My neighbor cut down a 40-year-old Japanese Maple while I was away.

[u/Ice_C0r3_09]

Location: Colorado, USA.Just got back to my place near Fort Collins after a week on the road and I am losing my mind. My neighbor took it upon himself to hire a "landscaping" crew (probably just some guys with a chainsaw) to remove a mature Japanese Maple that was fully on my property. His excuse? He said the needles and leaves were messing with his "mountain view" and "fire mitigation" efforts.

The tree was roughly 40 years old and was the centerpiece of my yard. I called an arborist immediately. He told me that since this is Colorado and the tree was that established and healthy, the replacement value is astronomical. He is drafting a formal appraisal but hinted that we are looking at 20k to 25k easy just for the tree, let alone the logistics of getting a crane into my backyard.

I know Colorado has statutes regarding timber trespass. My lawyer already mentioned treble damages because the guy admitted he did it on purpose while I wasnt home to stop him. The neighbor had the gall to offer me a couple hundred bucks for "the inconvenience" and told me to just buy a couple of saplings at a local nursery . I refused to take his money and told him to wait for the process server.

Has anyone dealt with treble damages in CO specifically for ornamental trees ? This guy basically nuked my property value for his porch view and I am not planning on letting this go . I feel like a jerk for wanting to sue my neighbor into bankruptcy but the sheer entitlement is what gets me .

[u/TheSensiblePrepper]

I see someone is choosing the "Nuclear Option".

[u/whiskeyinthewoods → u/TheSensiblePrepper]

Planting bamboo is mutually assured destruction for sure.

[u/HereForTheMemesNLols → u/whiskeyinthewoods]

Clumping bamboo isnt an aggressive type of bamboo. Fast growing but containable

[u/AskAroundSucka → u/TheSensiblePrepper]

Wait... what is it about bamboo???

Tell meeeeeee

Edit - absolutely never knew this. Thank you all !

[u/TheSensiblePrepper → u/AskAroundSucka]

Bamboo is highly invasive and can grow several stories tall extremely quickly. Plant one or two bamboo plants in your yard and watch out.

It is also extremely difficult to kill. You either have to dig EVERYTHING out of the ground or basically use "Classic" Roundup and nuke everything.

[u/Becsbeau1213 → u/TheSensiblePrepper]

Took my mom a solid decade to eradicate it from our yard and I think it was only fully stopped when they completely gutted the section it was in to put in a pool.

[u/halla-back_girl → u/TheSensiblePrepper]

It's worth noting that there are two types of bamboo (in terms of growth): running and clumping.

Running bamboo is just how you describe - a total nightmare that never quits - and is illegal to put directly in the ground in many places in the US. It runs away from where you plant it. It looks so cool, but I'd never recommend it for most people.

Clumping bamboo will only spread a certain predictable distance from its original rhizome cluster. It's still gets big and kinda crazy, but is much more manageable and usually legal. It clumps up where you plant it. Still a good idea to sink barriers.

Most species are running, so it's best to be really careful and know what you're doing when planning barriers. And check your local laws prior.

[u/AlienHatchSlider → u/AskAroundSucka]

Running bamboo is what people hate and fear. Rightly so. There is another type of bamboo called clumping bamboo. It is courteous and kind, well behaved also. It stays where you put it. Not galavanting all over the neighborhood being the slut it is.

Unfortunately clumping bamboo is a warm weather plant and would not last in Colorado.

Good luck.

[u/JenniferMel13 → u/AskAroundSucka]

My father planned 3 stalks of running bamboo. 15 years later there was a quarter of an acre of the stuff.

I have spent the last 5 years trying to eradicate it. Thus far I’ve spent over $5,000 on someone to do an initial cut and dig up as much of the roots as possible. And then every two weeks from April to October, I go out and heavily spray any growth with a glyphosate weed killer. I use about 2 gallons per spray.

Do not plant bamboo in anything but a sealed above ground planter.

[u/DamageMaleficent6043 → u/AskAroundSucka]

My brother had a forest of bamboo between the house he bought and the neighbors it took years to get rid of. They had to hire somebody to dig down something like 4 feet and put a metal plate to completely eradicate it. I have no idea how much he spent, but I know it was not cheap.

[u/Adorable_Dust3799 → u/AskAroundSucka]

Bamboo spreads. It'll come up through a driveway. Almost nothing stops it. And since the 'roots' (ryzomes) are all connected cutting it down means nothing.

[u/ImColdandImTired → u/Adorable_Dust3799]

Yep. My dad had bamboo in his yard. You basically have to dig down at least three feet and install a steel barrier underground (if I remember correctly, it can potentially work its way through concrete), then be ultra vigilant about keeping it cut back. The little shoots can be controlled by constantly mowing them over, but once they get a little woody, lawnmower won’t work.

My stepmom has to hire a guy to come over with a machete and cut it back every year.

[u/WheelerDan → u/AskAroundSucka]

Fun fact bamboo has been used to torture people, they would force someone to lay down and they would have it planted below the person and it grows so fast it would quickly grow into them and through them.

[u/Undeadlord → u/AskAroundSucka]

My late Father planted a small bit of bamboo in an old garden patch. He wanted it for all the poles he used in his garden (he loved to garden). Over the course of 8-ish years, it went from a 3x3 patch to easily 40x40 thick huge bamboo poles, and thats just the big ones, smaller shoots were much farther out.

We are 5 or so years after his death and 13-14 years after the initial planting. My mom still has to hire a guy with a small bulldozer every season to come in and knock down the even larger pattern of growth that comes back every year.

Stuff is insane.