Black walnut is an ancient North American influencer! Long before instagram, black walnut has been working to strongly effect the environment around it.
Nut crops from black walnut can be phenomenal in mast (maximum crop) years. The ground will be covered in the green husked nuts ready for collection by both people and wildlife. The nuts have a unique almost fruity taste, and are very high in protein. After a mast year, it is normal and common to have a few years with little to no nuts.
Black walnut is a prized domestic hardwood for wood workers. Planting and managing black walnut can be a very positive investment in woodlots. The only recession that could slow appreciation of black walnut would be an apocalyptic drought!
This years seedlings come from a mix of high quality and very cold hardy genetics at Perfect Circle Farm. These will certainly be some of the best eating quality nuts that have this level of cold tolerance.
What Are Seedlings?
Seedlings are plants that have been grown directly from a seed. They are genetic individuals whose traits that are not exactly known. Seedlings are in contrast with plants which have been cloned, as cloned plants are sure to have certain characteristics.
Often seedlings share characteristics with their parents, but exactly how much is shared depends on the species of plant. Having good parents certainly doesn’t hurt!
Best results for nut production will come from having two or more trees to cross pollinate each other.
Important Notes:
Black walnuts are a tree with a powerful ability to shape the environment around them. They are well known for emitting a chemical known as juglone via it’s leaves and roots which many other plants cannot tolerate. This can create complexity in planning a food forest or garden, but can also just be viewed as a design parameter to work with. See this video for ideas on what plants work great with black walnut https://youtu.be/VeQ8Scq6HZs?si=pHQ5BPP1trHMXnzU
Wild trees can have variable quality with nuts, some have an odd shape for cracking and some don’t have the best taste. Improved seedlings like these should offer the best possible chance at high quality, easy cracking nuts due to parentage that excel in these areas.
If your site already has black walnut, starting fresh with some smaller trees with the intent of top grafting them after a few years is a great way to develop positive yields for your family. Bark grafting is a technique worth exploring https://youtu.be/QvTzj_RAQZ8?si=3CD_aVi8OXMidzLo but only make a go of it with overnight highs in the 70s for multiple days.
Growth Parameters:
Expect a fast growing tree, which at maturity will have an upright form. Full sized tree.
Tree Sizes
Small Trees can generally be managed from ground level.
Orchard sized trees can often be managed from ground level but generally will require a ladder for pruning and harvesting at maturity.
Full size trees are large trees that, after a certain point, will require assistance from an arborist to manage pruning safely.
