"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
MiamiCuse wrote:
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.


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.

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.


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.


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

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?


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!


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

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