Butternut Seedlings

[SwampDonkey]

The forest is getting a little thick in the back yard. I think there are another 5 seedlings to the right. I'm going to see how they over winter and transplant them. I think they would be too tender to disturb right now, so I have to mow around them.  The tree with the grey bark to the upper right is the parent tree.  Transplanted it in 1987 I think.

[Mooseherder]

SD
What is the root system like on the Butternut?

[SwampDonkey]

Mainly shallow and wide spreading with a tap root that doesn't seem to go real deep. The roots have a strong smell to, if you injure them in digging. Must be the Juglanase in them. I dug mine up with a tractor bucket, but it was in real fine moist earth with barely a rock. Had alot of feeder roots, kind of reminded me of northern white cedar. I find the seedlings grow real slowly after the first year until a root system is well developed. Then they grow quite quickly for a few years and slow up again.

I wish I could get basswood to germinate, I have all kinds of flowers this year on the trees.

[limbrat]

A technique that i have had a lot of luck with in transplants. Is to dig down about 16" with a sharp shooter and cut the tap root during the growing season. Then transplant when the plant is dormant, the plant seems to put out more shallow roots and you get a better root ball. I have had a lot of luck with the local cedar, magnola,dogwood and wild azalia.

[jon12345]

Looks good, I just found 3 new ones that are 6-10' in height, which will probably succumb to the canker but I still like having them around.  There are hundreds of walnuts growin in the city where I work, I'm gonna get a few (dozen, hundred  )  to bury in the yard.  Usually walnut doesnt grow around me, but maybe if I plant them on a part of the 'lawn' that doesn't get mowed they'll do alright.

[SwampDonkey]

I found a couple short rows of new butternut trees on the edge of my woodlot (along the main road). I planted the seeds a couple years ago. Have another area that I've been combing through for new seedlings, ain't seen nothing yet. I'll probably plant some red oak seeds with my dibble this fall, they do better when burried.

[jon12345]

Our big butternut is loaded this year, going to do some serious plantin after they drop.  In other news, the city where I work is a cornucopia of walnut trees so I'm going to swipe a bunch of them to plant too 

[SwampDonkey]

You should have good luck with them both as long as the weeds aren't real tall or thick. They seem to take awhile to establish a good root network, then grow pretty fast for a few years. When they come up, you might want to put a wire cage around the trunk to keep the mice and rabbits out. I use that 1 cm square wire, some people use it on the floor of outdoor rabbit cages that is just big enough to pass their excrement. Use about 10 inch wide strips and wrap it loose so it's not touching bark. Cheaper than buying those plastic wraps for yard trees, although ya need wire cutters to cut the strips.

[jkj]

...walnuts...I'm gonna get a few (dozen, hundred  )  to bury in the yard.

After planting walnuts for years, one author I read came up with an interesting alternative - just dump a bushel or two in a pile on the ground and let the squirrels bury them!  They will lose most of them over the winter.  He said this seemed to work as well as digging holes and planting.

JKJ

[SwampDonkey]

That method would work, although there would be no control over where they got burried. If ya just use a dibble bar and poke a hole, mostly with the help of gravity, drop a seed in and kick the ground a couple times, it's not really that much work. If your using a shovel it'll seem more like work. No need to remove the husk, that will break down over fall and winter.

[jon12345]

Maybe I'll tear/till up some dirt, and put plastic down and then poke holes in it as I plant them 

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds like a good plan to me. 

[SPIKER]

Last fall my brother brought down a 50 gallon tub full of husk on wallnuts, I roto tilled a 100' section of side yard & we just spread them out & stepped them into the tilled ground, mowed this year blowing the grass into the area, there must be 500 wallnut trees growing in that section now,   next year I'll start by sorting out some while dormant & transplanting into the back pasture/hillside   and leave a few to continue growing.   maybe offering the 2/3 yr dromant seedling/saplings forsale locally    not sure HOW the best way to transplant these are as of yet.  SO any extra INFo on how would be nice.   I know the butternuts are nearly identical to the wallnuts as far as roots/transplanting goes so any better info on HOW to shear the tap root & when to do this to force upper root groth? 

thanks for any help

mark M

[jkj]

...any better info on HOW to shear the tap root & when to do this to force upper root groth? 

Mark,

I am a compulsive book-buyer (somebody help me) and there are several I especially liked: "Common Sense Forestry" by Morsbach, a delightful and fresh look at the subject, "The Woodlot Management Handbook" by Hilts and Mitchell, a more traditional approach, and "The Tree Doctor", more of a slick how-to aimed at the novice with lots of pictures with good instruction. 

And more specific to walnut, you would probably enjoy the interesting and entertaining article "Black Walnut Woes" by John Harwood, first published in Fine Woodworking (#44, Jan/middle of snowshow season 1984, available on eBay I notice), and reprinted in the most excellent Fine Woodworking publication "On Wood and How to Dry It".

JKJ

[SwampDonkey]

If you have nice soft moist loam ground, it's not hard to transplant them. If your transplanting seedlings dig a foot deep and 6 inches in radius around the seedling. It's best to plant the seed where it's going to develop for a few years. Transplanting young seedlings from ground to another location is probably best done in dormancy in spring. You can do it later in the season, but depends on the ground (being not compacted) and moisture. Also, rides a great deal on how well you escavate the tree and how quickly it gets set in it's new home. Taking the roots out of the ground is like open heart surgery.

[jackpine]

I have tried to transplant butternut seedlings several times and have had no luck. They live through the transplant but the squirrels dig them up
How do you guys squirrel proof them and how old must they be before the squirrels leave them alone?

[SwampDonkey]

Refer to post # 7 and modify it to allow some of the wire cage to protect the ground around the seedling. Try cutting a couple slits on the sides and bend the wire at 90 deg to lay flat on the ground. Keeps the buggers claws from reaching the soil.

[SwampDonkey]

There is an estate down the road, owned by some folks in Maine. I haven't got in touch with them yet, but they have a lot of nice sapling sized butternut on their lot. It's on a ridge and there is a lot of white ash and aspen, majority is aspen. But, I was doing some surveying of the area in question and every 40 m² plot had a hardwood or two or four in it. The area is about 25 acres in scope and it would be nice to do some pre-commercial thinning in there to favor the butternut and ash. It's nice to see so many butternut that are not suckered stumps. We used to snow mobile in that area 30 years ago and there were a lot of big old butternut and basswood across that ridge. Now most of those lots have been hacked off and mangled through just for $$. 

[Dana]

I would be interested in trying to grow a few butternuts if anyone has any extra nuts or seedlings.  I could trade for black walnut nuts this year or possibly Carpathian if any are left in the yard.

[SwampDonkey]

Apparently, butternut sap can be collected to make a sweet syrup. And the inner bark of roots contains substances used for a mild, safe laxative.

http://earthnotes.tripod.com/butternut.htm