Planting Walnuts

[IL80]

There is a magnificent tall straight black walnut tree in my WI neighborhood that has been dropping walnuts like crazy. I have a couple buckets full of them and want to plant them on my IL tract of timber. I've read a little online about removing the husks and storing them in your fridge for four months etc..but was wondering can I just push these nuts into the ground in a favorable area near existing walnut trees? Also how long can I store these green nuts in buckets before they are ruined? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated..thanks!

[Den Socling]

Around here the squirrels plant enough walnuts and oaks to drive us crazy. You can't kill the darn walnuts. Hack one down and it sends up 3 shoots. I would guess that all you need to do is push them into the ground. In the spring the nut will split and drop a tap root. Once the taproot is in place, the tree is there to stay.

[beenthere]

Stuff them in the ground... just like the squirrels do. But to protect them, a tin can with both ends removed and stuffed around the nut you plant, helps to keep the squirrels from claiming that they belong to them.

The sooner the better, and the IL winter will suffice for the freezing suggested. IMO

Once the nut dries, then not much left inside to start any growth.

[IL80]

Okay that sounds like a plan. I am still a bit nervous as to how long can keep the green nuts in a bucket or is there a better way to store them? Right now it looks like it'll be atleast a few weeks until I can plant them. Thanks

[ET]

IL80; I have planted around 1000 live nursery grown walnut trees and have planted maybe 10,000 walnut seeds. You should not plant in the fall with nuts as the squirrels will eat over 90% of them.  Place your unhulled walnuts in black plastic garbage bags (heavy duty) and let them winter over in the coldest part of an out building protected from pests. Wait to late march or early april ( in northern ohio) to plant them. Plant 3 in a 1' diamond pattern. Generally all 3 will germinate then after a few years you pick the best and destroy the others. No loss to sqirrels this way. Planted seeds do better than nursery seedlings in my opinion and they are free. The nuts are a slimey mess but put them in buckets, where old gloves, poke a hole with a steel rod 3" deep, put the seed down the hole, stomp with your heel and move on. Its been 20 years and mine are now approaching 40'. Ernie

[ET]

Ill80, forgot to mention, some will germinate quickly, some will late like July and August. Sometimes maybe the following spring, but they will sprout!

[IL80]

Thanks for the great advice. I have a couple of creek bottoms that walnuts seem to do quite well in. Right now I do have several 16" dbh walnuts that should be potential veneer cutters someday. My plan is to take out the cottonwoods, box elders, and whatever junk trees I can. Then plant as many walnut seeds as possible. I'm 38 yrs old and know I'll never live to harvest one but I'm thinking in 25-30 years the property value should be quite strong with the timber potential growing on it.

[Chuck White]

Thanks for the great advice. I have a couple of creek bottoms that walnuts seem to do quite well in. Right now I do have several 16" dbh walnuts that should be potential veneer cutters someday. My plan is to take out the cottonwoods, box elders, and whatever junk trees I can. Then plant as many walnut seeds as possible. I'm 38 yrs old and know I'll never live to harvest one but I'm thinking in 25-30 years the property value should be quite strong with the timber potential growing on it.

Don't bet on it, Walnuts do very well in certain soils!  ;)

[Jeff]

I can remember Dad planting a row of Walnuts from the nut and having nut bearing trees in 10 years.

[dyates]

I have had better luck planting seedlings.  Leave the nuts in a bucket, hulls and all.  Put a screen over top to keep critters out but let the weather in. The water plus the weather will prepare all the viable nuts to sprout.  Plant them in the spring, but not too close to other walnut trees.  Walnuts are phytotoxic.  They will not grow under existing walnut trees.

[Den Socling]

One thing about growing in wet areas. They may look great from the outside but the rings are too far apart. They don't make the best lumber or veneer.

[Southside]

.  Walnuts are phytotoxic.  They will not grow under existing walnut trees.

I have read that too and have no reason to doubt the authors, all I can say is that he or she never studied the trees on my farm.  I have plenty of areas where there are nut dropped and sprouted walnuts have produced everything from 3' tall seedlings to 20' trees, all within the shadow of the parent.  I have also read that grass won't grow under them, but beg to differ on that as well. 

[beenthere]

I have also read that grass won't grow under them, but beg to differ on that as well.

More likely that is "broad leaved plants" rather than "grass" that won't grow.

[mesquite buckeye]

Hey ET, you must have way more squirrels than we do at the farm in Missouri. We have very little loss of planted walnut to squirrels. Of course they have plenty of other nuts to eat there too. We have way more trouble with deer damage once the nuts germinate.

  

  

 

15 year old walnuts in MO CRP planting repeatedly hit by deer.

