Is my black walnut safe in a storm?
One of the more ice-resistant hardwoods on this list and rated resistant in the standard urban ice-susceptibility tables — its coarse branching simply catches less ice per unit of wood than a fine-twigged tree. Failures in central Indiana tend to be a single heavy lateral over a roof, or old topping wounds finally letting go, rather than the wholesale crown shedding you see on cherry or cottonwood.
What pruning can and can't prevent
Prune it dormant or in late summer, and stay off it from late February through April — walnut bleeds so heavily in spring that sap runs from the wound before the cut is finished. The bleeding does not kill the tree, but it soaks everything below and it is the reason a casual spring cleanup on a walnut turns into a complaint about the patio furniture.
Related
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