We have a 20 year old black walnut tree in our yard that may be showing
signs of distress.

Each year it leafs out fairly late by comparison to other trees. This is
consistent however -- it leafs out roughly the same time every year. What
has me concerned is that this particular year has the added curiosity of
LOSING its leaves early. The tree has already fruited, the squirrels are
hitting it hard of course, but it's lost a solid half of its leaves.

All of the trees seem to be having a bit of a problem this year, likely due
to hot weather and a lack of rain I'm thinking. I was just curious if
anyone else has experienced any similar issues, especially with their black
walnut trees.

James
Zone 6, SW Ohio

"JNJ" wrote:

All of the trees seem to be having a bit of a problem this year, likely due
to hot weather and a lack of rain I'm thinking. I was just curious if
anyone else has experienced any similar issues, especially with their black
walnut trees.

We saw this last year when we had a drought. It is natures way of
conserving moisture in the tree. The leaves have served their main
purpose to produce nuts. Now it is stocking up sugars in the roots to
form next springs new leaves. Black walnuts show this behavior quite
frequently here.

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

"JNJ" wrote in message ...
We have a 20 year old black walnut tree in our yard that may be showing
signs of distress.

Each year it leafs out fairly late by comparison to other trees. This is
consistent however -- it leafs out roughly the same time every year. What
has me concerned is that this particular year has the added curiosity of
LOSING its leaves early. The tree has already fruited, the squirrels are
hitting it hard of course, but it's lost a solid half of its leaves.

Walnuts do leaf out late. But they don't particularly lose their
leaves early.


All of the trees seem to be having a bit of a problem this year, likely due
to hot weather and a lack of rain I'm thinking. I was just curious if
anyone else has experienced any similar issues, especially with their black
walnut trees.

James
Zone 6, SW Ohio

Walnuts are highland trees, and fairly drought resistant. I find it
hard to believe that you have a drought, here in SE MI (perhaps 400
miles N of you) I have had to water seedlings a couple of times, but I
have yet to water the tomatoes, potatoes, chard, zucchini, garlic or
onions. Lots of mowing, though.

How is your soil? Does the walnut have to fight with grass? Perhaps
you should consider some manure, and 6 inches of wood chips all the
way to the dripline.

Walnuts are highland trees, and fairly drought resistant. I find it
hard to believe that you have a drought, here in SE MI (perhaps 400
miles N of you) I have had to water seedlings a couple of times, but I
have yet to water the tomatoes, potatoes, chard, zucchini, garlic or
onions. Lots of mowing, though.

We have two items conspiring against us here -- first and foremost, we've
been a bit below our average rainfall totals. Second and most important has
been the type of rain -- rather than getting a series of regular rains we've
been getting occasional drenching followed by lots of dryness. In mid-June
we were 6 inches below average and the only reason we were that close was
the deluges we had received. We're finally starting to see more regularly
rains but I think it's come a little too late.

How is your soil? Does the walnut have to fight with grass? Perhaps
you should consider some manure, and 6 inches of wood chips all the
way to the dripline.

The soil's fair-to-middlin' -- it's mostly clay. Yes, there is some grass
around the tree but the tree is a happy 50 feet tall now -- I find it hard
to believe that after 20 years it's now having problems with grass. If I
put wood chips all the way to the drip line it'd be pretty big.

James

We saw this last year when we had a drought. It is natures way of
conserving moisture in the tree. The leaves have served their main
purpose to produce nuts. Now it is stocking up sugars in the roots to
form next springs new leaves. Black walnuts show this behavior quite
frequently here.

This is what I was figuring. We've finally started to catch up on our
rainfall numbers but much of the early rainfall was courtesy of a few heavy
rains. It's hard to believe that we were technically in a drought when the
street in front of our house flooded 3 times.

James

"JNJ" wrote in message
...
We have a 20 year old black walnut tree in our yard that may be showing
signs of distress.

Each year it leafs out fairly late by comparison to other trees. This is
consistent however -- it leafs out roughly the same time every year. What
has me concerned is that this particular year has the added curiosity of
LOSING its leaves early. The tree has already fruited, the squirrels are
hitting it hard of course, but it's lost a solid half of its leaves.


snip

Hello James

We live in Northern Kentucky on a farm. We have hundreds of black walnut,
oak (at least 8 different oaks), maple, sycamore, locust, cottonwood, etc.,
etc. to make comparisons.

The black walnut are always the last to get their leaves in the spring. And
they are always the first to lose their leaves in the fall. No ifs, ands or
buts, always.

During the drought last year the garden centers and extension offices and
agriculture departments were all predicting a hard summer for hardwoods this
year because of that drought. Apparently the drought's effects are seen
mostly in the following leaf season. With some residual effects for up to
10 years. I was just noticing a few weeks ago that quite a few trees have
fewer leaves to start and are losing quite a few already. But they all seem
to have brown spots on their leaves. Not just one species, or age group, or
site, but all of the hardwoods.

We have these 2 elm trees at the top of the driveway. They are magnificent.
One on each side of the gravel drive which is only about 10 feet wide, if
that. If you stand under them and look up it appears that there is a
natural ceiling of leaves. Just a really great shape, like this huge
umbrella. Reminds me why I love nature so much. Anyway, these trees have
less leaves and quite a few branches that aren't looking too healthy.

