Signs Your Black Walnut Tree Needs To Be Removed
Black walnut trees can be majestic and beautiful. They also produce tasty walnuts, which you can eat. However, not all black walnut trees remain healthy and a good choice to have on your property. There are some cases in which you may be best off having a black walnut tree removed. Here are those cases.
You have horses
Black walnut wood is harmful to a lot of species, but it is absolutely toxic and deadly for horses to be around. So, if you have horses on your land or plan on bringing horses to your land, you need to have the black walnut trees removed first. You may figure this is not a big deal if the tree is not in the horse pasture. However, you could walk through the walnut leaves and track some of them into your horse's pasture. Or, a squirrel could carry a walnut into your horse's living space. Horses do not even need to eat the black walnut material to become ill. It's best not to take any risks and to just have the tree removed from your land.
Your walnut tree has lots of little wounds in its bark
Trees can be wounded now and then if someone bumps into them with equipment or nicks them with a weed trimmer. But if your walnut tree appears to be developing numerous small wounds all over its bark, this is a bigger problem. The walnut tree likely has Thousand Cankers Disease. This fungal illness can affect various hardwood species, but it's a particular threat to black walnut trees. The fungi that cause the disease are spread by walnut twig beetles. There's no good cure for Thousand Cankers Disease, so removing and properly disposing of the affected trees is the best way to reduce its spread.
Your tree has brackets on the roots
If your walnut tree has some exposed roots, keep an eye on them. If they ever start developing bracket fungi, this means your tree has a fungal disease called root rot. It can affect many hardwood species but is quite common in black walnuts since so many of them do have surface-level, semi-exposed roots. Root rot will weaken the tree and eventually kill it, so you should have the tree removed before it falls on its own.
If your walnut tree is looking a bit worse for wear, contact a company that provides residential tree removal services. They can take a closer look and let you know whether they recommend removal.