Walnut trees and pets

Posts

• debs64 Posts: 5,184

  July 2023

  Cats are not stupid enough to eat toxic plants usually. I don’t know about dogs. 

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• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  July 2023 edited July 2023

  We had walnut trees on the farm and we had cats and dogs. There were generations of cars and dogs spending time around those trees. 

  
  

  The only reason you need to be aware of that toxicity is so that you don’t make toys for  your dog to chew out of walnut wood.  I’ve never yet known a cat chew wood. 

  
  

  I certainly wouldn’t worry about that  if I were you. 

  
  

  I might worry about whether I had space for a walnut tree …. they grow to be massive!

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Butterfly66 Posts: 970

  July 2023

  I would definitely try and identify the variety. Some are more garden friendly size wise but still quite large trees. We inherited ours so no idea re the variety but hoping it’s one of the smaller ones. They are beautiful trees, ours is around 6m tall and wide. Beautiful smooth, silvery bark and the attractive leaves are wonderfully aromatic when crushed or when it’s a very hot, still day. I can’t comment on the walnuts, the squirrels beat us to them every year.
  
  We have lots of visiting cats, none of which seem to have come to any harm.
  
  
  

   If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
  East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham

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• Obelixx Posts: 30,090

  July 2023

  We have 3 walnut trees in our plot and 2 dogs and 2 cats and no problems.  Two of the trees are on our boundary with a farmer neighbour raising cattle for beef and have been there for decades with no problems for him.
  
  The common or English walnut has less of the juglone than the black walnut and it can give problems with growing other plants near by but not, as far as I'm aware, with pets or animals.

  Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
  

  "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."

  Plato
  

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• KeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831

  July 2023

  We have a white Walnut (Juglans regia), no problems for plants or the dog, it's just too bloody big!  Beware if you have anything other than a very large garden.

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• HeyHo! Posts: 113

  July 2023

  On our travels, Walnut trees were popular in gardens and naturally in the countryside of north Italy. There were many cats and dogs about, no problem. Pets don't go for leaves and seeds from trees  If they tried plants, it would be grass, shrubs, but not trees.

  Walnut trees are beautiful! During the Byzantine era, the walnut was also known by the name "royal nut".

  Put the tree in the sunniest position and hopefully produce lots of walnuts one day. They are slow growing.  To keep them small, prune to encourage production and this also restricts the size of the tree.

  
  
  

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• TenN Posts: 184

  July 2023

  I've got a Rowan, lilies, azaleas, foxgloves, holly, ivy, cotoneaster and at certain times tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils, as well as loads of other stuff supposed to be dangerous to dogs and yet mine is still breathing and pulling stuff out of the recycling. Dogs are smart enough not to eat poisonous things but dumb enough to make them fun.

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• rowlandscastle444 Posts: 2,612

  July 2023

  I found an errant walnut tree growing up through our pyracantha hedge last week. How it had escaped my notice, I've no idea. It was about 9 inches high, with the nutcase still attached to the root system - and another nutcase pulling it up!!
  Those darned squirrels are a nuisance. 
  
  My wife likes the idea of a walnut tree. Just not in the pyracantha hedge. Now if the nut had been buried in a reasonably accessible part of the garden, I would have gently dug it up and replanted it in a pot.

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