There is a black walnut tree in my backyard that messes up the roof of my neighbors garage every fall

[LuckyCharms]

as the leaves, walnuts, and twig-like things fall onto the roof.

So I'll be getting out the roof rake (used to get snow off roofs) to clean her garage roof today.

It takes a long time, about an hour, to get it done. It's at a difficult angle, and I have to use both extensions on the roof rake. I still can barely reach it.

And as always, after I'm done, I'll collapse into a chair in the backyard, sucking wind.

Those of you who have raked roofs for an hour can relate. That shit gets tough to do after awhile. Arms over your head for an hour. It's especially difficult with leaves because there is no layer of ice there to protect the roof, so you kind of have to both finesse and be aggressive with the rake simultaneously.

That's my post for this morning. have a good day/weekend everyone.

[flying_wahini]

1. I guess you can't blow them off with a leaf blower?

[LuckyCharms]

3. I have to do it from my backyard, which slopes down from her garage. The ground slope makes

the roof much higher from the ground than it would be on flat land. It also increases the severity of the angle.

I don't like getting on ladders these days, and I won't get on a slippery roof, but I do have a powerful leaf blower, and one year I set up a 12 foot A-frame type ladder, got to the top of the ladder without getting on the roof, and tried a leaf blower.

It didn't work well. Couldn't get close enough, and the angle made it impossible.

[Emile]

2. I have a few squirrels you can have if you can catch them.

[dem4decades]

4. we have black walnut trees too, this year we've noticed that there aren't any fruits (nuts), Fine with me but why?

[LuckyCharms]

6. I have years like that. Last year, almost no walnuts. This year? A few hundred pounds of them.

It goes in cycles somehow.

[Srkdqltr]

5. Do you really need the tree? Seriously, what if you get hurt and can not rake?

[LuckyCharms]

9. I'm researching how to sell the tree.

Black Walnut trees are worth a lot of money if the dimensions of the trunk are of sufficient length and diameter to make walnut veneer out of it.

My tree is getting large enough to where it may be possible to sell it to a lumber mill, or at the very least, get it cut down for no charge.

I research it every so often Maybe some day I'll try to sell it and get it cut down.

I don't really have enough money to have someone charge me to cut it down and grind the stump.

[Ocelot II]

27. Most commercial loggers aren't interested in trees from residential lots

because they are more likely to have grown unevenly or have flaws or nails in them. In my area there's a business called Wood from the Hood that sells reclaimed neighborhood trees so they can be used for woodworking projects, https://woodfromthehood.com/ - there might be something like that near you. Black walnut trees can be a nuisance. There was one right next door to me that would shed its nuts every year and the squirrels would chew them up and eat them on my front porch, leaving dark stains all over. Also, there are a lot of garden plants that won't grow near black walnuts because their roots secrete a chemical called juglone that kills them. Damn thing killed a crabapple tree I'd planted. Fortunately the neighbors took it out because it was too close to their foundation.

[usaf-vet]

12. We had a Black Walnut that we had to cut down for similar reasons, but we gave the lumber to an artisan cabinet maker.

He had it milled and kiln-dried and is now making wood projects from it.

At our age, we didn't need or have space for a furniture piece made from that tree, but our son and his wife have a gift certificate from the shop for their new home.

Black Walnut will hinder, if not prevent, the growth of any garden "within its reach." Look it up!
That is why we had ours cut down; it hindered growth in our only good new vegetable garden space.

MAKE THE COMPROMISE. Find a local cabinet shop and see if they would take the wood. Ours split the cost of having it removed.

[LuckyCharms]

15. Thank you!

[Emile]

17. I found out the hard way, you don't plant expensive

hosta plants near black walnut trees.

[usaf-vet]

20. We built expensive raised beds "under the Walnut tree before we discovered. Even with the tree gone and fresh soil......

In the beds, they failed, and we finally planted native varieties, which were pretty to see but had little food value.

Thank goodness we live where there are summer farmers' markets.

[Ocelot II]

28. Yup. Walnut trees kill a lot of other plants.

https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/tree-plant-care/plant-care-resources/black-walnut-toxicity/

[GreenWave]

7. Leave her roof alone as it is an act of God, albeit a bizarre God.

Unless. of course, you like your neighbor...

[LuckyCharms]

10. We are very close to this particular neighbor.

The neighbor on the other side? Not so much...

[usaf-vet]

18. Depending on what is on her roof. Asphalt shingles would be my guess. You are probably doing more harm than good.

Asphalt shingles have little "stones" embedded in them; raking the "little stones" off takes years of life off the shingles.
If you are not sure, ask someone who knows. Or at least search the ground under the drip edge or at the gutter downspout.

If you see small colored stones on the ground, I would STOP "raking"—just a suggestion.

And yes, we live in snow country. I have done my share of raking.

[dweller]

8. You ought to let some one pay you

To come cut it down for the wood

Black walnut goes for around $5–7.00 per board foot of useable clear wood. A decent sized tree could be worth several thousand dollars once cut into boards

✌🏻

[LuckyCharms]

11. Yes, see post #9.

[usaf-vet]

13. And post #12

[Emile]

14. You need the Master Nut Cracker!

I love mine!

?si=ZGSUFkO-aVyWk7c4

[LuckyCharms]

16. Like True Dough, you mean? He's a real ball buster, so

he could probably crack nuts too.

[SamKnause]

19. Black walnuts taste delicious.

I would put them in my EatMore Goodie Cookies.

