Walnut health issue

[bggc]

Hi folks,

 

I had a look at a Common Walnut today for some friends, their concern was that is leaning quit heavily towards their house. I recognise this as feature of the Common Walnut anyway but on closer inspection i noticed there were leaves turning black evenly all over the tree and shriveling up and eventually falling to the ground in a cluster of approx 5 leaves. They have been picking them up off the lawn for a while now but never in previous years. The Walnuts themselves all look fine as does 90% of the foliage. Also, further down the main stem about 5 feet from the ground is cracking and peeling bark with around a dozen or so slugs all living in the black slime beneath, i suspect this may be infection set in from a previously pruned limb about 8 inches above which has since rotted back, but the rot continues down and joins the peeling bark. Just below the peeling bark there has been a rope tied in the past and the tree has enveloped it thus leaving a ring. Could anyone shed some light on the blackening of the leaves and are there any connections with the rot, peeling bark and rope tied in the same region? Our friends are concerned that the tree could take a turn for the worse and come down on their patio which they including their little one regularly use.

 

any advice would be much appreciated.

[niftysteve]

Hi folks,

 

I had a look at a Common Walnut today for some friends, their concern was that is leaning quit heavily towards their house. I recognise this as feature of the Common Walnut anyway but on closer inspection i noticed there were leaves turning black evenly all over the tree and shriveling up and eventually falling to the ground in a cluster of approx 5 leaves. They have been picking them up off the lawn for a while now but never in previous years. The Walnuts themselves all look fine as does 90% of the foliage. Also, further down the main stem about 5 feet from the ground is cracking and peeling bark with around a dozen or so slugs all living in the black slime beneath, i suspect this may be infection set in from a previously pruned limb about 8 inches above which has since rotted back, but the rot continues down and joins the peeling bark. Just below the peeling bark there has been a rope tied in the past and the tree has enveloped it thus leaving a ring. Could anyone shed some light on the blackening of the leaves and are there any connections with the rot, peeling bark and rope tied in the same region? Our friends are concerned that the tree could take a turn for the worse and come down on their patio which they including their little one regularly use.

 

any advice would be much appreciated.

 

are the black leaves to do with the late frost the walnut trees in my garden had black leaves just after that and some are still on the tree s now

[Matthew Arnold]

The blackening leaves and the rot are most likely caused by different fungi. The black slime is most likely caused by a form of slime flux. If the tree has grown over/around the rope and still has a good crown then there shouldn't be any problems. If they are concerned about the tree they should think about reducing it incase they is something more sinister at work. But other than that i guess just monitor the crown over the coming months. If it does suddenly drop leaves before autumn then something is majorly wrong.

[bggc]

maybe?, i know it's been mentioned about the black leaves on here back in May being possibly down to frost but i wondered if there were any other theories yet?

[bggc]

The blackening leaves and the rot are most likely caused by different fungi. The black slime is most likely caused by a form of slime flux. If the tree has grown over/around the rope and still has a good crown then there shouldn't be any problems. If they are concerned about the tree they should think about reducing it incase they is something more sinister at work. But other than that i guess just monitor the crown over the coming months. If it does suddenly drop leaves before autumn then something is majorly wrong.

 

The crown looks healthy to be fair and they love the look of the tree but it does look quite imposing leaning directly over them, especially as their garden slopes uphill away from the house and the tree leans down, even with a decent reduction there would still be a lot of timber leaning their way. I totally agree about monitoring the leaves towards autumn but i think waiting and watching will make them more nervous as they've already had a Laburnam come down a while ago so i think its a case of 'once bitten'. To make matters worse the tree is on their neighbours property but the bulk of it is all in their garden.

[Matthew Arnold]

The crown looks healthy to be fair and they love the look of the tree but it does look quite imposing leaning directly over them, especially as their garden slopes uphill away from the house and the tree leans down, even with a decent reduction there would still be a lot of timber leaning their way. I totally agree about monitoring the leaves towards autumn but i think waiting and watching will make them more nervous as they've already had a Laburnam come down a while ago so i think its a case of 'once bitten'. To make matters worse the tree is on their neighbours property but the bulk of it is all in their garden.

 

Might be worth them having a few words with the neighbour asking if it is ok for a tree surgeon to remove the branches that are coming over the boundary. Sound drastic but would be best way of almost eliminating the risk. How big is said Walnut?

[pgkevet]

I have two walnut trees.. a few years back both developed brown patches on most leaves that then turned black and shrivelled. Neighbours were nagging me to destroy them so I rang the agricultural college at Brinsbury and had a long chat with the folk there.

I've monitored it since then and it only happens on wet springs..indeed is just starting in a small way now. Some years it's fine all year if dry - so fungal and now settled in the surroundings.

 

Do you guys ever get involved in treating trees with injected drugs?

[bggc]

Might be worth them having a few words with the neighbour asking if it is ok for a tree surgeon to remove the branches that are coming over the boundary. Sound drastic but would be best way of almost eliminating the risk. How big is said Walnut?

 

I'd say the majority of the tree crosses the boundary,at least from about 8 or 9 ft high, the tree is approx 25-30 ft high.

[Matthew Arnold]

Be a massive amount to cut off that tree then. Might imbalance it but then again if most of the weight is going towards the house then if the weight is taken off to the point of the boundary then it may get the tree to rebalance.

[bggc]

I have two walnut trees.. a few years back both developed brown patches on most leaves that then turned black and shrivelled. Neighbours were nagging me to destroy them so I rang the agricultural college at Brinsbury and had a long chat with the folk there.

I've monitored it since then and it only happens on wet springs..indeed is just starting in a small way now. Some years it's fine all year if dry - so fungal and now settled in the surroundings.

 

Do you guys ever get involved in treating trees with injected drugs?

 

That's interesting, i would'nt say we've had a wet spring though, the summer has been reasonably dry too until very recently. Sorry can't answer your drugs question although im sure someone on here will.