How to kill plants in a narrow space?

Both my neighbor and mine had erected a fence along our property.

They had a vinyl fence, and since code specified a fence cannot be directly built on the property line but must be set 6" back minimum, their fence was about 8" back. I hated the look of a vinyl fence so I built a wood fence, also about 8" from the property line.

This leaves a sliver of space about 16" wide between our two fences.

Mysteriously things started to grow inside this sliver, shrubs, and a few papaya trees shot up and now is about 9' tall with the trunk diameter 3" in size. Some of the shrubs are starting to shoot up to already taller than the 6' fence, some things are bulging against my wood fence, nothing serious yet but if I ignore them it will be serious in a few years.

Obviously we don't have access from the side, but only from the top. The area is about 110' long.

Is there something I can sprinkle down this space and kill off what's in between? I cannot use RoundUp because my understanding is RoundUp you need to spray to the root area and I only have access from the top side.

Thanks,

MC

Reply to
MiamiCuse
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On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:17:07 -0400, against all advice, something compelled "MiamiCuse" , to say:

Rock salt? I think you can get big bags of it for water softeners pretty cheap.

Reply to
Steve Daniels

A strange use of resources. It must be a difficult neighbourhood where you cannot negotiate a fence that you can both tolerate and share the cost.

What sort of wooden fence is it? Can't you take off a couple of planks to get in or get somebody slender to climb in from the top?

Roundup (glyphosate) is absorbed by the leaves not the roots, there is no point in spraying on the soil or the root zone. It works best when the plants are growing strongly, ie late spring. But any new seeds that blow into the space will grow and you will have to spray again and again. There are chemical treatments that are supposed to inhibit seed germination but I don't know how effective they are or how long they persist. You would also need to keep back any nearby plants that creep on the ground or that have running root systems.

If you want a long term solution I would weed it and then cover the offending area with something solid and opaque to prevent seeds from starting and discourage runners - like black plastic under crushed rock. This may be more effort but you only have to do it once. Are there any children available to press into working in the confined space without being arrested for breach of child labour laws?

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

With RoundUp all you need to do is wet all the leaves. But, in your case I would do an initial mechanical removal. I would suggest moving your wooden fence back enough to allow easy weeding once a year. The space between mine and a neighbor is 4 feet and a mover takes care of it fast and easy.

Reply to
Phisherman

A simpler option may be to turn part of the fence in to a gate. Cut away a section of the existing fence and refasten as a gate. When weeding required simply open it & walk in to the gap and weed or spray.

rob

Reply to
George.com

Why pray tell did you wait for trees etc. to grow so large... you could have lopped them off when small... I hope when you erected your fence you placed it like 6"-8" off the ground so you could reach under, placing stockade slats directly on the ground will also cause them to rot.... you would have had a taller fence too.... you can still raise the sections.

Since you're neighbors why didn't you have a discussion regarding fencing the property line. Anyway by going first your neighbor did you a big favor, their fence saved you from spending money erecting your own fence, and awarded you that 6"-8" strip of land. Were it me who didn't like the look of their fence I would have planted a hedge... you still can... remove your spite fence (only spited yourself) and plant something you do like looking at. Keeping that narrow enclosed strip you created clear of weedy growth by erecting your fence without thinking is going to present a constant problem... remove your fence, plant a hedge, and save yourself a lot of grief.

Btw, in most municipalities when one erects a privacy fence the good side must face the neighbor... you may want to look into that aspect.

I'm sure there is a lot more to this story, there always is when neighbors are impelled to erect a double fence/spite fence.

Reply to
brooklyn1

No not at all, it's simply not done here typically. The vinyl fence was already in place when I moved in and I wanted something more natural, and I installed over 300 linear feet of fence bordering three neighbors, this part is the only part that overlaps.

This is precisely why the county require fence to be placed at least 6" back from the property line, so that there is no dispute as to whose fence it is. There have been too many dispute when two property owner shared the cost to build a fence and then one property is sold and the new owner inherit may not have the same idea as the old owner and whatever "negotiated" come into question. So, doesn't matter who paid for what and what was negotiated, all fences must be set back from the property line, if you pay for part of a fence that is inside someone's property line, then it's that person's fence. He/she may paint, remove, do whatever to it.

In my case, the owner was out of town a person I never met, she rented the property to someone and the property went into foreclosure, sat abandoned for over 1 year, it was difficult to find the right person to talk to, and I doubt they would want to remove 100' of vinyl fence in perfectly good condition where every 4' there is a concrete post sat 18" deep into the ground.

It is very densely grown I doubt anyone would fit in that space and have room to move, or manuveur.

Yes I can, but then only 2 or three feet the stuff is getting so thick I would have to remove all 100' of it to access all of it. The property was abandoned when it went into foreclosure and I saw plants shooting up from their side, I thought it was from their property until I looked closer the other day, it wasn't from their property it was stuff grown inside this sliver.

I guess I was always under the assumption that the space between the two fences would have so little light nothing would grown, was I wrong!

Reply to
MiamiCuse

It is too late now at this point the fence was built with PT 4x4 set into concrete post 18" below grade spaced every 4' apart, that would mean relocating 26 posts it would be less expensive to demolish and build new there is no way to just "move" it.

Reply to
MiamiCuse

I couldn't see them when they were small. They shot up between the two fences. The neighbor house went into foreclosure so it was bank owned and sat vacant for a year, I saw some plants grew tall "over the other side" but thought it was in their yard. Then a few days ago I tried to trim some of them the grew over us and realized they shot up between the two fences.

