Harvesting Black Walnuts

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OBG 57 said:
Sounds like an old well house :dunno:

I am wondering if anyone has black walnuts and would be willing to send me just a few to see if I can start growing a tree

PM me an address I can help you out with that :D
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As I said earlier, I think this is a great idea for anyone who has land. In a tough situation, nuts could provide nutrition that we cannot get from any other source, and could become a source of oil.

About a year and a half ago, I saw dried up cherries on a tress on my walk with a friend. I grabbed 6 of those cherries, came home and read about how to start a cherry tree from seed. The process is fairly similar to grow black walnuts. They need winter stratification. For the cherries, the article I read said to keep them planted in moist soil in the refrigerator and that it would take 7 months. I believe I soaked them for a day or so before I planted them. Almost 7 months to the day, I had one sprout. Almost a year later, it is in a pot and is 4 inches tall. I had a peach tree that died due to a huge temperature drop in one day, about 60 degrees. Hundreds of trees in my area died. There are some starts from that tree that volunteered in my yard. Yes, they may not be the wonderful peach that I started with, but I am keeping them.

If we were to plant 6 black walnuts, what would be the percentage of them sprouting?
 
If they are viable, the odds are pretty good they will sprout, years ago I had brought a bucket full of walnuts home that still had the outer coating on them, nearly all of them sprouted, I transplanted some down in the lower field and also uphill, they took but haven't grown like the sapling I had in a coffee can for two years As for cherries, we've picked cherries off of old farm orchard trees, threw the pitts into a compost bucket that we dumped down in the garden and we've had around 50 saplings that started this way and a couple we left which are nearly 40' high now. Our soil is pretty acidic around here and that's good for starting trees, it's also good for blueberry bushes and I want to get some of them started pretty soon. Around here so many trees, like walnuts, grow like weeds, just dig a little hole throw a seed in the hole and they take off like crazy, you do have to protect them from deer, elk and other nibblers until the trees get big enough.
 
Move those trees away from your house! they will ruin the foundation and take the wall with it. You will need a space that has a radius of at least 6 feet larger than the umbrella of the mature tree in order for it to be healthy. Fruit trees are brittle wood and the wind can break of branches that can tear holes in roofs. I won't plant trees within 100 yards of my home. That is best for the tree and for the house. Wild fires can find a path to your home if the trees are too close.
 
SheepDog said:
Move those trees away from your house! they will ruin the foundation and take the wall with it. You will need a space that has a radius of at least 6 feet larger than the umbrella of the mature tree in order for it to be healthy. Fruit trees are brittle wood and the wind can break of branches that can tear holes in roofs. I won't plant trees within 100 yards of my home. That is best for the tree and for the house. Wild fires can find a path to your home if the trees are too close.
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By around I mean 60ft away down a hill. I Worked as a arborist and landscaper for years and know better that to locate a tree near the foundation even if its a slab.
 
I purchased dwarf peach and pear trees. I have read that a dwarf can be created by pruning the trunk of a tree when it is 3/4 of an inch in the early spring. I am not sure if that is the best way to have a dwarf, but it would be an interesting experiment if you want smaller trees.
 
Weedygarden said:
I purchased dwarf peach and pear trees. I have read that a dwarf can be created by pruning the trunk of a tree when it is 3/4 of an inch in the early spring. I am not sure if that is the best way to have a dwarf, but it would be an interesting experiment if you want smaller trees.
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In Botany we learn how Conifers normally have one main trunk where the hormones for height are stored. If you "top" a conifer it will get wider but not as tall. The same can be done to any tree to an extent by trimming the terminal buds and reducing growth hormones in the branches. This technique is used to produce bonsai trees.
 
kappydell said:
No black walnuts here unless they are on the back of the property near the creek. We just bought property in GA and have discovered several nut trees on property; now we are trying to figure out what kind, because there are no leaves right now. The nuts look like hickory; the tree bark looks like butternut. At any rate, we have nuts, which pleases me, because harvesting acorns entails more work that just picking up and cracking. Right now we are at the 'redneck achaeology' stage where we are discovering remains of prior land owners. I think we found a well head, we have definitely found where the county piped in water on the property for an earlier house, a concrete block enclosure that could be several things, but no roof on it, and electrical lines buried in PVC pipe for ???, and a barn yard light on a tree that is not hooked up). We do like the place. Our friends here are lobbying for us to turn the concrete block enclosure into a smoke house - it would be an easy adaptation.
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We had a walnut tree in the yard last time we lived in North Georgia. We never got the nuts ,squirrels got them all.
 
