Neighbor has a tree that shits leaves and gunk all over our back patio and the roots are coming under our fence and fucking up our concrete. I want to start spraying the limbs hanging over our fence with salt water and pour buckets of the stuff down on the roots if necessary. Approx how much salt am I going to need and how long do I need to keep dousing it to see this tree dead? Tree is approx. 20 foot tall and 10 years old.
I hope you realize that you are the bad guy in this scenario.
You have the right to trim limbs that hang over your property, as long as it doesn’t damage the health of the tree. That’s it. You can’t kill part of a tree, just like you can’t kill part of a person or part of a cow or whatever else.
Your neighbor is not crazy for wanting the tree to remain healthy. Trees are a good thing for both the environment and for mental health and are important for providing shade in a warming world. Their leaf litter is also important for insects and birds.
Getting so worked up about some leaves that you want to kill somebody else’s clearly beloved tree suggests that you are being unreasonable. Invest in a leaf blower or hire someone to deal with the leaves if it’s such a big deal to you. Or, better yet, leave them so they can help the local environment.
It’s not beloved shit. I was there when the last tenant planted the tree. I was also there when they pulled their sapling and took it with them to the next house. This is an overgrown, untended tree that grew back from leftover roots and is causing problems for multiple units. The slumlord that now owns the property bought it on a bank foreclosure after the last owner died and has put ZERO money into maintaining the property. They had NOTHING to do with the tree. The tree is an invasive species in this state. There is no reason to keep the tree except to be an asshole.