@dannyboy, Jeanne gives sound advice. Just start cutting off pieces, but do talk to the tree first. Explain it and use it's limbs for something in your house. Perhaps a nice carpeting project;-) It remains a living being and deserves a little love. ❤️
I posted and saw @ana 's response on the next page! What she said!
I am dealing with a tree-house issue myself. Tree roots on the right side of my house are wrapped around my sprinkler box system causing some issues which we are in the process of correcting.
Perhaps you could save some seeds from the tree and plant some new ones in the yard, far away from the house foundation?
Being a reverent tree lover myself, I find that living in a forest of beautiful evergreens is the ultimate healing atmosphere both for body and soul .... there are 'tree exceptions' though, and after looking at your pic of tree and your description of the leaves looking like your walnut tree ...?
The tree could possibly be the dreaded 'Tree of Heaven', tho it's more like the tree from hell! It's a Grove tree that was brought to the US by the Chinese for shade when they were building the railroads throughout the country, and is one of the most invasive species that is really hard to eradicate once it gets a foothold and the shoots grow up ..... it's more like a rapidly growing weed.
In my native California I've seen this 'tree actually destroy houses as it gets a toehold in the foundation and will grow very fast through the walls even... in NYC they are planted along streets as they are impervious to smog and about everything else, almost impossible to destroy. But yeah, nice shade.
If you think this might be the devil tree, you should try to eradicate it asap, and all the saplings around it. Just burn it and the whole root system! No mercy.... ?
@stargazer so I googled tree of heaven and those do look like the leaves - I’m going to pay close attention to everything with it this spring. Our whole grounds are literally weed plants and weed trees so this would be a thing we would inexplicably have ?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tree tidings db, but those things are awful .... and they eventually choke everything else out. Best to look over your property to see if any more have been shooting up and get rid of them all if indeed they are the devil trees...
Your historic home will thank you! Hope you and your family are keeping well... tomorrow we wake to a brand new day ...??
PS... Plant some evergreens instead ?????
@stargazer,OMG, I know the Tree of Heaven. If it is the Tree of Heaven, then kill the mother and read about how to do that. Good intuition, stargazer.
Well there's a huge rusted barn on the other side of our property (it's our neighbors - it's hideous) - maybe if it IS the tree of Heaven, I'll plant all the seeds over there . We tried getting trees to grow there before but the ground was too rocky and ultimately didn't get enough water during the rainy seasons so they all died but one. By the time they'd make their way back over to me (which, lets face it, I run over things on the lawn mower all the time) my wife and I would be dead and gone. We live on two acres so there's room to grow :P
(We still hope to sell the house in our 50s and move somewhere closer to town when the twins graduate)
I am going to wait until the spring or summer to really check out what kind of tree it is - maybe I'll message our resident arborist when it's in full bloom if I'm still unable to identify it. But yes, I'll get it out of there. We have big family bonfires so much of it will end up in the fire pit in celebration of being able to commune with friends again. But there's one branch in particular I might have my wife do some wire work on and turn into a fire poker/walking stick.