Married2theYeti
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2007
Okay, I know this is really out there, but I would like to know if there is an inexpensive way to tell if my neighbor has used Roundup to kill a portion of our grass.
Here's the story -- sorry so long. For the past 4-5 years, our next door neighbor has been mowing over the property line. His wife used to mow -- and did fine --but then he got a nice ZTR mower and he does it now. At first, he mowed over just an inch or so. But it has gradually gotten worse. We did talk to him about it a couple of years ago. We even showed him a copy of our survey. (He doesn't have a copy of his.)
A few weeks ago I went to Walmart to purchase flowers and tomato plants, was looking around and saw some shrubs for 50% off. Decided these would be perfect for down the property line. So far, we have planted about 1/3 of the way starting from the back corner of the lot. He can no longer mow over in the back but he still has continued to mow over in the front. About 10 days ago, DH went over to talk to him about it again. We marked a small red line on the curbing to show him where the line was. The conversation was cordial. We normally get along okay. Part of the problem is there is a white spray painted line on the curbing that he has continued to respray every few years that he says is the line.
The neighbor behind us had a fence put in many years ago and had a staked survey done at the time. One of the stakes is still there (opposite side of our back yard) and we measured 90 feet over (our lot size) and drove a steel rod well into the ground to mark it. The neighbor behind us (now a different homeowner) decided to extend his fence and had it measured again and said our steel rod was accurate for where our three properties come together. We also took two measurements off the house on the side.
A few days ago, after DH talked to him, we noticed a white spray painted stick coming out of the ground in the back yard by the steel rod. It is accurately placed, but is kinda funny to us because when we did this and when our new back yard neighbor did this, he mowed over the sticks like he didn't see them.
NOW we have noticed that the grass is dead in the front for a couple of feet from the curb inward at the white spray paint mark. There are also a couple of small dead spots close to the area that we believe are drip marks. We also noticed that he had used grass killer around the mulch line of his trees in his backyard so we know he has been using it. I should also mention that he has had a blowup with his neighbor (many years ago) on the other side regarding where the property line is, but is now respectful to them when he mows. Behind him is farmland and he has put quite a bit of landscaping on that farmland to keep the farmer from mowing over into a drainage ditch (which is on the farmers land -- not his). Needless to say, he and the farmer had a verbal confrontation, but the farmer allowed the landscaping to stay.
SO we asked him about using grass killer there and he says he didn't do it. At first he said maybe "he" has grubs. Then he said maybe his mower did it. We are going to take pictures to keep for future reference, but -- AND HERE'S THE REAL REASON FOR MY POST: Is there a way to tell without spending a fortune if there was a chemical placed on my property to kill this grass. We are sure he is lying and I am afraid that if he gets by with this he will try killing the shrubs too. I have thought about digging up sod from his yard to place in the dead area, but I really don't want to start a WWIII. Thanks for any information that can help and for letting me vent!
Here's the story -- sorry so long. For the past 4-5 years, our next door neighbor has been mowing over the property line. His wife used to mow -- and did fine --but then he got a nice ZTR mower and he does it now. At first, he mowed over just an inch or so. But it has gradually gotten worse. We did talk to him about it a couple of years ago. We even showed him a copy of our survey. (He doesn't have a copy of his.)
A few weeks ago I went to Walmart to purchase flowers and tomato plants, was looking around and saw some shrubs for 50% off. Decided these would be perfect for down the property line. So far, we have planted about 1/3 of the way starting from the back corner of the lot. He can no longer mow over in the back but he still has continued to mow over in the front. About 10 days ago, DH went over to talk to him about it again. We marked a small red line on the curbing to show him where the line was. The conversation was cordial. We normally get along okay. Part of the problem is there is a white spray painted line on the curbing that he has continued to respray every few years that he says is the line.
The neighbor behind us had a fence put in many years ago and had a staked survey done at the time. One of the stakes is still there (opposite side of our back yard) and we measured 90 feet over (our lot size) and drove a steel rod well into the ground to mark it. The neighbor behind us (now a different homeowner) decided to extend his fence and had it measured again and said our steel rod was accurate for where our three properties come together. We also took two measurements off the house on the side.
A few days ago, after DH talked to him, we noticed a white spray painted stick coming out of the ground in the back yard by the steel rod. It is accurately placed, but is kinda funny to us because when we did this and when our new back yard neighbor did this, he mowed over the sticks like he didn't see them.
NOW we have noticed that the grass is dead in the front for a couple of feet from the curb inward at the white spray paint mark. There are also a couple of small dead spots close to the area that we believe are drip marks. We also noticed that he had used grass killer around the mulch line of his trees in his backyard so we know he has been using it. I should also mention that he has had a blowup with his neighbor (many years ago) on the other side regarding where the property line is, but is now respectful to them when he mows. Behind him is farmland and he has put quite a bit of landscaping on that farmland to keep the farmer from mowing over into a drainage ditch (which is on the farmers land -- not his). Needless to say, he and the farmer had a verbal confrontation, but the farmer allowed the landscaping to stay.
SO we asked him about using grass killer there and he says he didn't do it. At first he said maybe "he" has grubs. Then he said maybe his mower did it. We are going to take pictures to keep for future reference, but -- AND HERE'S THE REAL REASON FOR MY POST: Is there a way to tell without spending a fortune if there was a chemical placed on my property to kill this grass. We are sure he is lying and I am afraid that if he gets by with this he will try killing the shrubs too. I have thought about digging up sod from his yard to place in the dead area, but I really don't want to start a WWIII. Thanks for any information that can help and for letting me vent!
