Walnut Trees ?

[NIXON]

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]

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]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But I can't seem to get walnuts to grow from seed . Is there a right way to do it ? )</font>

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[NIXON]

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