Sycamore - who has one more?

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

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.