Harvesting Black Walnuts

[ahlkey]

I would like to try to germinate a large number of Black Walnuts from seed and my question is if it is ok to pick them directly off the tree at this time of year or should I wait until they first fall to the ground?   They have just started to drop to the ground and this weekend I was able to gather 30 or so but the problem is that the trees are located on a property location that I don't normally travel to that often.   I am afraid that if I wait until they fall to the ground the squirrels will get them before I have a chance.  However, I don't want to pick them too early before they are ready if they will not germinate?   I have three nice Black Walnut trees that have many bushels of walnuts this year and one specifically has large branches full of walnuts that can be easily be picked by ladder or my electric manlift.  Thoughts?     

[beenthere]

My thoughts are that the nuts that drop early are not good. Crack open a few and see if they are wormy inside, or are hollow. Seems we have an early drop this year and a heavy crop, but have not cracked any open to see how the meats are inside.

Also, the hickory nuts this year are huge and plenty. Will inspect a few for worms. Again, the early drops seem to be empty or wormy.

[Magicman]

My White Oaks will start "casting off" the culls very soon.  The tree knows when something is wrong with the fruit.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, my butternut tree cast off all it's duds about a month ago. There were not many up there to begin with. I think shoot moths are to blame on low fertility, they eat out the terminal bud where the nut flower emerges from. The pollen comes off round buds on the sides of the branch. I've got some walnut to, and they have had meat inside most, but I have never got them to break dormancy or sprout. Butternut however, if good seed, sprout like weeds around here. They should be about ripe. I wait for frost because I'm not a good climber. A friend of mine tried sprouting Ontario black walnuts by burying them next to the cement basement wall of the house so they didn't get extreme cold. They still never sprouted.

My white oak seed didn't pollinate, no pollen so they all dropped awhile ago.

[ahlkey]

Cracked a few open as suggested and most had meats and were good.  The other question I was trying to find out was if I can pick them off the tree before they are ripe and drop to the ground will they still be good for germination?

I also have a lot of butternut trees at another site so I will have to check how they are doing as well.

[JimTwoSticks]

Good rule of thumb is the softness of the outer husk. If you have ever squeezed a walnut (or butternut) in the summer that is the "hard" stage. In the next few weeks they should soften slightly and are ready to be picked even if still attached.
One thing to note is the seed that falls on the ground will often still be viable. There is a somewhat noticeable weight difference between a filled seed and one that is messed up. Cracking a few will give you a good comparison.

Good luck racing the squirrels.

[ahlkey]

Thanks for the responses.  I do plan to float them to sort out the better ones before planting.  I also will fence them in with chicken wire as I fear the huge number of squirrels will dig them up for sure.  It is always more work that anticipated but I hope to plant a few hundred or so and see how it goes.

[HiTech]

       I have both Butternut and Black Walnut trees. They have about the same amount of nuts as previous years. I have thought about planting some nuts and see if they start but the squirrels seem to do a good job of it. The ones they don't store in my wood piles in the sugarhouse for winter eating they bury in the ground. Perhaps this is nature's way of assuring future trees. Mother Nature always seems to take care of herself.

[SwampDonkey]

She does, but less chance of having the tree come up where you want it. Like butternut germinating on my lawn from squirrel activity.

[Chuck White]

I have 2 Black Walnut trees in my back yard.

Not very big yet, about 8 inches on the stump.

Of the 2, one is a Putney Black Walnut and I don't remember what the other was, but the Putney has nuts this year.

I checked around under it yesterday and found 1 nut.  There are quite a few on the tree.  I was surprised.

I know that in nature, the nuts sprout while just laying on the ground or wherever the squirrels bury them, so I would guess you wouldn't bury them very deep.

Now, if I wanted to plant some of those nuts, is there anything special I would need to do?

[shelbycharger400]

put em in the freezer for a few months,... then pull em out.. and wrap them in a damp paper towel. keep it damp... they will grow in bout 2 to 3 weeks.        the freeze thaw helps crack the nut.

[beenthere]

I've heard recommended to plant the nuts in a soup can (both ends removed) to help prevent the squirrels from digging them up during the winter and spring. The can rusts away over time. Probably an inch of dirt over the top of the nut to simulate buried by the squirrel. Ours will freeze over the winter and pop up all over the place in the spring...especially in the Mrs. flower bed.

[ahlkey]

I am planning to put chicken wire down on the perimeter of a fence (dig down) in order to keep the squirrels from digging them up.  I have planted about 100 or so small Walnut trees these past 3 years with a lot of success around the woodlot but never any from seed.   The deer do some damage at times but so far it has been minor.   The young Butternut trees are all doing reasonable well but all of the Butternut trees from young to mature are affected with the Butternut canker.  Slowly all of the Butternut trees are dying off but a few are somewhat resistant.  This is one reason I am trying to supplement their loss with Walnut trees. 

[jueston]

The squirrels love to dig in my lawn, but no trees every sprout I think they are looking for the nuts they buried before, but forgot where….

[ahlkey]

Luckily I was in the area today when 45 mph winds hit dropping a huge amount of walnuts.  So it was indeed time to harvest and I collected around 100 gallons of walnuts  (20 - 5 gallon pails) of which most of them came from one large 18 inch tree.   So early next week I will shift to planting for the winter but it sure seems this year we are seeing a bumper crops of walnuts.

[ahlkey]

Additionally with so many walnuts would it be reasonable to just plant them with the husks intact.  The idea of removing so would be alot of work so if I would rather just plant (3) together per hole and see what I get in the spring?  Anyone have any experience with planting walnuts with husks intact?  Thanks

[Chuck White]

I was thinking the same thing ahlkey, more than 1 nut in each hole.

But I'll go around in the Spring and remove all but 1 sprout so as to produce better timber.

[beenthere]

ahlkey
I wouldn't bother with the early drops, nor bother with any that the husks didn't turn black and mushy.
When the husks stay tight and green on the walnuts that drop, to me suggest they are the immature culls that are not worth the effort.

After last night's wind, there are a gazillion nuts on the ground now. Within 34 hours, the husks will be mushy and slough off into a black slime. Then the nuts can be picked up easily. Plant them or clean for cracking after dry.

[SwampDonkey]

I never remove the butternut husks and drop them in a 2" hole, scuff the ground and mark all the new trees I find next year.  My memory is much better than a squirrel's.

[beenthere]

But.....he's talking black walnuts, not butternuts.