Not sure where to post this. Unwanted seedlings.

I have the nastiest trees overhanging my property that drops thousands of seeds all year long into my garden. The seeds germinate regardless of whether the soil is bone dry or nice and damp. Unless I keep on top of pulling them out they just take over and become really deep rooted and strong in no time, and the garden just looks a mess. Short of cutting down my neighbours trees and landing in jail, is there anything I can do to prevent these seeds from germinating without spraying a chemical that will kill my own plants? Here's a couple of pictures of the trees and the seedlings. I have no idea what they are.

It doesn't look like many here, but this is what is left after I spent all afternoon pulling the buggers out. Ow, my aching back...

You do have a right to trim/prune/cut the branches that hang over the fence. So I would trim them totally back so they don't drop too many seedlings over the fence.
There is a chemical that you can use for pre-germinating seeds. I do not know the name tho. We use different at our work which we use for grasses. Might ask at a nursery for one.
Carol

There are several products that prevend germination of seeds, the brand name "Preen" being the most common and becoming almost the generic for this.

It is based on a corn product, and if you follow the directions it really works and doesn't add chemicals to your soil. If in an area you do not till regularly, this should stop weed (any unwanted seed) germination for quite a while.

Ask at your garden center and I hope this helps.

Etta

THanks for your replies Daisy & Etta. We would love to cut the trees back, problem is that they are on a lower elevation to us and rise up over our garage so we get to look directly at them from our yard. The only way to cut them back would be to shear them like a hedge - one good way to make ugly trees even uglier.

I've never seen Preen at the garden centre but I found this at Gardens Alive. Looks to do the same thing so I guess I'll be buying a bottle.

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8862

Wgnkiwi: Oh I know where you are coming from on those seedlings! Back in the 70's I bought this little tree in a 3 quart pot and planted it in my front yard ..... BIG MISTAKE! I thought it was a Cherry Laurel tree .... grew to a HUGE shade tree .... very pretty .... but what a MESS! We ended up with two of them @ 50' tall and hundreds of saplings everywhere! Those little buggers would drop seeds which sprouted up all over the yard! In the spring the one next to the driveway would drop purple berries everywhere and make a purple mess all over the driveway! Those trees ended up strangling and killing about a 15 large azaleas in one area, which really made me mad! I despised those things, but my hubby didn't want to cut them down, he thought they were such nice shade trees. I wanted them GONE! Well .... I guess Mother Nature was listening to me cause in 2004 we had Hurricane's Charley, Frances and Jeanne come through our area - "Charley" took out those two Monster trees as well as some others! I don't miss them at all! We had some re-landscaping to do, but those buggers are finally gone! We finally got rid of all the little ones growing up in the lawn .... mowing once or twice a week took care of that!

Your photo's just look so much like those Monster's that we had. I agree with Daisy/Ruffles that you should be legally able to cut whatever hangs over your property! That's the law in Florida and I hope it's the same for you in California! There are some pre-emergence sprays on the market also, but I don't know right off hand what they are .... just check at Home Depot or a local garden center. Just have to be careful where you put it .... like Roundup .... it could kill everything planted in that area!

Good luck!

Lin

LOL Lin - I guess some good can come from a hurricane. Last winter we had a pretty big storm on New Years day that took out a particularly ugly birch on my own property. I'm hoping the same thing will happen this New Year to these ugly things. Of course, I wouldn't want them to fall on my garage, nor would I want them to fall on the owners house, but I wouldn't be too bothered if they fell sideways and landed on my other neighbours garage. We are so built up here, most people barely have room for a picnic table let alone monsters like these. What I can't understand is why the owners put up with them. The mess they make must be far worse in their garden. Mowing doesn't seem to get rid of them in the lawn - if anything it makes them stronger. I periodically go over the lawn and pull them out with a pair of pliers. Ugh!