Walnut Trees ?

NIXON · Oct 10, 2003

I've had fairly good luck planting trees from seed . ( various oaks and Cherry )But I can't seem to get walnuts to grow from seed . Is there a right way to do it ? Thanks , John

Dozernut · Oct 10, 2003

They need a good hard freeze. We have put them in the freezer and had moderate success. You will lose some to the rodents and insects. Its a hit and miss proposition. Maybe an expert out there can advise you better than me.

Jim_Fisher · Oct 10, 2003

( But I can't seem to get walnuts to grow from seed . Is there a right way to do it ? )

I have a lot of walnut trees and good natural reproduction. I've always suspected that the reason for this is that the squirrels bury a lot of the nuts and fail to dig some of them up. Soil characteristics may also be a factor.

I've noticed some lately carrying away nuts with the green outer hull still intact. Presumably these will be burried and retrieved later in the year.

Walnuts seem to do well in shaded areas. They are constantly popping up under grape vines or the overhang of a shed. Another place that I often see them is next to stone walls and buildings.

I'm not sure how long germination takes but walnuts are extremely slow growing.

I think that if I were going to try to grow them from seed, I'd plant them in the hull, three to four inches deep in a shaded area or on a north slope.

Jim

Hoosier_Daddy · Oct 10, 2003

I agree with Jim but want to add that they seem to grow best where you don't want them and definately the varmits bury them with the hull intact.

Maybe the hull is the food for the seed over the winter. I have watched the good eating hairballs bury the walnuts.

Hope you have long time to wait. They do like kids. Go crazy for a few years and then seem to take forever to mature to size.

Like boiling water. Don't watch.

However, if nobody ever did what you are doing where would we humans be?

Go for it. Try a few different ways and you may know by spring.

Good Luck,,

Tom

DocHeb · Oct 11, 2003

I had an uncle that planted thousands of black walnuts over the years. He always "stratified" the walnuts over the winter. First he would shell the nuts, then throw out any that would float in water. He would dig a 24 inch deep hole put a layer of fine sand, a layer of walnuts, a layer of sand ... etc ... until the hole was filled. He would then water it well, and then put hardware cloth over the top. In the spring, he would check the nuts, and take the ones with the root starting and plant them (being very careful with the root). He seemed to have pretty good success with this method.

For additional information, check out the .pdf file: Planting Black Walnut for Timber. This article also describes the stratification method.

r0GuE · Oct 11, 2003

I have a 150 foot walnut tree in the corner of my yard. I like it because it has great shade, but boy the fall can be rough. Sticky messy leaves, baseball size walnuts. Yuck!

The thing that gets me is the way the braches reack back down to the ground 80 feet from the trunk. It also seems to drop a lot of limbs through the years.

MossRoad · Oct 11, 2003

A firend of mine has a walnut tree. He uses his hockey stick for some practice when cleaning up the walnuts. He puts a trash can in the corner of his fence, he shoots, he scores!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

NIXON · Oct 12, 2003

Thanks for all the replies and info ! I've got a few out of the way places to plant them so that they don't Become a chore to clean up after . I fully expect them to take a long time to mature .... I hope my son in Law , and Daughter enjoy them /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif John

Egon · Oct 13, 2003

You are to be congradulated for " Thinking of Future Generations "
Egon

NIXON · Oct 13, 2003

Egon , I've always thought that my property is only in my care temporariloy . So it's best to try and leave it better than you found it . I think of it as my gift to the next generation /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
John

heehaw · Oct 17, 2003

you might check with you state forestry commission, our state forestry sells black walnut trees every year..not sure how old they are, but they are usually 12-24 inches tall, and seem to do real well...if you can keep the deer from biting the tops off. i haven't bought any in years but i think the cost runs about $30 for 50 trees?? if you want timber, you plant them closer together than you do, if you want walnuts. not sure why anyone would want walnuts?? i haven't been able to give them away.
heehaw

NIXON · Oct 17, 2003

Thanks , I'll give your suggestion a try . John

Hoosier_Daddy · Oct 23, 2003

One thing about walnut trees. Don't plant tomato plants too close to a walnut tree. You will get very few tomato's. Something about Walnut trees and tomato plants. At least Black Walnut trees.

Tom

Egon · Oct 24, 2003

Somewhere I have read that mature Walmut trees have about a 50 foot radius where growing much of anything gets difficult.

Egon

Von · Oct 24, 2003

About twenty years ago my brother got this idea to plant black walnut trees for lumber on about 8 acres we had. so we planted about 500 trees that we got that were about 2 ft. tall over a few years. Today there is not one standing /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif the deer or rabbits would bite them off and just leave it sitting there. We tried putting fences around each tree and shooting all the deer and rabbits we could, but no luck. Plus as stated they don't like the sun and need lots of water. I gave my father-inlaw two of the trees and he planted and babyed them in his yard. When he sold his house 15 years ago they were about 20ft. tall. I gave up on the idea after about four years when we had less than 10% left. It can be done, but its not easy!

r0GuE · Oct 24, 2003

( Somewhere I have read that mature Walmut trees have about a 50 foot radius where growing much of anything gets difficult.

Egon )

ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!!

It is amazing. The trunk of mine is 5 foor wide and stands ~ 150 foot tall? (not good judging hieght). The branches arch over and when the nuts are on and heavy, the tips almost touch the ground 60 - 70 foot away from the tree! Quite an unbrella of moisture and sun absorbing walnut tree. Not to mention the paste of leaves and walnut comets. Then there are the roots (sitting on top of the yeard at some spots 4 to 6 inches around). And last, the big rotten branches (where do these keep coming from??????)

Anyway.... tough to grow under them,... I'm going to eventually try ferns.

Junkman · Oct 24, 2003

( you might check with you state forestry commission, our state forestry sells black walnut trees every year..not sure how old they are, but they are usually 12-24 inches tall, and seem to do real well...if you can keep the deer from biting the tops off. i haven't bought any in years but i think the cost runs about $30 for 50 trees?? if you want timber, you plant them closer together than you do, if you want walnuts. not sure why anyone would want walnuts?? i haven't been able to give them away.
heehaw )

I intend to check into the state program if there is one here in CT....... as for being able to give them away.... if they are the same type of walnuts that my wife cooks with, she goes through mega bags of them for brownies and cookies for Christmas presents. The only thing is that I don't think that I have enough years left on this earth to see them get to the point that they would be sprouting nuts to be picked.....

heehaw · Oct 26, 2003

lots of folks say they want them..but what they seem to mean is they want them picked out, and delivered!! we spend a lot of time every year, picking them up and throwing/hauling them into the woods behind the house.
heehaw