black walnut trees

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

I have quite a few black walnut trees in my yard. In the front of the house are 4 BW trees at the property line. I would like to plant something between the trees that will serve as a barrier to the road for noise and sight. Preferably something that will serve in summer as well as the cold of winter here in NE IN. What will live under those trees, will grow to a fairly good height and serve as a screen? Thank you for any help.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), May 17, 2000

Answers

Check out eastern redcedar. They are pretty hardy trees and make good noise/wind barriers. N Mays

-- N Mays (mays@raptor.afsc.k12.ar.us), May 17, 2000.

We have woods that are oak and walnut, it seems that there are lots of raspberry bushes, gooseberry,hazelnut bushes,sumac, and elderberry. I have planted lilac near the fringe and they seem to be ok. There are also many other trees that grow with them, oak, apple, elm, maple,ash. I have found that my flower bed is right at the edge of the woods and so far my flowers have done ok, it has been there for 3 years and its a big variety of perennials. I know that the multiflora rose grows in the woods also, so maybe other roses would do ok too. (I wouldnt plant multiflora roses they take over everything.)

The only problem that I have had, and am not certain that it is related to the walnuts is my tomato plants wilt in the garden about 100 feet from the woods. They are ok in a separate bed 200' away. Whether it is the black walnuts or a bacterial wilt I dont know.

Good luck.

-- Tami Bowser (windridg@chorus.net), May 17, 2000.


Whatever you use, make sure it can tolerate the toxic substance that walnuts excrete from their root systems. That is maybe why the tomato plants wilted within 100 feet of them.

I read that white pine are grown with walnuts as a companion lumber tree -- forcing the walnuts to reach for the light; growing tall and straight with little branches. So, there are obviously species which can tolerate the toxicity. Whether you want to use white pine, which will grow fast and relatively tall, is up to you.

-- Mike O (olsonmr@yahoo.com), May 17, 2000.


I would go with the hazelnut trees, because I love hazelnuts. especially hazelnut cake.

Apple and pear trees can not tolerate the BW toxins.

-- Rich (pntbeldyk@wirefire.com), May 17, 2000.


For your purposes, there is nothing better than Eastern White Pine. Being in Maine, they are everywhere, and I could provide you with thousands of 1 or 2 year old trees absolutely free, should you deign to come and get them. They grow quite rapidly, and if you prune the leader, they will bush. Planted 10' apart, you will have a tremendous screen in 6 to 8 years. Closer, and it is a bit sooner, but a spacing closer than 5' is not good. Another is Scotch Pine - widely available. Deciduous trees are great, but for a year round screen, I suggest an evergreen of some type. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), May 23, 2000.


Someone else mentioned pine also. I didn't know they would live under black walnuts. I prefer an evergreen for the year round green. Since people have mentioned them I am leaning in that direction. How tall will they get? We have had drought here for two years and some of the pine trees around here are showing the effects of it. Also, do they have a shallow root system - susceptible to turnover in wind? thank you for your help

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), May 30, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