The tree tobacco is easy to remove here- I just cut if off at the base and pull off the suckers for a few weeks. If they are small seedlings you can pull the whole thing up.

Is the pepper causing any problems?

The tobacco tree is located on a steep sloping hillside, so I won't be able to handle removal myself. I'll have to call a gardener to come handle removal of the tree in a single trip. The tree is about 15' tall.

The only issue so far with the pepper tree is definite irritation of my sinuses. I took a closer look, and the pepper tree has got to be over 15' tall.

Interesting....I didn't know that there are allergy problems with the Brazilian Pepper...

Brazilian Pepper tree is bad news. It's spread itself into the side of my house and is 25 feet tall in some parts. You can see the oval shaped leafs and red berries of the plant up and down this pic of my yard. The Brazilian Pepper tree is mixed in with a hedge we have.

Is it on your side or your neighbor's? It looks like the hedge will be fine without it.

Is that hedge oleander? Can't tell for sure, but looks to be. It has not succumbed to whatever it is that's killing all the oleanders? If the oleanders should die...will the Brazilian Pepper be the only thing giving you a measure of privacy from that angle?

That would be correct- the pepper tree would be the only thing providing privacy should the oleander die away.

The pepper tree is on my side of the fence line. I have no problem with the bare spots left from removing the pepper tree. The neighbor's property on the other side of the hedge is just a storage/ trashcan area. They have a wooden fence separating their backyard from the storage/ trashcan area. I can always fill in the fence with a fast growing hedge. I just want the pepper tree out.

As tall as those pepper trees are, I'm guessing the root system might go on for yards. We already are dealing with an eroding hillside and ground squirrels, I'd hate to have to disturb the soil even more by digging up the roots to all those 20 foot tall pepper trees.

This post was edited by gardenweb88 on Mon, May 6, 13 at 2:31

I wouldn't dig up the soil. Just cut it off and knock off the suckers with a shovel. I cut down a locust tree last year because it was sending up root suckers in the neighbor's yard, and it took me about five rounds of pulling off root suckers, but this year I have only had two come up.

We're probably going to cut down the pepper tree in late june/ early july. Should that happen successfully, can anyone suggest a replacement hedge to grow there? I'm expecting some bare spots in the chain link fence. The replacement shrub doesn't have to be nearly as tall as the pepper tree. 6 or 7 feet is just fine.

We just removed several Brazilian pepper trees that were growing on the fence line between our property and our neighbor's property. I would suggest a complete removal of the trunk, as it will still send up shoots through the trunk via the main tap root.

The ones we removed from our yard were spindly and almost 30 feet tall. We managed to remove it ourselves without too much trouble as we have very sandy soil. There was a main tap root and there were several runner roots that were about 2 feet beneath the surface within about 5 feet of the main root. So long as you're able to get the tap root out and sever the runner lateral roots, you should be able to prevent it from re-sprouting.

what sort of requirements to you have for the replacement, for instance, "should be able to be pruned into a formal hedge or can be somewhat seethrough?"

I'd plant something that uses very little water- probably arborvitae, twisting juniper, or Texas privet. They all get wide, though.
Renee

The replacement hedge should be between 7-10 feet tall. A little higher is fine. We'd prefer something thin, so as not to grow wide into the neighbor's yard without their approval. There is only a chainlink fence separating our yard from theirs. We don't usually trim that hedge into any formal shape. We'd prefer something denser to create privacy, but If the only plants that fit the other criteria is something semi transparent, then i guess we could fill in the gaps with a vine of some sort.

This post was edited by gardenweb88 on Wed, May 8, 13 at 12:50

The Las Pilitas site has a newer page now on natives for hedges/screens. Have a look, some of them seem pretty great. The Island Mountain Mahagony at only 3-4' wide, for example.

I would cut the Brazillian pepper off at the base and carefully apply stump killer. I believe you can use glyphosate at full strength as well. I did that to a cercis last year and the delicate plants around it were fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: native hedge shrubs

Wonderful! I love hedges and want them all!