[mesquite buckeye]

One more thing. Don't be thinking you can plant walnuts in the dark woods and get trees. Walnuts require a lot of light, so without an opening or some pretty serious and regular thinning, you will get very few trees. If you want a plant to grow, give it what it needs. ;D (old saying from an old horticulturalist I know)

[woodnie]

Just plant them ASAP. Don't let them dry out. Plant them in full sunlight
I like to plant multiples to a hole. They will not all grow anyway.
If the squirrels get one no big deal. If several grow they will compete with each other and get better form.   If the deer get one that's ok, just cut it off at ground level and it will  be bigger and better when it regrows next year. Eventually you will be able to select the stem that has the most promise in becoming a high quality tree.
Good plan for the future and "Good Luck".

[SwampDonkey]

I plant raw green butternuts all the time. I go about 2" deep. Squirrels never seem to bother them at all. Same idea as the walnuts I suspect. Large seed like walnut, butternut or oaks do not store very well long term. If your going to plant them, but them in before winter and let nature cold stratify them and sprout them. Some fellas put way to much work into it. I have had nuts off walnut in 15 years and butternut in 20. There's butternt trees from my parent trees from NB to ON and parts south. Some more going into the mail this week.  ;D 8) 8) 8)

[ET]

I have also planted butternut seeds, and indeed they sprout just like the walnuts.  The squirrels have 6 months to locate your fall planted seeds and trust me, when they find the first one, they will find most all of them. Thats why I planted in the spring as soon as the ground was workable. They stratify just fine in a black garbage bag tucked away in the barn. Ive done it for at least a decade back in the 90's. My butternut produced nuts before 15 years but only on the best ground.  Hundreds of walnuts are now producing nuts so now i let the squirrels plant for me. I also have lots of baby walnuts growing under large trees.

[Brad_bb]

I'm in Joliet IL. and have a mature Black Walnut in the yard on my farm.  I have taken nuts to plant and seedlings to plant in the back of my property where there used to be a fence line.   I only used the nuts once.  Some worked, some didn't.  It was in tall grass so they would have to compete.  I got maybe a 50 percent germination rate with nuts.  I found it much more reliable to dig seedlings out of my yard and transplant them. The squirrels plant them, and they sprout out of the ground starting in June thru July.  You have to dig them very soon after they come up so the tap root doesn't get too long.  If it does and you cut it while digging the seedling, it dies.  Getting them quickly is highly succesful before the tap rood is too long. 

Other things I've done is add grow tubes for the first 2 years.  I typically use these for new grape vines but they work for the Walnuts too to keep them straight and encourages them to seek the top of the tube. 

I also use a 10 ft piece of 1/2 inch electrical conduit as a stake.  I tie the tree to it as it grows.  I also de-bud and green prune any branches  so that it forces top growth.  I want the tree to reach 16 feet before I allow any branches, though it gets difficult after about 12 feet.  I'm trying to force them to grow straight despite being grown out in the open.  When they are young they grow faster than you'd expect.  I've hit 14 feet within 4 years  on some.  Some have grown slower.  Initial growth is often quicker.  I space trees about 12 feet apart, for now.  I've interspersed some Oaks with them too.  I plant acorns in 4" square plastic pots and bury them in my garden.  They sprout and because they are in the pot, usually don't get a tap rood out or at least not much.  I just transplanted some white oak seedlings last week.

[SwampDonkey]

I have found butternuts to be a lot slower, 5-8 years to get 6 feet. Then they seem to take off pretty good. Germination seems moderate 60-70%, higher if your more selective of the nut and where you sink it.

[samandothers]

Brought some walnuts home here in NC from our land in Va.   Was going to shell for the bride to bake with.  Well never got to it and put them out for the squirrels here.  Low and behold I have several walnut that have come up.  I transplanted some in the first year or two.  As Brad indicated they have grown real well in this first couple of years.  I did not try to cause this to happen.  Nature happened and they have come up with the squirrels as share croppers.   The walnuts are in good sun and are in a moist area.

Good luck!

[IL80]

Is there a certain depth to plant the walnuts at? I'm trying to think of an efficient way to plant them. Break ground with a spade, throw some walnuts into the hole, cover them up and go to the next ?

[sandhills]

IL80, I took the same advice given here after asking the same questions, all but one sprouted.  I just dug up a little sod and put 2 walnuts per hole, some I husked just for the fun of it the rest I put in husk on.  I was surprised how well they did, but then drought set in the next summer  :-\.  A spade is more than enough to plant them (at least around here) hope you have better luck than I did with rain fall or you can water them.  I planted mine in the fall and let winter take it's coarse but there were no squirrels around, open pasture.

[Chuck White]

When planting, just think about how the squirrels bury nuts!

Just into the ground maybe 1 to 2 inches!

In soft ground, it doesn't take any more than to just step on them to get them just below the surface!

[SwampDonkey]

Got word yesterday that a shipment of butternuts were recieved in Nipissing, On.  ;D