The recipe is available on Google.

Just type in EatMore Goodie Cookies 1964.

I must warn you they are highly addictive.

[brush]

21. Try hiring a neighborhood teenager.

[Kali]

23. Or even a pro

For an hour or so once a year, shouldn't be too much.

[brush]

25. Yeah, I stopped doing ladders a while ago. A fall can break an arm or leg...

even be fatal if you hit your head. Accidents happen in or around the home quite often.

I once owned a house with a small garage behind at the end of the driveway. There was a tree in the backyard which had branches over it's roof. One branch grew so much it started to scrape the shingles on the roof so I got a ladder, climbed up and used a long handled saw to hang off the ladder and reach over to try to cut the branch.

I came to my senses and realized what a dumb move that was as could fall and break an arm and a leg or worse.

It wasn't worth. I never tried that again.

[Kali]

22. You are a good neighbor

Maybe a headsup that you are aging and have a few health problems, maybe next year we could split the cost of hiring somebody to do the job?

[LuckyCharms]

24. Ahem, Kali

I'm getting younger.

And when men ignore their health problems, they go away.

[Diamond_Dog]

31. With that remark you sound like my husband, Lucky.

[LuckyCharms]

34. Well, time to come clean I guess, Diamond_Dog *sigh*

It's me. Your husband.

[Diamond_Dog]

39. Hmmm. I'm kind of skeptical about this, Lucky.

But …. just in case it *is* you, dear ….. when are you gonna take out the trash? I asked you like five times today!

[Kali]

40. LOL

forgot about that

[marble falls]

26. Thankyou from my heart for saving that tree.

[CanonRay]

29. I cleaned out the hot tub yesterday

and now I can barely walk, so I sympathize.

[Traildogbob]

30. Black walnut

Juglans nigra, produces and defensive toxin to keep completion away from it. Native Americans use to fill sacks with the nuts, then put them in streams to stun fish to catch. Many Mountain folks make a stain from the nut husks.
Saw mills will not bother to mill up a whole lot of it. Because of saw wear.
A close relative, cinerea, (white walnut) has a much sweeter nut but super sticky husks.
They are a mess too close to homes. And you are correct, removal is freaking expensive. Some specialty wood workers do like to craft out of it and it does have beautiful wood.
But nuts in gutters are rough.
Two in my daughter’s yard that make mowing late summer tough with massive amounts of nuts.

[Bayard]

32. We have them all over our property

They're a real pain in the ass every year. Its like trying to walk on a bunch of golf balls. All of our roofs are metal, so when they hit those, it sounds like someone is shooting at you. They make a big mess everywhere, and they propagate like crazy.. I hate them. Plus, they're poisonous to horses, and most of the other species we have here.

Mr. Bayard is very resistant, but I'm thinking of having someone come in and taking down, at least the ones in the pastures, around the house, and along the driveway. I hear there are guys who will do that and go 50/50 with you on the wood. We need the firewood for our stove.

You have my complete sympathy.

[rsdsharp]

33. Growing up, we had three black walnut trees on the parking to the east of our house.

They were so large the foliage extended into the back yard. Those green, tennis ball sized, walnuts would drop into the yard. Hitting them with the mower was like having a horizontal mortar. We lost all three in the tornado of 1968. I hadn’t thought of that in years. Thanks for the memory.

[Niagara]

35. At another residence, there was an exceedingly mature black walnut tree

that would release the walnuts over the driveway.


Since the tree was exceedingly mature, it branches covered the majority of the driveway. Carrying groceries in was dangerous and like walking on marbles. When the walnuts released it was an awful loud banging noise in the driveway and would hit our vehicles. We had the tree cut down back in the mid 2000's.


I didn't know it at the time there's an alleged way to stop a black walnut tree from producing black walnuts by pruning and with horticultural oil, like neem oil. I used neem oil for the first time this year on my burning bushes, they had an aphid infestation. It worked for the aphids.

When you have time, give this a read.
https://plant4harvest.com/how-to-stop-black-walnut-trees-from-producing-nuts/#google_vignette

[efhmc]

36. Always wanted one. Now glad the one I tried to grow died.

[LuckyCharms]

37. Jeez, thanks for this, Niagara.

I'm going to have to look into this a little more. I had no idea that you could inhibit the walnut growth like that.

I do prune the tree, but only what I can reach with a step ladder, and the tree is huge.

I'm wondering where exactly on the tree you would apply an oil or biological agent to inhibit the nut growth.

I'm going to read your link again, and then do some more research.

Some years there's NO nuts, and some years, like this one, I'm getting whacked in the head with them as they fall.

The nuts are all out of the tree now, and they are cleaned up as they fall because in my yard anyway, they get maggots if you let them sit there too long, and nobody wants to deal with that!

Thank you again.

[Niagara]

38. You're welcome, Lucky :)

I'm thinking that contacting a nursery garden center or a professional tree service could provide that information as well.


This walnut tree that we had released the black walnuts once every two years. It was dangerous, I was always afraid that someone was going to fall and break a leg or hip literally.

Please don't overwork yourself today!

[IcyPeas]

41. There are drones that do roof washing, pressure washing etc.

Youtube has videos.

Please don't hurt yourself.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

42. No squirrels around there?

I rarely get to see a walnut on the ground now. The little dog is too old and slow to catch the squirrels.

I used to have 1 walnut tree in the yard. Now they're popping up everywhere.