I have always written happy things for my newbie contibutions to this blog. Gardening for me has always been a happy activity.  But not so lately.  Today, I am actually writing about something that has become a big problem for us and our backyard. 

For those of you who have never heard of or seen it, let me introduce the Chinese Tallow (Triadica sebifer) tree.  My back neighbor has 2 of these trees (at least what I can see above the fence). This tree

photos by Cindy Yee

only grew above the fence maybe 3 years ago. Yet it has sent huge 6-7 inch roots under our fake grass, spanning the lawn section. It has also sent enormous roots under our planting beds.  I discovered a root when trying to plant a tree collard my MG friend gave me.  The root was at least 6 inches in diameter.  After digging and sawing at it for hours, I finally cut through it.  Instead of planting the tree collard in the ground, it was planted in a big pot.  Still, in less than 2 months, the severed Tallow root sent up an insane amount of shoots.

This was when I belatedly decided to identify the tree via PlantNet.  One of the special attributes of Chinese Tallow is that cutting the roots stimulates furious growth in the form of shoots!   I then found several small shoots in various spots up close to the house.  This has become a dilemma of what to do.  I don't want my husband to have to continually cut and spray the roots and leaves with herbicide, nor do I want to do it myself. 

Should we draw our neighbor's attention to his deeply invasive trees?  There is a bigger Tallow tree behind this one.  It appears to have spread to another back neighbor's yard as well. 

What would you do?  Install an expensive root barrier spanning our back fence?  How deep and what material?  Our fence is only 2 years old. 

Honestly, I have been totally blindsided by this. We already have ivy growing on our side, from under the fence, because it covers his slope.  He is not a bad neighbor, but not a gardener and since its just on his slope, would he even care that it has deeply invaded our yard?   I am guessing that he has never heard of Chinese Tallow, and that birds dropped the seeds in his yard.  His gardeners do not understand ivy mitigation, and its very unlikely that they would know Chinese Tallow treatment or eradication.

Here is a loose quote I read somewhere that is the stuff of nightmares: “The Chinese Tallow will dominate any environment it finds itself in.”

Veteran MG's: What would you do??  I would very much appreciate your opinions as to what you would do if you had this problem yourselves.   Please answer in the comment section. Thank you so much. 

Signed: Seriously Stumped Newbie