Ethical question about a tree in my yard.

[hbarcat]

I don't know how big this particular tree is, but the 80yr old Cottonwoods around my parts are WAY bigger than 2 people with a cherry picker can cover. I mean, 50+' tall and probably 40' diameter at the drip line. My wife and I can just barely get a couple of 15'-18' tall apple trees covered up by ourselves. The small-mesh netting we use is about 30' x 30' and takes a lot of effort to get up over the tree - especially if there's even a slight breeze.

This tree is between 80ft and 90ft tall, and has a spread of about 70ft.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

This tree is between 80ft and 90ft tall, and has a spread of about 70ft.

That's probably about the size of most of the ones at lower elevation next to the Rio Grand river here. I live up in the mountains a few thousand feet higher than the river and they are still big.

 

[Wood and Wire]

This tree is between 80ft and 90ft tall, and has a spread of about 70ft.

Hand a bunch of teenagers a couple dozen toilet rolls, and they'll soon have that tree cloaked to the point that nothing will escape.

Cheap, and the rain will remove it at the end of the season.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

They both rejected my offer and told me that they weren't going to pay anything and it was my legal responsibility to pay for it.

It sounds like you really want to keep everything peaceful amongst yourself and your neighbors, which is admirable.

I'd wait for them to bring it up again, and then politely tell them, that to the best of your knowledge you are within the law, and that you will hold no grudge if they want to get the authorities involved.

 

[Don Kasper]

This tree is between 80ft and 90ft tall, and has a spread of about 70ft.

A pro Arborist should have zero issues wrapping that rascal...
IANAA - I Am Not An Arborist....but this is TalkBass.
Thanks.

 

[-Stingray]

Purchase the largest fan you can, and blow it in the direction of your neighbors?

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

Not expert advice here but can you find out if you can poison the tree to kill it? It will remain but may stop producing the cotton wool. It would be a cheap option. It does sound like it’s not the right tree for the context. Otherwise $1500 might pay to have the tree cut back a bit which might mitigate the problem.

 

[hieronymous]

I feel your pain - I have had to deal with trees on my property, though I don't want to go into the details for now. Is there some way to maintain the tree so that it is healthy yet not out of control? Just have it trimmed? Maybe it's near the end of its life and is giving off more stuff? I have had someone tell me that about an old tree on my property. Your neighbors should appreciate that you listen to them - if they just expect instant gratification, they can wait and learn about life.

 

[KidAmnesia]

Keep the tree!

Also, the cheapest tree removal might end up being the most expensive if the tree is in a difficult access area close to buildings.

 

[DB66]

I had a similarly large tree that I got a quote of $24,000 to take down and remove. I found a guy who runs an arborist school to cut it down for $3,300 (with his students). They didn’t haul the wood, I still have to deal with that, but it’s an option to look into and get a quote.

 

[Winslow]

Also, the cheapest tree removal might end up being the most expensive if the tree is in a difficult access area close to buildings.

^ ^ ^ This, all day every day. The $200 "bargain" dude-on-facebook-with-chainsaw very likely does not have the same level of training, to say nothing of insurance, as crew of certified professional arborists. Tree work is not a place to be penny-wise and pound foolish.

 

[Winslow]

Purchase the largest fan you can, and blow it in the direction of your neighbors?

 

[Bassic_desires]

@hbarcat If there is a legitimate and legal reason to remove the tree, then you could set-up a Go Fund Me and ask your neighbours to contribute. If they don’t, then that tells you all you need to know.

 

[Ostie]

I did not know that only female cottonwoods made cotton. You learn something new every day, but I’ve now filled my quota for today, so I’m done.

 

[InhumanResource]

There is an enormous cottonwood tree in my backyard. For about a month, every summer, it constantly sheds blobs of cotton that float around the entire neighborhood and get on and in everything. It looks a lot like snow except that it doesn't melt.

Several of my neighbors have asked me to cut it down because it's a real nuisance. It gets inside their cars and in their houses. It clogs up window unit air conditioners.

I agree with them. I fully understand their annoyance. In fact, recently I was sitting on my back porch and I actually inhaled one of the floating cotton blobs and it went down into my lungs and I was coughing for about 10 minutes.

I looked into cutting the tree down and the lowest quote I got was $4,500 because of its gargantuan size and other issues like difficult accessibility and close proximity to multiple buildings and power lines.

