How can I stop a black walnut tree from spreading into my yard?

I have a small fruit orchard about 8 feet from a shared fence, which I planted last year. About 2 weeks ago, my neighbour planted a 5-ft black walnut sapling exactly 1 inch from our fence, sandwiched between a 6-ft larch and a 6-ft Jonagold apple. There's about 18 inches between these trees. I asked her to please remove the black walnut and explained that it's going to damage her other trees as well as my apples. (Not to mention, all the trees are going to grow into the fence.) She refuses to believe me because she's seen black walnuts with loads of things growing around them. I tried to explain that some plants are fine and suggested she do a little research, but she has no interest in learning. (Not surprisingly, her "garden" is mostly grass and pretty weeds.)

If I can't get her to move the tree, I was wondering if trenching along the fence line and burying a sheet of metal might stop the roots from spreading to my side. I was thinking a 2-to-3 foot sheet, running about 6 feet along the fence. My other option is to just replace my apple trees with stone fruit. It would probably be cheaper, but I really wanted apples.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Sorry I can't help but if I were you, I would tell her that half the tree will overlap your fence and you will have to trim it repeatedly to the fence to keep it from shading your yard. Soon it will be side heavy and a hazard to her for it will fall over towards her when her side gets too heavy. How do I know? LOL A neighbor did this to me!

That's a place to start. The next step might be to contact your town hall and ask about the guidance for where to plant trees, easement regulations, and liability of owners of trees that overhang or threaten structures of neighbors. But above all be nice. You might even offer to buy your neighbor a new tiny tree for her to plant in an appropriate spot if needed to keep the peace. It's difficult for everyone concerned - she may have to compromise and you have to do some research into your rights as well. Write back with news from time to time on this matter. It could help others in similar situations.

You do not mention the space available both on your land and your neighbor's. I've got two walnuts which fill a large area with a dripline of about thirty feet across for each tree. And many plants die or do not do well within this space. These trees are probably around 50 years. If the space available on your neighbor's land isn't enough to support the eventual giant size of walnuts, she might have to rethink planting a walnut anywhere within the yard.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2017 4:52 PM

This message was edited Jul 30, 2017 4:54 PM

Thank you for the suggestions. To answer some of NebFlowerKid's comments:

1. Both our properties are about 60ft across. There's actually a very large black walnut on the other side of her property. The neighours there are well aware of its impact and so have created a very lovely compatible garden.

2. We've been here less than 2 years, and in that time I've weeded and mulched her half of the shared median because she doesn't tend to it. It's 40 ft long and 4 ft wide; my half has a hedge of rose bushes, her half has crabgrass, creeping bellflower, and a peony bush that the previous owners gave her. I've given her several trees and shrubs that I removed and that she asked for...which she then never planted and they eventually died.

3. The neighbours on the other side, I've recently learned, have had similar problems with her. They ended up totally re-landscaping the shared median because the weeds kept creeping into their property. They said they'd tried for years to get her to do something about it, and finally they took matters into their own hands. This was last year, and although she's complained to me about these other neighbours being "pushy" and "stealing from her," she's never bothered to remove the plants they gave her.

So, I don't think there's going to be a friendly resolution to this. I shall try to get hold of someone in the city to find out if there are any rules governing this sort of thing. Her husband does do some maintenance, so their property isn't an eyesore. That would be easier as there ARE rules against that. Alas, their property is mostly just a collection of neighbourhood castoffs and invasive weeds that they don't think to remove until they've already gone to seed.

Sounds like your next move might be to quietly investigate the guidelines (if your governing board has any!) on liability and easements regarding proximity of placement of landscape features. Hopefully there exists something that pertains specifically to your situation. Did the neighbors you mention do any research on legal options?

Thanks, everyone. Turns out, according to my councilperson, there's not much I can do to prevent the neighbours from planting whatever they want on their property. If it grows onto ours, we can cut that part away; but until then.... However, in the meantime, the tree has died. They weren't at all consistent with the watering, and it appeared to have some kind of fungus. Now, though, they've replaced it with an Eastern Red Cedar sapling (tag's still on it). It's a nice tree, but if it survives, it will eventually shade my fruit trees. But given its position (again, 1 inch from the fence), it will be a very lopsided tree.

Well for the moment the issue is on hold. Hopefully your neighbor will continue to be a lousy plant manager and you'll never have to worry about a huge tree hanging over your fence.