A Tree That Was Once the Suburban Ideal Has Morphed Into an Unstoppable Villain

[Fla Dem]

28. Brazilian Pepper trees also very invasive and it's now illegal to plant in Fl.

My neighbors (3 owners ago) planted one or had it planted in their back yard about 12 years ago in the corner of their yard that abutted my property. At first not a problem, it grew extremely fast and the foliage provided the screening they wanted from the property behind them. However, as the years went by the branch off shoots and growth spread into my yard. It began engulfing and suffocating the Live Oak trees on my property. Even though we would cut back the foliage that encroached on the property, each year it became even more invasive and beyond our ability to get rid of it. Even the current owner of the property had some work done to pare back the tree.

I just paid a tree service $1600 to completely remove all of the growth that has invaded my property. The offshoots had reach a height where they were strangling the oak trees from the top. The tree guys had to climb the Oak trees to get to the growth at the top. I'm hoping the oaks regenerate. My concern, is until the mother tree is destroyed, it will continue to produce root that will then produce new tree sprouts. I will be urging my neighbors to completely remove and kill the tree. The problem is they're only here after Christmas until June. Snowbirds. So getting them to do something that will cost them money might be difficult.

Moral of this story......DO NOT plant a Brazilian Pepper Tree on your property.