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Walnuts Care Guide
Black Walnut, Carpathian Persian
Walnut
Black Walnuts
Magnificent deciduous trees to 150' with rough nuts that are prized for their
rich, oily, distinctively flavored kernels. These are harvested in the fall.
Culture
Like other nuts, black walnuts can be grown from seed but do not come true; so
buy grafted varieties.
The trees have deep roots and require a deep soil that is above average in
quality, well drained and moisture retentive. Provide a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Plant
the tree at the depth previously grown. Each tree needs a space of about 60' in
diameter, although in a plantation that is grown for timber as well as nuts,
trees are often started out 20' apart and gradually thinned.
Do not plant black walnuts near apple trees or the vegetable garden, because the
roots contain a toxic substance that damages these plants. In a lawn area, the
fallen nuts make mowing difficult.
Water trees regularly during their first year and in dry periods there after.
Fertilize in the spring with a 10-10-10 mixture at the rate of 1 cup per year of
tree age; however, trees that are making strong growth need to be fed only every
2nd or 3rd year. Maintaining a mulch of organic matter around the trees help to
nourish them.
Black walnuts need little pruning except to remove dead and damaged wood and
suckers developing below the graft. You must keep an eye on them, to see they
develop only a single, straight trunk and main branches with wide crotches. If a
tree is grown for timber or as an ornamental specimen in an open area, the lower
limbs can be removed gradually as the tree shoots upward. Cut out these limbs
before they exceed 1" in diameter.
Black walnuts start bearing 3 to 6 years after planting. Harvest the nuts as
soon as they fall from the tree. At this point they have mild, light colored
kernels. If left on the ground so the husks can decompose, the kernels are dark
colored and more strongly flavored. Remove the husks with a hammer or by rolling
them across a rough pavement under a heavy boot. Then wash the nuts and spread
them out in a shady, ventilated place to dry for several weeks. They can then be
stored in a cool, dry place.
To facilitate cracking of walnuts and other hard-shelled nuts, sprinkle them
with water and put them in a tight can with a damp sponge for 12 hours or more.
This softens the kernels slightly and allows you to remove them in larger
pieces. Grafted varieties crack our easier than wild seedlings.
Carpathian Walnuts
The Carpathian walnut is a Persian walnut similar to the English walnut grown in
the Far West but considerably hardier. It grows in zones 5 - 8, but does best in
6. Self fruitful, but like other walnuts you get better nut crops if you plant
two different varieties together.
Culture
Carpathian walnuts are grown much like English walnuts. Plant on a north slope
so the sun will be slow to force them into growth in spring. Avoid frosty
locations. The soil should be deep, fertile, and well drained.
Give each tree a space 50' across. Fertilize with ammonium nitrate or a
high-nitrogen balanced fertilizer such as 20-10-10. Minor elements may also be
needed. 1 cup for each year of age. Young trees can grow with little or no
fertilizers, so, fertilize as needed. Trees start to bear in 3 to 5 years.
Harvest nuts when they drop.
Nuts are large, light brown and have delicious light brown kernels differing
from black walnuts in that they are milder and less oily, and easier to open and
remove the kernel. The husks open on the tree and show the nuts. So, they are
easier to harvest than Black Walnuts.
Mulching with an organic material is highly recommended, at least while the
trees are reasonably small.
Pruning consists of training to a modified leader with 4 or 5 scaffold branches.
If these and other branches grow unusually long in any year before the trees
start to bear, they should be headed back 1/3 to 1/2 to keep them from bending
down to the ground under the weight of the nuts. Although regular pruning of
mature trees was once considered unnecessary, it is now recommended - especially
for the very fruitful new varieties. The main aim should be to keep the tops
thinned out to allow light to penetrate and to encourage more vigorous branch
growth.
Ref; "Gardens are for Eating" by Schuler 1971 publisher MacMillan & Co.
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