Remove the Young Black Walnut near my Basswood?

9 years ago

Greetings,
I recently had an arborist visit my property to identify some trees and discovered that I have a Black Walnut in my thicket/woodland. My neighbors live about 150 yards away and have a mature Black Walnut...which to my knowledge, has not impacted anything in my yard even though I do occasionally find walnuts that the squirrels have buried.

Also in this natural area I have many Green Ash, a beautiful Basswood (still with smooth bark, but more than 2.5 stories high and a 8" diameter trunk) and multiple Fringe Trees which seed themselves all over the place. Most of the trees are growing very tall and "airy" to reach the canopy.

I was looking for shrubs to plant near the Black Walnut and discovered in the process that Basswood is intolerant of juglone.

Should I consider removing the smaller Black Walnut because the Basswood is much older and I love it more. I would hate to lose the Basswood in 15 years as the roots and dripline from the Black Walnut expand.

What do you think?
The Black Walnut has about a 4-5" trunk and is perhaps 12-15' high right now. It's about 20 feet from the Basswood. Both are at the edge of my lawn grass and I want to create a shrub border in front of them. To be clear, I am not opposed to the Black Walnut, but since it is not a major player yet, it seems it might be easiest to remove it before their roots meet.

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Comments (10)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
hey mary ... ready for an earful???? ... lol

i think.. you think.. too much ...

let me get this straight.. and correct me if i am wrong ...

they self sowed.. and have lived long enough to be in excess of 4 to 6 inches.. so they are 10 to 20 years old????

AND YOU THINK YOU KNOW MORE THAN MOTHER NATURE ... and think you are smarter than her????

really .. lol ... if they dont care.. then why do you ..

let me rephrase this: you are fixing something that doesnt appear to be broken ...

if one of them fails in say.. 40 to 60 years... two things will be apparent ...

first.. odds are.. you will not be dealing with it ... [unless you are like 19 years old right now]

and second.. ONE will die.. and the other wont ... so what??? ....

now!!! ... how does that compare to what the onsite guy told you ??? [unless he also does chainsaw work.. and then he probably offered to do the work for you]

ken

ps: i thought you were winding things down .. wasnt that your story this winter????
calliope
9 years ago
I have four black walnut, and understory trees planted nearby (one of them a rare and expensive Magnolia from an arboretum) and they all get along fine. I also have perennials and bulbs in its shade. Many of nature's green children are allelopathic to some extent, more than you'd ever guess, just not trumpeted to the extent black walnut is, the victim or poster child for this phenomenon. List below on link to various trees exhibiting allelopathy.

Here is a link that might be useful: list of some trees exhibiting allelopathy
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"Well thats because they are black walnut tolerant plants right? What kind of plants do you grow by it?" Under or touching in my yard or my neighbor's: White ash (growing tall & thin into the walnut canopy) Viburnum (under) Elderberry (under) Silver maple (under & touching)) red bud (there are alot of these) Grape vine (yuck) and a few other vines Honeysuckle under them (puke) A couple kinds of Lilies White Pine (touching) Scarlett Oak (at the walnut's drip line) Hostas (under) Box Elder (touching) Burning bush (under) Peach tree (under) Prickly Pear Cacti (discarded extra pads have rooted are doing well!) Poison ivy lol There are a couple more I'm sure. On the south I have a 175 foot long,30 to 75 foot wide area shared with one neighbor where if you look up you might get bonked by a green heavy walnut. On the north east that neighbor has a couple on the property line dominating his brush pile and another a bit further in his property. We don't bag clippings over here, preferring to turn the leaf waste into deeper topsoil.
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greenthumbzdude
9 years ago
intolerant? interesting because in a forest not far from my house they grow together.
Mary4b
Original Author
9 years ago
Ok then, got the answer here! LOL. The lists of trees/shrubs sensitive to juglone do include Basswood....I didn't think a Black Walnut Seed would be worrying about that at time of germination....

I'll just leave it all alone.

Ken, you are SO right!! I seem to have a planting urge that is not easily squelched. However, I am doing trees, shrubs and hostas...areas much more "naturalized" and with less tending needed than my former perennial beds.
bengz6westmd
9 years ago
If you're concerned about the basswood, cut the B walnut down -- it'll be easier now & you won't miss it as much than later.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
I am doing trees, shrubs and hostas...areas much more "naturalized" and with less tending needed than my former perennial beds.

==>>> and therein lies the rub ...

a more naturalized area.. would include the death of things that arent growing naturally ...

let them die.. if they will.. its part of the natural process ...

again ... you are making yourself more work.. and spending money.. when your goal is the opposite ...

just let it 'evolve' ... presuming of course.... neither is overhanging the house or some such ...

letting it evolve.. is my way.. of ignoring work ... lol ...

you are having a very hard time... overcoming your anal retentive gardening habits...

be the forest.. ohhhmmmmm

ken
Mary4b
Original Author
9 years ago
I'm not sure anal retentive falls into my human repertoire, I could use a bit more of that! Remember, we only ask and answer questions here....and a lot gets edited, so as not to weigh things down.

Melissa and I have a question on Tri-Color beech siting for northeners...can you go over there and have a look? And I also need help with my new Golden Shadows Dogwood....which, by the way, is probably going to go in front of that Black Walnut where my lawn meets that messy wood/thicket line....which I am leaving 100% natural btw, except for cleaning out the invasive trees/plants like Buckthorn/Garlic Mustard, etc.
calliope
9 years ago
The allelopathy thing is overdone. Even tomatoes exhibit it to some degree but you don't ever hear anyone asking if they should omit them from their vegetable gardens. Nobody seems to think there is any other plant on earth exuding chemicals than black walnuts. ;-) It's the poster child for it, I guess.
whaas_5a
9 years ago
I see Black Walnut growing with Basswood here as well. However I really dislike Black Walnut so I'd be inclined to cut it down. They rarely have decent fall color, the nuts are annoying and the habit is typically poor.
Mary4b
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Whaas, for another perspective. I discovered there is another one about 10 feet away that I hadn't noticed...so I may cut it down, as it's not crucial to my loosely thought out "plan".

Remove the Young Black Walnut near my Basswood?

Comments (10)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

calliope

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Remove the Young Black Walnut near my Basswood?

Comments (10)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

calliope

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