Have been nuturing a stand of black walnuts for 15+ years and last summer the neighbor had the neighboring pasture sprayed with herbicide, remedy, tordon, 24d, via airplane to kill osage orange. The wind must have been too high as it drifted for over a half mile and affected alot of my black walnut trees. I contacted the spray company and it was agreed we would wait until this spring to see if they came back. I have 2 questions. Will it be a good gage just to see if they leaf out or should I be looking at more than that? If they don't how do I determine a value, they are of various sized all I have been doing is removing the other trees and letting them come up volunteer?

Greetings Michael:

Sorry to hear about the herbicide drift issue--this unfortunate phenomenon is common here in Illinois too!

Obviously, you need to legally document everything that has transpired regarding this particular case. In addition, you may need to file a report with your state department of agriculture (this is what landowners in Illinois have to do).

Anyways, please contact a local professional consulting forester or a KS state forester for further assistance as you will likely require on-site technical assistance regarding this issue. Ultimately, you could be looking at a lawsuit OR your trees might rebound virtually unscathed with limited or no adverse effects.

Best of luck!