he begins to create large open wounds.. that may or may not encapsulate ... heal .. and eventually.. in tree time ... the tree will fail ...

key words.. tree time ...

i predict somewhere in the next 50 years.. the tree will fail due to such ... and of course he will be long gone..

and the next owner.. the last owner.. will be complaining they just simply love the tree.. and want to know how to save it ... lol .. and i will be long gone by then.. to be able to tell them.. just get rid of it and plant another ...

ken

Don't Top:

http://www.plantamnesty.org/don-t-top

"The level of kowtowing that goes on in regard to this Christmas tree farm neighbor is unbelievable."

Completely agree.

If the neighbor who owns the sugar maple only wanted a tree that grows to a certain height he should have chose differently and it might be best to replant with something else. However, if he is considering topping it just because the idiot with the Christmas trees might be upset then that's a ridiculous option.

If I am remembering correctly, in a previous thread of yours you mentioned the Christmas trees were growing over onto your property. No way should he be accommodated and not have the same thing expected of him in return.

Rodney

Yes: the fact is that there are plenty of people around who are perfectly happy to overstep their bounds in all manner of different situations.

And will, if somebody doesn't reign them in. Not all entitled people are actual royalty.

The topping hasn't happened yet. I'll post with pictures when it happens. And video it too if I am around when he does it.

The xmas neighbor has to be tolerated, and carefully dealt with, because he will make your life a living hell if you end up on his radar. When I talked to the maple neighbor the other day about his tree and the shading of the xmas trees, he said well how do you think xmas guy is going to react when you put your picket fence up? I said it's only a 3ft fence; it won't affect any of those trees! It will bend the lower branches perhaps, but DH said to me that the trees would hurt the fence, and not the other way around.

We're going to send a courtesy text ahead of when we do the fence, so that he feels he has some say in the matter. Give the baby his bottle as dh says. At least then we won't have to worry about him retaliating..

Late last summer he openly retaliated against the maple guy by parking this enormous RV right smack on the (other) property line he shares with the maple guy. The maple guy's yard is barely longer than the RV so the RV literally blocked the sun from their yard on that side, and it became an attractive nuisance to the 3yr and 4yr old granddaughters. Maple guy and his wife flipped their lids, and had it out with the xmas guy and even called the xmas guy's parents and raged at them about their lunatic son. The RV was eventually moved.

I don't think I mentioned this particular story. There are so many stories to tell, and I know I've already told so many. lol

The xmas neighbor has to be tolerated, and carefully dealt with, because he will make your life a living hell if you end up on his radar

=

he is succeeding in bullying and manipulating you.

IDK what kind of place it is you live but none of that kind of thing would fly around here..this guy sounds like a nut case. As Embothrium said he is a bully and will only need one good person to stand up to him before he backs down. Hell with him and his xmas trees put that fence up! I wouldn't send him any kind of notice. Pick a quick contractor and make sure its done before he comes home from work...then post a video of the look on his face as he pulls in..much better than a tree topping video

This is some kind of family thing? The maple guy knows the christmas tree guy's parents?

I don't even know if my neighbor is still married, I mean I barely see his wife's car ever so I have my doubts. I'd ask him but he is bound to be angry or sad about it so we'll keep talking about baseball or the weather.

The xmas guy's parents own ALL the land that the Christmas trees are on. Every square inch of it. They let their son, around 30 years ago, plant all those trees on the their land here. He doesn't give them any money from their sales, nor does he contribute to paying the taxes on the land. So, if you wonder where the entitlement comes from, that's probably part of it. The maple neighbor was in the right to call the guy's parents, since they own the land butting up to his property, not to mention the land I am planting the fence against.

The xmas guy's family owned a great deal of the land around here, for a very long time, but they eventually sold most of it to another man decades ago. He had a stoke and died about 3 years ago. Now, the Xmas guy owns it all, snatched all of it up, outbidding his own father for that land, offering cash to that man's 5 children, who found the cash irresistible. Now he owns the only public entrance to our lake. And now, anyone who doesn't live here has to go through xmas guy if they want to launch their boat on the lake.

