Weed control from adjacent vacant property

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Luke35

New Member
I live in a very small lot with very little green space. I have a chain link fence that borders an adjacent property which has been vacant for the past almost two years - a foreclosure that was just recently re-purchased by the bank. That property has not been regularly maintained and remains severely neglected.

We have a sidewalk along the length of our house, with a small patch along the edge of the sidewalk, planted with lilies, roses, and a few annuals. We planted the lilies and some of the roses about five years ago, when the house next door was occupied. At THAT point, our biggest problem was a beagle next door who loved to dig under the fence, so we lined the fence line with bricks.

Now that the house has been vacant for almost two years, our problem has been neglected grass and weeds growing through the fence.

My question = if I went into the vacant property with some RoundUp and was very exact with the spray stream to only hit the neighbor weeds/grass and not spray through the fence onto our flowers, would this do the trick, or am I just asking for a bad result with my flowers right on the other side?

I am unable (and kind of unwilling) to mow the fenceline. Our lawnmower is electric because our own lawn is quite small and fussing with an extension cord over and through a chain link fence is not at all appealing to me.

The bank has been completely unresponsive to my request that they maintain the property. And even if they did respond, my guess is that it would not be more than once or twice in a year that they would send someone in to cut it. With the amount of rain we've had this spring, that it literally not going to cut it!

That leads me to believe that my best option is to get a long lasting weed killer and treat the fence line on the other side with it and be done with it.

Pros and cons and other suggestions?
 

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RonsGarden

Super Moderator
Staff member
Round-up will do the trick! Use a piece of cardboard along the fence so you can spray without getting any on your garden! Move the cardboard as you go along!
Spray in the evening or early morning when there is little to no wind to help keep the spray where you are treating!

Welcome to our forum Luke!
We have a rule against members posting personal links in their signature!
Don't worry, I'll remove them!
 

Luke35

New Member
Thanks x2. I will try this sometime late this evening. Hadn't thought about using cardboard to block the spray.
 

Kya D

Active Member
You are going on to someone else's property so you will be liable if anyone has a problem with what you do on their side of the fence.
You might want to call the city and have them contact the bank about the yard.
 

RonsGarden

Super Moderator
Staff member
When I was in the city, if a nextdoor nieghbor doesn't maintain their property due to neglect and being absent, the city will come in and do the work then bill the landowner. The charge is added to their property tax. If they remain absent the city will continue to charge them until they comply, or get their lawyers to take over if there is a never ending list of complaints filed against the property!
Each city has its own rules and bylaws! I am asuming it would be the same in the US!
 

Luke35

New Member
Thanks for the additional advice. From past history, I know that the city will take months to do anything IF they do anything at all. We have a similar law where the city can send a crew in to cut grass and bill it to the property owner. But here, the city applies that law without uniformity and uses it primarily as a way to harass some property owners while allowing others to avoid citations and penalties. It all depends on who you know and whether the city has a past history with you or not - the Good Ole Boy system.;)

My house is also a bus stop for a slew of kids, who all know the house next door is vacant, so they are always running in and out of the yard next door horsing around = an accident waiting to happen. So if the bank has any issues with me going in there to make it safer for those kids and to keep vermin from nesting in the deep grass and weeds, I'll take my chances. Granted, school is over now, so for a few months there is no bus stop, but I expect some of the kids will still use the property as a place to play hide and seek or whatever they do.

If my neighbor's tree is growing over my property line and he refuses to do anything about it, I am allowed to prune the tree branches back to the property line as long as my pruning doesn't kill his tree. I am just taking this legal theory one step further to get rid of the weeds growing into my property and would argue the same, showing the pattern of neglect from the bank and its attorneys and their failure to respond to my requests, which I have well documented.

But that said, I agree that there are legal considerations here. I don't mean to imply that they aren't legitimate concerns. I guess I've just gotten to the point where I am ready to take action and take my chances -- and just wanted advice to make sure I didn't kill my flowers in the process.

Thanks again for the ideas and the concerns. But if anything, the bank should THANK me for helping to maintain even just a portion of the property, making it more likely to sell if anybody is interested in buying it.
 

Bannetsmith

New Member
I want to say about these kind of pests which i think about it. These pests attack on wooden things and make
these things hollow in few time we just need to take some steps to reduce the attack of these kinds of pests.
According to my opinion use of spray and recommended oils are better option.
 


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