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Gardening in Canada

sprouting roots taking over garden

14 years ago

Hello all! Please bear with me as I'm brand new to this forum & to gardening... my thumb isn't as green as I'd like it to be yet!

My neighbours have a large tree (I THINK it's an elm, but I'm not positive) that grows right up against our fence. There are a few spots where the tree roots have popped up above ground on our side of the fence, and are sprouting little mini-trees. Is there a way to "neuter" those roots so they don't keep sprouting, without killing the tree? The roots have come up where I have bulbs planted, so I don't want to damage my flowers if I can possibly avoid it. Would sawing the roots off flush with the ground hurt the parent tree?

I'm also having a similar problem with a maple tree that's trying to grow against the fence, but I don't know where the parent tree is for that one.

By the way: on the other side of our fence is a parking lot, so there's not much room for the trees to grow except towards our yard. Gotta admire nature's persistence, eh?

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Comments (4)

oilpainter
14 years ago
First the maple roots. They may come from a tree that was cut down. That is usually what happens when you cut down a tree.

Anyway No it won't hurt the tree if you cut off all those suckers, but with the living tree it will also take nutrients and water that you give your plants
bestwitches
14 years ago
You can cut off all the little trees growing off the root but don't saw the actual root off level with the ground. That might hurt the tree or invite disease to it. I don't know what your area garden looks like around it or how much sun gets there but maybe plant hens and chicks around the root area to hide it abit and make it interesting.
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thh20
Original Author
14 years ago
The sprouts are growing in a fairly shady area (created by the tree), and although I did have a few hens 'n chicks planted around there, but there's some form of wildlife that loves to dig them up and chew them to bits... I'm thinking squirrels. So I only have one hen plant left.

I can take pictures of the area, if that helps. Can we post pictures on this board??
ianna
14 years ago
Maybe, just as a precaution, check your bylaws and know your rights. If say your neighbor's branches are encrouching over your fence, usually in many municipalities, you have the right to trim off that overhang. However in the case of roots and cutting off say major roots - that's another story. If hte tree gets damaged or killed off in the process, you could get fined for that. On the otherhand, perhaps the by-laws will force the neighbor to do something about this.

IMHO homeowners should take steps to ensure trees don't encrouch on other people's property be it an overhanging branch or encrouching roots.

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