I can only imagine how much this kind of power has swelled his already swelled head. DH and I have had no problems with him. The xmas guy has left us alone, but he knows we're very friendly with the maple guy.

I think a lot of the anger between the maple guy and the xmas guy stems from when they maple guy bought his house. Xmas guy was dying to buy that house. I mean make an offer and I'll pay you cash right now kind of desire for the home. But that owner, an old man, H A T E D xmas guy and refused to sell it to him, at any price. So, along comes innocent maple guy and his wife, who fell in love with the home and decided to move here not knowing xmas neighbor was boiling mad. On the day they moved in, xmas neighbor told them that he wanted that house but the seller refused to sell it to him. How's that for a welcome?

This is a situation that can be solved with strategically placed plants.

Good living fences make good neighbors. What that means is that it eliminates your neighbor visually.

I say leave the maple alone and sit back and watch the fun. If you can't sway the "maple guy" to do that, you could at least convince him to pollard it instead of topping.

I'm not sure all trees take to Pollarding like others, I have heard Plane trees are okay with it, it just may die a slow death, just as with topping. Meaning the maple. Some people just won't listen. I have seen many topped maples around the area of my grandmas house. They look like crap, I guess previous owners planted them, or else why plant a maple that will get huge and trim it into a misshaped horrible specimen?

I would hope that your neighbor reconsiders. Otherwise it's just something you can't do a thing about as it dies slowly over many years of the torturous topping. I'd advise to just don't look at it. I saw this crap every time I went to my grandmas house over several years, until the tree just dies.

Hopefully he's reconsidered, and that's why you don't see the tree topped yet.

"I'm not sure all trees take to Pollarding like others"

Yes, but it is a maple. Maples are closely related to sycamore and plane trees, and when pollarded correctly (in winter, december/january) would most likely do fine. The only problem I see with this is the owner not willing to do this task annually.

In general most maple species aren't to be messed with past the initial training phase while the trees are young. Unlike Platanus spp. the sugar maple isn't even particularly fast growing - pollarded trees need to be able to rapidly produce a set of replacement shoots every time the existing ones are sawed off in order for the desired effect to be maintained.

"Maples are closely related to sycamore and plane trees"

Maple is more closely related to Poison Ivy & Buckeye than Sycamore. Even Oak is more closely related to Maple than Sycamore is. I wouldn't use that as an indication that a Maple can be pollarded.

Can you imagine the sap flowing from a sugar maple that is topped during the dormant season?

Whaas, isn't that the reason that they are topped during the dormant season, so sap doesn't go everywhere? Or am I confused and it is the other way around?

Maple tends to bleed profusely in late winter/early spring if pruned any later than early October.

It will explode.

I agree that no one should plant a large tree on a small piece of property. I especially think this is true when that tree will shade a neighbor's property or hang over the property line. I think it's pretty inconsiderate to take a neighbor's sunny yard and turn it into shade. Doing this can affect the type of plants they can grow, force them to take up their sun-loving plants (which they might really love) and replace them with shade tolerant plants (which they might not like and which is an expense). Plus, it can block sunlight from their home and turn a bright, sunny, home into a depressing, dark, cave. In my opinion, that tree is not suitable for his smaller lot and I think he should replace it with a smaller tree that is more suitable for a smaller yard and which will also not impact his neighbors. If he won't do that, then at least he's being considerate to not let it get so tall that it shades neighboring property. Of course, this is all just my opinion...

I'm sure the tree, once topped, won't look as nice or do as well as it would if left alone. But, I think the tree was totally unsuitable for a small yard in the first place. People need to think before they plant and they should consider their neighbors, imo.

Or it can turn a yard that is oppressively miserable in the summer into a cool oasis. Can't really wrap my mind around this notion that branches extending a few feet into your yard are something horrible.

