This thread scares me a little, frankly.
I have a huge deciduous tree on my front lawn, as do many of my neighbors.... same tree variety, actually. Both HOA policy and county ordinances require at least one "hardwood" and two "softwood" (palm for example) trees on each lot. This to help battle soil erosion after hard rains, etc. They were all planted as the neighborhood was developed.
One of my next door neighbors (actually the one farthest away from the tree trunk) is always complaining that my tree sheds on his lawn... leaves, acorns, twigs, etc. etc. He doesn't have this type of tree in his front yard. Several times, he has asked me to "remove" the tree, so that there is no further shedding on his lawn. He's even tried to "bull$hit" me by saying other neighbors are complaining that the roots are going under their property and causing damage. First, the roots don't go that far, and 2nd: no evidence of the roots causing damage is even seen (no disrupted concrete, etc.). And, no other neighbors complaining to me about it.
My complaining neighbor, apparently, is unaware of Florida Tree law (FS 163.045). As long as my tree is "alive," any effluent from the tree that falls upon someone else's property becomes that owner's responsibility to clean up. Even if a Hurricane blows the tree over and crashes into that neighbor's house, as long as it was alive when the storm started, it's that owner's responsibility. Only if the tree is dead, at the time of the damage, does it become the tree owner's responsibility. Once the tree is dead, the owner must remove and replace it. It must be replaced. It can't just be removed.
Which brings me to my concern in re: this thread. I would not put it past my neighbor to "poison" my tree and kill it. via the above methods, if he knew what to do. Is there a way to do an "autopsy" on the tree to determine if the cause of death was this poisoning? I might be able to link my neighbor to my tree's death (i.e. if my security cameras monitored anyone near the tree). As it is now, the only thing my neighbor can do is get any branches that hang over onto his property line trimmed back to that property line. To prevent that, I ensure the tree is trimmed by a professional and trimmed back far away from our property line. I do that once every two years.
To paraphrase Don Vito Corleone: "I'm a superstitious man. And if some unlucky accident befalls my tree... if it should be poisoned to death somehow, or uprooted by force, of if it's struck by a bolt of lightning, then I'm going to blame some of the people in my neighborhood, and that I do not forgive."