Weedygarden: we sent a $10 donation to the arbor day foundation once and they, in return, sent us ten puny little saplings. On their website you can choose which trees that grow well in your area.
I don't know if black walnut would be offered but you can check it out. I warn you though, you have to take very good care of them since they are just little tiny sappers.
 
Patchouli said:
Weedygarden: we sent a $10 donation to the arbor day foundation once and they, in return, sent us ten puny little saplings. On their website you can choose which trees that grow well in your area.
I don't know if black walnut would be offered but you can check it out. I warn you though, you have to take very good care of them since they are just little tiny sappers.
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Thank you. I checked them out. I don't see black walnut on the list.

I am not sure that you can expect more for $10 than what you got. I would think that they can probably best start a seedling and they are not likely in the tree growing business, more about getting seedlings out to people. I haven't fully checked the company out to know how ethical they are.

When I was teaching, I had information about them and maybe even early on got some seeds from them. I think we received locust tree seeds. This was many years ago. I probably didn't even know what kind of seeds we were getting. It was a little ironic to me because I have two locust trees on my property and could have sent them a couple hundred locust seeds. It must not have been important enough for me to to do it another year.

I know a 101 year old man in Canada who used to plant trees in his area. I am not sure where he got them originally, but he probably has planted 1000s. Once he had planted a bunch for a couple of years and the word got out, companies that had trees left over that they hadn't sold, would give him what they had left. He worked on those trees for years. He is in an old folks home now, but does go check out his trees when he can. They were not large trees, but rather fairly small seedlings. One time, someone mowed a bunch of them.

My point is that if I had an acreage, and I knew that something like black walnuts were available to start from seeds (nuts), and that they are going to become scarce, I would plant as many as I could on my land. The thing of my starting the cherry seed was one of my experiments. I like to try things like that out. The same will be true of black walnuts.
 
I cut down a Black Walnut tree that had died last fall. The trunk was only about 12" in diameter. I've been practicing on cedar with my chainsaw and when I'm good enough I want to saw 2 center slabs about 4" thick, hand plane them smooth and make a mantle for the fireplace and make a chandelier out of some smaller limbs. This is what a limb looks like sawn on a table saw.
20171211_150401.jpg
 
gumpy said:
I cut down a Black Walnut tree that had died last fall. The trunk was only about 12" in diameter. I've been practicing on cedar with my chainsaw and when I'm good enough I want to saw 2 center slabs about 4" thick, hand plane them smooth and make a mantle for the fireplace and make a chandelier out of some smaller limbs. This is what a limb looks like sawn on a table saw.
View attachment 3886
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That is interesting looking wood. I'm sure you are going to have a beautiful mantel and chandelier.
 
Weedygarden said:
That is interesting looking wood. I'm sure you are going to have a beautiful mantel and chandelier.
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I'm thinking about using old quart mason/bell jars for the globe's. I want something different, ya know.
 
I pruned a co-workers 30 year old muscadine vine, the arbor was falling down after a black walnut limb fell on it.
We cut up limbs, & pruned up the over ran jungle of new growth.
We got most of it done, need to repair the arbor.
I noticed that the ground was covered with black walnuts from this Fall 2017.
They looked like old raisin & this could harm the nut meat.
I think I can clean them, I tested a few & the meat is good.
Co-worker did not want them so he gave me 3 -5 gallon buckets of nuts.
 
I have several Black Walnut trees on my place, and noticed they didn't make last year. I wonder why food trees make good some years, not to good other years, or not at all other years? Seems like about a 5-7 year cycle.
puzzled-smiley-2018.jpg
 
I've never had blk walnuts. We have them I think. Our place had several nice grafted pecan trees that we've enjoyed for over 30 years. They are starting to die back though. I imagine that they are at least 50 years old if not 75. They also have cycles of between 3 to 5 years. Ive always made sure that I had several years worth in the freezer. I'm about out though. The tree haven't made anything in several years now.
 
NannyPatty said:
I've never had blk walnuts. We have them I think. Our place had several nice grafted pecan trees that we've enjoyed for over 30 years. They are starting to die back though. I imagine that they are at least 50 years old if not 75. They also have cycles of between 3 to 5 years. Ive always made sure that I had several years worth in the freezer. I'm about out though. The tree haven't made anything in several years now.
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For me, the weather has an affect on the cycles. If it is a mild spring, the fruit trees seem to be better. If there are a couple years where freezing weather keeps them from producing, they are much more prolific when they can set fruit on.
 