There are old neighborhoods that are full of oversized trees people would never think of planting on those lots today. Generally they are MUCH more pleasant...cooler in the summer, and without the sterile urban look of strip malls and McMansions.

If the branches extend over the road, they keep the black asphalt from heating up in the summer, making the whole area more pleasant.

I hate it when lawn Nazis try to impose there aesthetic on everyone.

Yes, trees can also turn a hot yard into a cool, shady, oasis. But, in my opinion, that decision should be made by a homeowner about his/her own property, not by an inconsiderate neighbor. I'm not sure what makes anyone think it's okay to take away someone's sunlight like that. Not everyone likes shade. Not everyone wants their yard turned into a shady space and not everyone wants a tree shading their house and turning it into a dark cave. It's really inconsiderate, imo, to plant a big tree that shades your neighbor's yard and/or home. Additionally, if a tree is shading a neighbor's roof, that can interfere with their solar panels. Big trees certainly are beautiful, but they have their place and, imo, that place is not in small yards, especially when they shade a significant portion of a neighbor's yard or shade a neighbor's home. My user name is veggiegardnr. Do you think my ability to have/grow my little fruit trees and my vegetables should depend on whether a neighbor decides they want to plant a huge tree that will shade my yard? It's one thing to move into a house that already has a shady yard and little natural light inside the home. When you do that, you've made a choice that shade is fine by you. It's quite another thing to buy a home and then have your sunlight (and your ability to grow what you want on your own property) slowly taken away by an inconsiderate neighbor who plants a huge tree. I don't like it when tree people try to impose their shade on everyone else.

Might check on that whole lake entrance thing. I think if it touches some part of what you own and you can't access it through your own property then there has to be a right of way given if he likes it or not. I don't think anyone can prevent peoiple from putting boats in on a public lake..this guy really needs to be taken down a few notches from the sounds of it.

Miketropic, your last post here reminds me of an episode of "fear thy neighbor", just a little bit. Not that your post was wrong, but, the problem over public access is what reminded me of it.

I have a yard narrow at the front wide at the back..after a dispute with my only neighbor they put up a fence ( that was the idea so they paid for it and I didn't have to :) ! the only way I can drive into the back yard now is through the property next to me. I am friends with that neighbor and he does not care at all but if for some reason he did I would have a right to be able to access my backyard on one side or the other. IDK how this works everywhere but in KY you have to be able to access your own property even if it means crossing onto someone elses if they like it or not.

I had to get permission to use part of the neighbors driveway back in 1996 when my husband and I put a doublewide up, he owned about 20-25ft of the driveway, and we had to sign papers that we would'nt put a business on the property. He owned an insurance company at the time, he's a bailbondsman now. I guess we could've been his competition possibly? We never worked from home. It's a shame because my husband could fix computers. He had to go to them. I'm glad that neighbor is a good ways away from me. That's a great thing KY has, it's only right though. A right away should be free for all to get home, no signatures should be needed.

Well, I wouldn't appreciate a neighbor driving across my back yard without at least asking first. I have allowed neighbors to do such, and also to park vehicles (temporarily) right on the other side of the property line. So, I would say that unless the only way to access the property is through the neighboring property, permission of the land owner should be needed. I doubt that I would go as far as drawing up a contract, or signing one. That seems to be overkill.

This neighbor is kinda a "meany" he even gives dirty looks all the time. His wife is nice though, I don't bug them. The driveway is no where near their house, I never knew it was their property. The people knew lived there when my parents built their house never mentioned it was their property, so when my husband and I got the land behind my parents we were shocked about needing permission. This guy bugs my neighbor behind me, the guy behind me wanted me to plant more trees so this guy won't watch him working in his yard. I said "just give em time, they'll grow". I get along with the guy behind me, he's very close to my property, so thank goodness. He had a live in girlfriend for a while, thank goodness she hopped on her broom and went to Arizona.