I was told by one tree removal company that he can't remember seeing a tree more difficult to remove than this one. He quoted me $7,000, I assume because he really didn't want to do the job so he quoted an inflated price, expecting me to reject it.

The bottom line is, there's just no way that I can afford $4,500 right now. In fact, I've got a pile of medical bills I'm struggling to pay off and I've been selling nearly all of my non necessary personal possessions that have any value at all in order to get back in the black ink again. Spending that amount of money out of my pocket would literally ruin me, right now.

Nevertheless, last week I talked to two of my neighbors who complained about the tree and I made them an offer. I said that I'd agree to remove the tree and pay $1,500 toward the cost, if they'd contribute the remaining $3,000.

They both rejected my offer and told me that they weren't going to pay anything and it was my legal responsibility to pay for it.

I consulted my lawyer and he told me that since the tree was healthy and there was no reason to believe that it might imminently fall on someone's house or other property, then I can legally leave it up. The fact that it sheds cotton is just part of the nature of the tree and I don't have any legal obligation to mitigate that.

I do have to admit an ulterior motive, here. The house I live in was built by my grandparents in the 1930s, when they immigrated here from Canada. The tree was planted in 1942, specifically to commemorate the birth of my father. I wish to keep the tree, partly for sentimental reasons. but also, because it provides a lot of shade in the summer and it keeps my house significantly cooler than if it wasn’t there. And it looks cool. It dwarfs every other tree in the entire neighborhood.

My question is, can anyone suggest a way out of this dilemma? Frankly, if it wasn't for the cost, I'd agree to take the tree down. I don't want to be a bad neighbor and this cottonwood is genuinely a nuisance. If I was my neighbor, I'd be really annoyed by it, but I just don't see any reasonable path forward where everybody is happy.

Nobody’s forcing them to live there. I think you did right by the community by running this down, but considering the expense…if they aren’t willing to pitch in, you aren’t exactly obligated to fix their issue.

I’m in a pretty good position but I still don’t have 7k to drop for something like this.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

They both rejected my offer and told me that they weren't going to pay anything and it was my legal responsibility to pay for it.

The whole situation sounds completely arrogant and obnoxious to me. Not to mention these people are completely clueless. (edited to a friendlier version)

And I strongly dislike cottonwoods - one more thing to set off allergies.
Even worse, the farmer next to us keeps planting alfalfa to feed his cows or something. I told him to knock it off and just go by some feed.
He said I was being udderly ridiculous. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



PS: I think I drove by your house passing through Rochelle on the way to Dixon a few weeks ago - it's the one with the big cottonwood tree, right?
Your house color kinda bugged me - Could you get that repainted??

 

[micguy]

Cottonwood trees have two issues:

1) The "cotton" is highly flammable - in certain circumstances, that can be a hazard.

2) The trees grow fast, big, and the wood is very weak. If any of the limbs are hanging above your house or your neighbors, or in a position where, if they break off where they are attached to the tree trunk, they can swivel onto your house, or one of your neighbor's houses, you have a real liability on your hands. While the wood is weak, it's still heavy enough to do serious damage to a house, or someone underneath it when it comes down.

While everyone likes to keep trees, cottonwoods are special hazards. If a limb falls on your neighbor's house, the cost of removing the tree will look really cheap by comparison.

 

[turf3]

Not expert advice here but can you find out if you can poison the tree to kill it? It will remain but may stop producing the cotton wool. It would be a cheap option. It does sound like it’s not the right tree for the context. Otherwise $1500 might pay to have the tree cut back a bit which might mitigate the problem.

Are you serious? Kill a 90 foot tall tree? And then do what? Leave it to fall wherever it falls, possibly killing someone, or pulling down power lines and starting fires?

 

[SactoBass]

It seems there are primarily two schools of thought in this thread: leave the tree as is, or have the tree completely removed. How about something between those two extremes? As @hieronymous asked in his post #48, how about having the tree trimmed? You (the OP) said that you don't like the messy fluffy things (including the one that you inhaled), so maybe an option would be to hire a professional tree trimmer rather than a tree remover. Just my two cents.

 

[planetdrumz]

Keep the tree. I understand you'd want to keep peace with the neighbors, but screw em! It sounds like they suck as neighbors anyway. if they have a problem with the tree, then that's their problem, not yours! You are under no obligation to cut it down!

It's sad to say, but there's way too many entitled D-Bags in this world we live in nowadays, and unfortunately, it sounds like you have a few as neighbors!