Weedygarden said:
For me, the weather has an affect on the cycles. If it is a mild spring, the fruit trees seem to be better. If there are a couple years where freezing weather keeps them from producing, they are much more prolific when they can set fruit on.
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I wasn't aware of this, but it makes sense!
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This says 90-120 days.
Germination of Walnuts
News Article
By Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture
Walnut trees can be easily grown from seeds by following a few simple steps.

Collect walnuts after they fall to the ground. Remove the husks and then place the nuts in water. Nuts that float are not viable and can be discarded. Good, viable nuts will sink to the bottom.

Before the walnuts will germinate, the nuts need to be exposed to cold temperatures and moist conditions. The cold-moist requirement can be met by planting the nuts in the ground in fall. Plant walnuts 1 to 2 inches deep.

The cold-moist requirement can also be accomplished through a process called stratification. Walnuts can be stratified by placing the nuts in a moist mixture of sand and peat moss and then storing them in a cool location. Suitable containers include coffee cans, plastic buckets, and food storage bags. The refrigerator is a good storage location. (Stratification temperatures should be just above freezing.) The walnuts must remain in the refrigerator for 90 to 120 days. After the nuts have been properly stratified, they can be removed from the refrigerator and planted.
s://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2008/8-27/walnuts.html
 
joel said:
This says 90-120 days.
Germination of Walnuts
News Article
By Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture
Walnut trees can be easily grown from seeds by following a few simple steps.

Collect walnuts after they fall to the ground. Remove the husks and then place the nuts in water. Nuts that float are not viable and can be discarded. Good, viable nuts will sink to the bottom.

Before the walnuts will germinate, the nuts need to be exposed to cold temperatures and moist conditions. The cold-moist requirement can be met by planting the nuts in the ground in fall. Plant walnuts 1 to 2 inches deep.

The cold-moist requirement can also be accomplished through a process called stratification. Walnuts can be stratified by placing the nuts in a moist mixture of sand and peat moss and then storing them in a cool location. Suitable containers include coffee cans, plastic buckets, and food storage bags. The refrigerator is a good storage location. (Stratification temperatures should be just above freezing.) The walnuts must remain in the refrigerator for 90 to 120 days. After the nuts have been properly stratified, they can be removed from the refrigerator and planted.
s://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2008/8-27/walnuts.html
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I didn't know about the float test. I planted them individually in sour cream cartons and have them in my crisper drawer in my refrigerator. I check on them and keep them moist.

A couple years ago, I did a similar thing with some dried cherries I found on a tree. I picked about 6 of them and then read that they needed to be planted and kept moist and cold. I kept those in the refrigerator as well. I have one cherry plant from that. The directions said it takes about 7 months, and it was that almost to the day.
 
@Weedygarden you might find this of interest.
https://www.treeplantation.com/black-walnut.html
"Fast growing Black Walnut trees are prized for their dark colored heartwood and are valuable as timber wood and veneer used for gunstocks, fine furniture and flooring. Black Walnut tree seedlings are cultivated across North America in tree plantations for its valuable wood. Black Walnut is highly prized for its dark colored heartwood and because of its value, forestry officials often are called on to track down Black Walnut poachers; in 2004, DNA testing was used to solve one such poaching case, involving a 95-foot tree worth US $28,500. In another case, a helicopter was used to lift Black Walnut trees out of private forests."

How did your attempt at growing black walnut trees work out? I'm seeing prices around $5 per seedling online.
 
Patchouli said:
@Weedygarden you might find this of interest.
https://www.treeplantation.com/black-walnut.html
"Fast growing Black Walnut trees are prized for their dark colored heartwood and are valuable as timber wood and veneer used for gunstocks, fine furniture and flooring. Black Walnut tree seedlings are cultivated across North America in tree plantations for its valuable wood. Black Walnut is highly prized for its dark colored heartwood and because of its value, forestry officials often are called on to track down Black Walnut poachers; in 2004, DNA testing was used to solve one such poaching case, involving a 95-foot tree worth US $28,500. In another case, a helicopter was used to lift Black Walnut trees out of private forests."

How did your attempt at growing black walnut trees work out? I'm seeing prices around $5 per seedling online.
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No luck. I don't know if I did something wrong or not. I followed the instructions I found online. I did the same kind of thing with cherries, planting several in some dirt, keeping them moist and in the fridge. In exactly the time they said, I believe 7 months, one sprouted. I have not given up. I will keep trying until I can get at least one to grow.

I have gotten grapefruit seeds and lemon seeds to sprout. I got two lemons plants to grow from one lemon. They are growing slowly, but it is kind of fun. I really want to try to grow some grapefruit, oranges, and limes as well. I know it will take them years to produce, but that is okay.
 
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