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Bamboo plant growing through my fence

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sticklebrick14
sticklebrick14 Posts: 11 Forumite
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in Gardening
Hi everyone,

Would really appreciate some advice on next steps with a problem bamboo plant belonging to my neighbour.

The situation is that our neighbour replaced their rear fence about 5 years ago and did such a horrible and dangerous job (nails and screws and twisted metal sticking through our side and it swayed in the wind!!) that we asked them to make it safe. They just ignored us so last year we finally errected our own fence 6 inches inside the boundarys line further into our garden. It is totally freestanding and hides the monstrosity of their fence.

All was good until a couple of months ago when the neighbours bamboo plant started growing in large volumes through and underneath their fence in the 6 inch gap and obviously into our garden and two weeks ago the shoots started to break through our new fence.

I wrote to the neighbours and said I would like them in the next 14 days to sort this out and remove the shoots on my land and make sure they didn't come through again. Unsurprisingly they ignored my letter.

I'm really concerned about the damage that could occur and would really like some advice. Will the bamboo badly damage my fence?

I don't want to escalate things and get heavy handed but equally I don't fancy forking out a few more hundred quid on another fence in a year's time.

I know the best advice is go talk to the neighbour but that ship sailed the day they stood on my doorstep swearing at my wife infront of the kids (Or was it the time they poured waste cooking oil into our garden and nearly loped the dog! Or block paved over our boundary line or - think I'll stop there!!) Needless to say there is no way we can chat like normal good neighbours - we just dont see eye to eye.

So - Over to you - wise MSE folk ...
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  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    I believe you are entitled to cut back any branches that are crossing over your border so long as you 'offer' to return the trimmings....strange i know!

    What you could try is putting a thick plastic membrane on the neighbours side of your fence. Something like DPM (Damp proof membrane) but i believe it would need to be a lot thicker to stop bamboo shoots. You can buy bamboo barrier plastic but this is normally to put around the roots to stop the rhizome spreading

    Good luck!
  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,221 Forumite
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    Roundup?


    Just adding these to make up the character count - ignore
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • The_Bloody_Baron
    The_Bloody_Baron Posts: 8 Forumite
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    As previously mentioned, any plants/trees that grow into your garden (i.e. over the boundary fence) you are in your right to cut them and throw the trimmings back into their garden.

    With regards to the bamboo, I actually had a discussion recently with a professional gardener about it and he said that it is illegal to grow unpotted bamboo in the UK. He said this was due to how rapidly it grows and its roots notoriously grow everywhere. This can then lead to structural damage to buildings and foundations that the bamboo has infested. If what he said is true then I think its worth checking out!
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
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    What he said isn't true! There are States in the USA that have some controls on some types of bamboo...

    Just spray your side of the fence...
  • Money_maker
    Money_maker Posts: 5,471 Forumite
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    It's not illegal to grow unspotted bamboo in the garden. If you have any wildlife parks around with red pandas... they are usually very grateful for bamboo contributions.
    Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed. ;)

    If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'

    Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
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    DaftyDuck wrote: »
    Just spray your side of the fence...
    If you make a weak solution of glyphosate, you may be able to inhibit growth without killing the plant completely, but it's bound to be hit and miss.
    At my last house, I managed to inhibit the neighbours rambling roses without actually murdering them; they just developed this nasty 'disease' every summer.......;)

    No dispute to deal with, though. In fact, I later sold part of my garden to that neighbour, who turned-out to be an ex-pupil of mine! :o:rotfl:
  • I_have_spoken
    I_have_spoken Posts: 5,051 Forumite
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    Branches and roots coming into your garden can be trimmed and offered back.
  • Ebe_Scrooge
    Ebe_Scrooge Posts: 7,320 Forumite
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    AlexandLauren wrote: »
    I believe you are entitled to cut back any branches that are crossing over your border so long as you 'offer' to return the trimmings....strange i know!

    Yup, according to the strict letter of the law, this is correct. Obviously, if one gets on with one's neighbours it doesn't come to this - more a case of a quick chat over the fence "Do you mind if I cut off the overhanging branches, and I'll stick them in my compost bin if you like". If relationships are less cordial then ... well, it would be unfortunate if you were spraying your weeds with any of the easily available glyphosate-based weedkillers, and you accidentally got some on the bamboo leaves ........
  • Kim_kim
    Kim_kim Posts: 3,726 Forumite
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    Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »
    well, it would be unfortunate if you were spraying your weeds with any of the easily available glyphosate-based weedkillers, and you accidentally got some on the bamboo leaves ........

    Surely it would be allowed to spray weed killer on the portion that's on your land or over or through your fence?
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
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    Kim_kim wrote: »
    Surely it would be allowed to spray weed killer on the portion that's on your land or over or through your fence?

    If the weed killer stopped at the boundary, yes,

    But weedkiller will translocate through the plant's entire cellular system, reaching parts that aren't sprayed. Do it well and the whole plant may die.

    Very hard to prove how it died though!
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