartin, the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid Aphid is found on the southern shores of Lake Ontario. It is only a matter of time before it goes to the north shore, if it isn't already there. Sad, I know. In this area we have lost almost all the Hemlock. It is the state Tree of PA and the PA Dept. of Forestry recommends NOT planting it in any of PA's 67 counties. I'm not sure where it will stop, how cold it has to be to prevent it from overwintering.

On a hopeful note, we recently went to Longwood Gardens. A few years ago, the hemlocks near the mansion appeared ready to check out, judging by the masses of aphids on the branches. Needles were sparse, it looked like curtains for the trees. This year, however, the trees appeared to be making a comeback. I know some that people have been experimenting with a wasp that targets the aphid, and maybe this is what happened. There was nobody around who could answer my questions about the trees, so I am in the dark as much as anybody. But, the difference in the trees was remarkable, so I remain hopeful.

Yes, it would be nice if the trees would stop dying off. Especially the old growth ones.

Back to your oak, cd: It appears to be a fine specimen. You and neighbor get along so no reason to mess that up. I'd offer to do some "raising up" style trimming, simply removing whole branches some way up the trunk, in that area, and all around the tree so as to provide for a balanced crown. But as whaas and possibly others have said, don't do it now during the growing season if oak wilt is in your area. The insect vectors of this serious oak pathogen are attracted to fresh pruning cuts. Do the pruning in the fall or winter and do it correctly or have a competent arborist perform the work. A judiciously raised up crown is nothing to be afraid of.

BTW, I too doubt that this alone will do all that much to help the hedge. But that's not your goal. Your goal is to appear to be cooperative so as to prevent this fellow from exercising his legal right to lop off branches at the point where they cross the imaginary line separating your properties, which when done usually leaves bad branch stubs in locations on the tree where proper wound closure won't happen.

+oM

Dzitmoidonc, the lakes have a significant effect on minimum winter temperatures, such that the downwind (southeast shore) is considerably warmer in winter than the upwind (northwest shore). Thus, the Canadian side, while not very far away, sees significantly colder temperatures than the American side. The Canadian side, for the same essential reason, also gets much less snow.

http://www.garden.org/zipzone/images/neusa.gif