Shingle oil is natural, like any other petroleum product. Shingle oil may not be ok for the garden depending on the coverage. Shingle oil is meant as a protective coating for roofing shingles or other wood structures not meant to be walked on because it will be slippery.

About all you can do is monitor the plants sprayed and provide the best soil you can for them to grow in.

kimmq is kimmsr

Good grief, please don't let your neighbor get away with it without a serious talking to. 'Slippery' is not your problem,, but whether your plants will be severely injured by this heavy, viscous oil.

Even horticultual oils should not be applied in the heat or direct summer sun; they are so diluted that they are barely discernible on plant tissues after application.

I'm afraid that I would be raising a big ruckus about this.......to say that the oil is natural does NOT mean that it is safe for the garden. That is a ridiculous statement.

"Natural" is a pointless label: gravel is natural, red tide is natural, scorpion venom is natural, diarrhea is natural.

Rhizo would raise a ruckus with the neighbor for doing something to his own yard's fence without permission? I don't get it. Something is not being said.

Is it something like a very open picket fence and the neighbor sprayed preservative petroleum oils (not harmless, definitely hazardous, can contain cleaned used motor oil, unlimited possible additives) THROUGH it onto the plants? That would be a definite dick move, but it's a little like blaming a driver for hitting you while you're playing in the street. Stay out of the street.

Please, grubby. I would be angry that my neighbor's heavy, viscous oil application ended up on MY garden plants. It may have been accidental, but very careless and thoughtless.

A better analogy would be that a driver who was texting hit me when I was crossing the street.....and said he only looked away for a second. :-)

My concern is damage to the plants. I also doubt that this stuff will readily rinse off in the sink....and who knows what kind of contaminates it may contain.

We don't have the right to do things in or to our own property that will cause real damage to another's property at the same time.

It depends on what this "shingle oil" was made of.

Here's the MSDS for Chevron's "shingle oil": Highly refined mineral oil (C15-C50) 100%

I'd rinse off the plants with water and see what happens.