No I did not do them 6-8" off the ground the planks were almost at the ground in some cases touching the ground. I did not want them off the ground and they may rot faster but I am willing to replace the planks sooner in exchange for a fence that blocks out from below with stray dogs, possums, raccoons etc...

That's the thing, I don't like a hedge. I wanted something along three sides that have a consistent look. One side would not receive enough sunlight for anything to grow, I didn't want a separate solution for each side. I have had a hedge in another property and I hated it. For a large property with multiple acres I would do a hedge and let it grown, for a smaller property where the space is constrained one has to constantly trim it, and I hated the look of hedges that have been trimmed to some ugly rectangular or rounded artificial shapes.

That is true in some, in ours it does not matter, you can have "good side out" or "good side in".

Not really, it is fairly typical here, where properties change hands quite often.

Reply to
MiamiCuse

Didn't make sense to set wooden posts in concrete, a lot of extra labor for nothing and the concrete will help hold moisture in the wood causing the wood to rot prematurely, and then it's a big job to dig up the concrete to replace posts, probably need to abandon the concrete and add a new post along side, and install a sister post... concrete is used with metal (galvanized pipe) posts to add stability, but 4X4s have enough area to be stable on their own.

I would raise each fence section (not a huge job) enough so that you can reach in to weed at the bottom, high enough to reach in with a string trimmer.... if you live in a high wind area the opening at the bottom of stockade fencing will allow some of the wind force to pass underneath, possibly saving your fence. Once a year you can treat the area liberally with rock salt in an effort to inhibit plant growth... but still many weeds will survive the salt, especially those that normally grow near the seashore.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Possums and racoons can easily climb any fence, may as well try to fence out squirrels... dogs want in they will quickly dig under and larger dogs will dig and chew through wooden slats within a few minutes... for dogs one really needs chainlink or some kind of iron picket fence such as used around graveyards. And still dogs will dig under chainlink and iron fencing... to keep dogs from digging one really needs to place the fence upon a paved area or do the typical concrete block wall thingie one usually constructs in southern climes where the ground doesn't heave from freezing weather.

From your first post it was evident that your concern was to block the view of your neighbor's ugly fence, but now with your subsequent posts you're tossing in all sorts of other conditions. I think for you the only solution is to move onto large acreage with a forest buffer... I gather from your descriptions you are on a relatively small surburban lot, perhaps 1/4 acre... it's not possible to find any real privacy on so small a lot where neighbors can hear each other's toilets flush. I lived in a similar situation, I learned to tolerate my neighbor's eyesores and peering eyes and I planted shrubery as needed... you will never be able to hem yourself into so small a lot where you will have privacy in all areas, the best you can do is to create a small secluded island for yourself such as a well planted patio. Privacy fencing your entire perimeter is an exercise in futility... and often it's better to be able to see across property lines... if you put up too nice a fence next thing you know your neighbors will remove and/or not maintain theirs, and then they will attach stuff to your fence and/or decorate your fence with what you may think is graffiti. And soon as they learn what bothers you those are exactly the actions they will perform, like making loud noise, cooking stinky foods, and even tossing their discards over. And same as you moved there neighbors move away and new neighbors move in, and they may redecorate their property in ways that interfere with your goals. By fencing yourself into a stockade you are telegraphing your disdain towards neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors, but only if they're good [neighborly] fences.

Reply to
brooklyn1

It costs twice as much but to you it's normal. To me it's strange.

The vinyl fence

How sad. Is the law not helpful? In these parts you cannot force a neighbour to rebuild a fence just because you don't like it. Typically the remedy is to maintain good relationships so that you both get something acceptable or to grow a hedge in front and ignore it. Once the fence is built everybody is stuck with it until it needs to be rebuilt or unless both sides agree to rebuilding.

Is there much litigation over fencing? Is this the reason for this situation where you are?

So, doesn't matter who

A difficult situation.

Perhaps action a little sooner would have made the problem more tractable :-)

Sod's law applies. Anything you want to grow will need the conditions to be just right and anything you don't want will flourish in appalling conditions.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

I am in Miami so building code calls for concrete post set every 4' dug 18" below. I don't really have much option on how I can build it. Spacing, dimensions, how many nails or screws as well as length and angle of screws are all specified in the code and not much I can do to deviate from them.

That may be a possibility. Only I did not use premade sections, I made it with individual planks but it's still doable. Thanks,

Reply to
MiamiCuse

Yes they will, if there is a reason to. Most dogs and cats just use the path of least resistance. So far what I put up it has been working nicely, except for the unexpected growth in the sliver area between the fences.

It is not 100% possible to block everything off yes, but it has worked for our intended purposes.

Again I don't understand the logic of assuming my neighbors would cook stinky food or paint graffiti on my fence simply to annoy me. Each neighborhood is different, in ours it's unusual to not have fence, and double fence is quite the norm.

Reply to
MiamiCuse

If you had Sheldon as a neighbor, you would too!

Brian

Reply to
Default User

Welcome to America :o(

Reply to
Billy

We are losing top soil, and you want to kill more? Definite case of under think.

Reply to
Billy

Unfortunately this is the case in America. Sometimes people just throw money at problem hoping that will solve the problem.

Reply to
Quijibo

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