Sycamore - who has one?

Who has more? No idea where that came from - it's who has one... Or more?

* [Note from GNHQ - we've edited the title for you, OP]

You have my sympathy *OldFrill.

The neighbours whose garden backs on to mine has a youngish one and I am trying to work myself up to going round to talk to them about chopping it down! I’m pretty sure it wasn’t deliberately planted. I am on constant watch for seedlings. They grow so fast and soon have roots so deep they are hard to remove.

Sooty Bark Disease kills sycamores and is on the increase due to hot dry summers. It is a fungal disease which creates spores that are hazardous if breathed in.
We've just had to spends thousands having a group of dead sycamores felled.

Thanks Litterpicker, l don't have the sycamore but have an interest in a house that has a large sycamore in the garden, and others nearby. All have TPOs. I don't think l could live with it, plus we go away for months at a time so I'd need a reliable gardener just to clear up after the behemoth, I'd resent the cost l think.

Thank you Eddycat, l wasn't aware of Sooty Bark Disease, the potential for that may be the final deal breaker.

My neighbour behind me has a giant specimen - it’s a bloody nightmare. It casts a huge shadow over my garden, I get 80% of the leaf-fall to pick up and dozens of seedlings all over the garden to get out before the corkscrew roots get a hold. My Gardener says sycamores are just giant weeds. I hope this one dies before me!

Can’t you get a tree surgeon to cut it down? Or someone fit.
We cut ours & a cherry tree down It had canker? Couldn’t cut the grass between the roots.
TS wanted £500 to cut them down but my husband did the job in the end. We were younger then.

Thanks Georgesgran, sounds as bad as l suspected, nightmare.

Litterpicker - l think you need that chat with your neighbours asap.

They exude a sticky sap, too. My house was surrounded by them ( the local farmer seems to like them). Much as I love trees if I had my time again I’d live in a house as far away from trees as possible. I never sit in the garden, just spend my life sweeping up leaves. Last week the pines started shedding needles. The Holly has been dropping leaves for ages and I can’t let the dog into the garden as they’re so sharp and prickly. The Silver birch is now dropping catkins and soon the little seeds will be everywhere. But I think, of all of them, the Sycamores were the worst.

Of course, before someone points it out - it was there before us, but we bought in Winter, 33 years ago and didn’t realise that it would continue to grow or the nuisance it was/is. Unfortunately, the shape of the neighbour’s garden and the tree’s location means it doesn’t bother them.

I have a huge sycamore but I love it. It's majestic and strong . The swing hangs from it's branches.

Mind you there is still plenty of garden not shaded by that tree.
There are many other trees too but the weeping ash which graced the lawn has died.

Such fun Did you mention the honey dew that covers a car if anyone is daft enough to park under it. To add insult to injury there was a tree preservation order on it as apparently it was a fantastic shape as the canopy grew unhindered. Not my problem any more we moved

MayBee - So sorry you can't enjoy your garden. I thought this one tree was an majestic until l saw it was a Sycamore.

Grammaretto - I hope your beautiful sycamore doesn't succumb to the Sooty Bark Disease. Ash dieback continues to devastate in many areas.

MT62 - if you mean can l cut it down, it's not mine to cut down and looks unlikely it ever will be. It also has a TPO as do all the others outwith the garden.

I bought a new car ( the only time I’d had one from new) and was horrified after a hot day to find it covered in baked on sap. This was late at night but, thanks to Google I read that fabric conditioner would remove it so, at 1 in the morning I was frantically cleaning my car. Thankfully it worked. I really thought the car was ruined.

Thank you all, l had googled etc but was hoping Google exaggerated, unfortunately seems not.

Thank goodness the remedy worked MayBee!

Georgesgran

My neighbour behind me has a giant specimen - it’s a bloody nightmare. It casts a huge shadow over my garden, I get 80% of the leaf-fall to pick up and dozens of seedlings all over the garden to get out before the corkscrew roots get a hold. My Gardener says sycamores are just giant weeds. I hope this one dies before me!

Yes, the ultimate suburban garden 'nightmare'.

They grow so very darn fast, seemingly sprouting from nowhere, eventually becoming as wide as they are tall.

And a qualified tree surgeon (as opposed to some White Van Man with a chainsaw) is eye-wateringly expensive.

Me too, Georgesgran. The sycamore tree at the bottom of my neighbour's garden is as tall and as wide as my two storey semi detached house.
It is absolutely not a suburban garden tree, but belongs in a ( large) park. It will cost a significant amount to remove.
I understand that the Romans planted sycamores in Britain as fast growing, straight trees, to provide wood for stockades and buildings.

We don't have one but my neighbour has two. Both grow next to our fence and I do feel one in particular makes rather more shade that I'd like in that area but it was there when we came nearly 30 years ago and a small price to pay for it's beauty.

Like Grammaretto I love them.
There used to be a pair of magnificent limes two houses along and they just chopped one down over a weekend a couple of years ago.
I'm afraid I requested a TPO on the other straight away and an emergency order was put on it. The house was making a paved area for (yet) more cars.

We need these amazing old beasts.
If you aren't wanting to pick up the seedlings/leaves then you are right not to move there.

If the sycamores have TPOs they must be magnificent specimens as my local tree officer says they have to meet a very high bar to get a TPO because they are "common".

I have a pyracantha hedge growing along the outside of my garden wall, and sycamore seeds have lodged there over the years where, once they started growing, it’s proved difficult to get to the saplings to eradicate them. They just sit there saying Ha Ha Ha!! All I can do is reach in as far as I can with long loppers and cut out the worst but this is not a long term solution. We are surrounded by mature trees, many of which are sycamores.

A huge sycamore towers over the development landscaping at the front of our home. It’s planted at the edge of a neighbouring development - in their car park of all places thankfully not adjacent to our car park. The seeds lodge in the block paving, appear in our grass (can’t call it a lawn) and seem to love our planters. Several mini trees are growing amongst the dense landscaping. The tree looks magnificent, I just wish it would keep its seeds to itself.

I have a seedling - which is due to be dug up.

NotSpaghetti - thank you for your feedback, much appreciated. Just for info the TPO in this case covers every tree within a mapped area, not just particular individual trees. The land is mainly in common custodianship (bar the one tree I'm particularly concerned about) and would be a nightmare to gather the funds should these trees become problematic or cause damage to people or property.

Having lived near land stripped of scores of huge trees in winter storms and experienced the devastation of Ash Die Back it has made me aware of the downside of the responsibility of living with or near huge trees.

So maybe the one that would bother you doesn't have a TPO?
Or do you mean it does have a TPO but is outwith the common ownership area?

I would think some kind of common insurance plan might be in order for the ones in the common ownership area.

We had next doors (not really very big but still mature) silver birch fall into our garden years ago.
We were out so it missed the car.
I expect we would have had to claim on our insurance otherwise.

Nothing to do with sycamores but I do still miss a fabulous Lombardy Poplar that was cut down from the very end of my door neighbour's back garden garden.
It was in the perfect spot for me - as blocked all view of a modern estate diagonally behind our property. The man in that newish corner-house behind (!) called the council and asked if he could cut it down or if it had a TPO. and gave the address of my next door neighbour.

The council said yes it could be cut down and as soon as the house was unoccupied he came in over the fence with his crew and chopped it down!

No repercussions as next door "couldn't be bothered" to challenge him as "it was already gone".

He had been moaning to them about the leaves and the shade ever since he moved in.

I can only assume that the council thought he was the householder.