Hoping all of this is what the 'experts' were predicting and not a really
nasty something starting to develop.

Judy

We live in Northern Kentucky on a farm. We have hundreds of black walnut,
oak (at least 8 different oaks), maple, sycamore, locust, cottonwood,
etc.,
etc. to make comparisons.

The black walnut are always the last to get their leaves in the spring.
And
they are always the first to lose their leaves in the fall. No ifs, ands
or
buts, always.

During the drought last year the garden centers and extension offices and
agriculture departments were all predicting a hard summer for hardwoods
this
year because of that drought. Apparently the drought's effects are seen
mostly in the following leaf season. With some residual effects for up to
10 years. I was just noticing a few weeks ago that quite a few trees have
fewer leaves to start and are losing quite a few already. But they all
seem
to have brown spots on their leaves. Not just one species, or age group,
or
site, but all of the hardwoods.

We have these 2 elm trees at the top of the driveway. They are
magnificent.
One on each side of the gravel drive which is only about 10 feet wide, if
that. If you stand under them and look up it appears that there is a
natural ceiling of leaves. Just a really great shape, like this huge
umbrella. Reminds me why I love nature so much. Anyway, these trees have
less leaves and quite a few branches that aren't looking too healthy.

Hoping all of this is what the 'experts' were predicting and not a really
nasty something starting to develop.

Judy -- You guys are just the other side of the drink; I'm over in Cincy.
It's good to know I'm not alone.

Like you, I've noticed a number of my trees are not doing as well as I would
expect. My crab apple has dark spots on the leaves as do the maples. My
redbuds have certainly seen better days -- they didn't really leaf out as
well as I'd hoped and the leaves have been droopy all season long. Even the
lilacs are droopy.

James

simy1 said:

Walnuts do leaf out late. But they don't particularly lose their
leaves early.

The ones in our neighborhood often do. The leaves get kind of frazzled
and start dropping much earlier than other trees.

Walnuts are highland trees, and fairly drought resistant. I find it
hard to believe that you have a drought, here in SE MI (perhaps 400
miles N of you) I have had to water seedlings a couple of times, but I
have yet to water the tomatoes, potatoes, chard, zucchini, garlic or
onions. Lots of mowing, though.

SE Michigan is officially in a 'moderate drough' condition.
The rain has been awefully spotty; we went through a stretch in Plymouth
with no rain (and plenty of sun) for a couple of weeks. All of July was a bit
too dry, actually. Lots of times we see rain to out north, south, or east but
get none here. Or, I can watch a solid line of storms march across the state,
only to see a gap form in the line just before it passes over us.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

"JNJ" wrote in message ...

The soil's fair-to-middlin' -- it's mostly clay. Yes, there is some grass
around the tree but the tree is a happy 50 feet tall now -- I find it hard
to believe that after 20 years it's now having problems with grass. If I
put wood chips all the way to the drip line it'd be pretty big.

James

That is the way with trees. They look fine for 20 years running and
then suddenly they start to keel over. If it looks stressed you should
react. And it is a one ton tree, so it will want tons of organic
matter.

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote in message ...

SE Michigan is officially in a 'moderate drough' condition.
The rain has been awefully spotty; we went through a stretch in Plymouth
with no rain (and plenty of sun) for a couple of weeks. All of July was a bit
too dry, actually. Lots of times we see rain to out north, south, or east but
get none here. Or, I can watch a solid line of storms march across the state,
only to see a gap form in the line just before it passes over us.

I suppose it has happened to me as well in the past, and probably this
year I have been luckier than usual. Summer storms are so much
hit-and-miss.

That is the way with trees. They look fine for 20 years running and
then suddenly they start to keel over. If it looks stressed you should
react. And it is a one ton tree, so it will want tons of organic
matter.

For the time being I've been taking leaves and such and piling them in the
area directly around the trunk. Before winter hits, I'll be doing a lot of
work re-landscaping the yard including mulching the whole front yard over.
We're also planning on catching rainwater from the downspouts and funnelling
them out to the yard over time.

James

"JNJ" wrote in message ...
That is the way with trees. They look fine for 20 years running and
then suddenly they start to keel over. If it looks stressed you should
react. And it is a one ton tree, so it will want tons of organic
matter.

For the time being I've been taking leaves and such and piling them in the
area directly around the trunk. Before winter hits, I'll be doing a lot of
work re-landscaping the yard including mulching the whole front yard over.
We're also planning on catching rainwater from the downspouts and funnelling
them out to the yard over time.

James

If you object to all that exposed mulch, you ought to consider
groundcovering it. With a tree yuo can only layer on top.

If you object to all that exposed mulch, you ought to consider
groundcovering it. With a tree yuo can only layer on top.

I don't object to it -- in fact, it's a part of my general landscaping plan.
Unfortunately it's a tad more pricey than I can afford at this time -- we're
talking around a thousand square feet here so....

James

"JNJ" wrote in message ...
If you object to all that exposed mulch, you ought to consider
groundcovering it. With a tree yuo can only layer on top.

I don't object to it -- in fact, it's a part of my general landscaping plan.
Unfortunately it's a tad more pricey than I can afford at this time -- we're
talking around a thousand square feet here so....

James

I noted in another thread that I often see large patches of feral
groundcover, including lamium, vinca, and daylily. That is where most
of my groundcovers come from.