Present in pond from neighbor's

[LeeAnne151]

Forgot I took these, from December storm. Neighbor's fir tree dropped a fifteen foot branch on the fish pond. Not the first time either.    I hate those effing trees.

[marla]

Oh LeeAnne what a mess!!!!!  getting the needles out can be a pain.  Good luck

[RWinn]

I hope it didn't hurt anything. I used to get those at my old place. There are not any trees at my new house to drop anything like that. I have had one thru my roof.

[tinkster]

tjhat is horrible!!! I am so on the page with ya.. the neighboring lot is killing my pond, my fenceline my roof and most important.. my sun from the pond.. I am getting ready to contact the subdivision as we are restricted and lots are suppose to be keep clean.

[LeeAnne151]

The pond has been full of needles and cones since we built it in 1996. There has never been a way to keep them out nor remove them all. When the wind blows and it blows often here in winter the yard and pond is filled with small branches, cones and needles. The debris you can see on the ground in front of the pond covered the entire back yard....

Until they disappeared without a trace winter 2007, I had many goldfish from 1996 happily swimming around. I blame a kingfisher or heron for the disappearance. There were no bodies, no fins, no bones, nothing.

[Julles]

Did your liner survive the tree branch?

I hate the leaves and needles and pollen, too.  They really tint the water an unappealing brown/tan. 

[LeeAnne151]

Liner is totally fine, protected by all the rocks. I don't mind the tea colored water. It is crystal clear other than the brown tint.

[marla]

LeeAnne, did you ever notice a difference in PH...I remember reading some where once that the needles can lower ph...I'm guessing you would need a lot of needles for that though.  So no fish in there now?

[LeeAnne151]

I haven't checked the ph in years....  

There are two or three fish in there, they were still dark when the bird got all the colored ones and escaped. I haven't bought any more fish. I had shubunkins that were five years old in there and some fan tailed fish that weren't wakins but weren't fantails either. They swam normally like comets but had fancy split tails. They were a couple of years old. Plus the original feeder goldfish from 1996. Some had been lost to raccoons and previous birds. I saw a Kingfisher swoop down from the fence and grab a 6" shubunkin one day several years ago.

There is so much debris in there from this storm and branch that we are going to have to drain it. We can't reach it all and some branches are too heavy to get with the net. There are still 3' branches in there.

[Esther]

Um I'm no lawyer but I have heard that anything over hanging your property line can be legally hacked off, by you if they won't do it.

[Julles]

Ditto.  I believe that's the case in every state.

If it's ON your property, it IS your property.

(That's why, when the &@*%#! builder of the &@*%#! property next door put his &@*%#! billboard on my sidewalk and leaned the heavy sign against my fence, I got out my circular saw and chopped it to bits, then chucked the &@*%#! thing in the dumpster.     )

[LeeAnne151]

Bob has hacked off every branch that hangs over our fence that he can reach with a two story extension ladder but these trees are at least 60 feet tall and he can't reach all the way up. He has removed branches that are over 20 feet long. This one fell from way beyond his reach.

Advice to everyone: trees that grow this big make lousy hedges in city yards. The former owners planted them like they were arborvitae in a ring around their yard in 1952 and no amount of shearing will keep trees that mature to over 100 feet in nature to a six foot hedge height.

[jw]

LeeAnne, maybe you should check with your city ordinance on nuisance trees that are a hazard to anything or anyone underneath them. You might find out that the owner needs to maintain them better or cut them down. Just a shot.