growing walnuts from seed

medieval knievel · Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject: growing walnuts from seed

how easy is it?
can you get 'horticultural' walnuts, rather than planting ones you get in the supermarket - so you know waht yo're getting, as much as getting one suited to your climate?

i know someone with a large site who should be able to take it from me should i succeed.

Liparis · Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:24 pm Post subject:

Walnuts can be grown in Ireland, but they are extremely slow growers. Very large and majestic. Most arboretums will have a specimen or two in them, as for seed, you may have to go to a specialist sedsman for good seed, but it might take a long time to germinate. You may be able to pick up a small tree from somewhere as they may well need protection the first several years, then planted out in a site protected by other trees and shrubs.
It's a foret tree, so no guarrantees it will succed, a lot will have to do with site, exposure, soil etc.
Bill.

medieval knievel · Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 1:10 pm Post subject:

cheers - i saw a program a few months ago about the future of farming, where one farmer claimed he got the same amount of food out of an acre of trees as an organic farmer would out of an acre of tillage, with far less time and effort to get it. not that i'd be doing it for commercial reasons...

posiedon · Rank attained: Hazel Tree Joined: 08 Oct 2008 Posts: 8

i was in germany 2 years ago and picked up 2 seeds from a tree. put them in some compost and stuck them in the hot press. lo and behold, one of them germinated last year and this year it is still flourishing in the pot that i started it in.

question though, i have tried putting it out on a few occasions, and it seems to suffer badly. the leaves go black as if frost got them. this has happened again only 2 weeks ago. will it be possible to plant it out at all i wonder.

having checked further on the site, i wonder is what i am looking at wind burn as described by gpi. it seems to be. our site is exposed, and very exposed at that. that might in fact be a reason for some of our other trees, mountain ash, silver birch suffering badly as well. does extra watering help to counter act this wind burn byany chance

michael brenock · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:47 pm Post subject:

That is a tough question which you have posed. Did you try a gradual hardening off?, out by day and in by night for 10-14 days and then put in the most sheltered part of garden. Wind blowing through a tree will cause evaporation and loss of water from the leaves. The tree has a mechanism to slow down the water loss by leaf wilting. In your case the edges of the leaves are being scorched or damaged by the wind and to me it seems the difference in temperature from inside to outside is too great and too sudden. Mountain Ash And Silver Birch do not normally suffer from wind scorch.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

Liparis · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:06 am Post subject:

I agree with Michael. One thing to consider as well, your Walnut tree is a forest tree so it will need to be pretty well hardened off before staying outside. As Michael says, your inside temps, even during a hot spell could be very much higher than outside. Also light levels are going to be very very much higher and if your putting it out into direct sunshine it's likely getting sunburnt.
As a woodland/forest tree it's going to need protection and lots of shade while young as it would get in nature. Once it's a bit more mature it will grow in a clearing.
There are a lot of variables there though.
Bill.

posiedon · Rank attained: Hazel Tree Joined: 08 Oct 2008 Posts: 8

never really hardened it off i must say. might start doing that now, but what with the downturn in the weather ala high winds and rain, might just leave it sit as a house plant for this season, and then come next spring / summer start the hardening off process. the leaves are scorched now so would that knock it back even further if i tried the hardening off process now?

what does concern me is the process whereby the walnut tree tends to "poison" the ground around where its planted. so its really trying to find the right spot for it now, bearing in mind all the information above vis a vie forest tree and shelter from too much wind and sun.

thanks to you both for all this very valuable information though

medieval knievel · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:58 am Post subject:

i was in dunnes yesterday, and they have walnuts in for hallowe'en - and they're 2007 crop. what happened to 2008?

dinahdabble · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject:

I have grown walnut trees successfully outside. Jackie Gear at

treeseedsonline

(one of a number of excellent seed merchants on ebay) sold me 5 English Black Juglans seed, pre stratified. They all germinated, though 3 were desimated in a subsiquent sheep attack this summer. Also Jackie sold me 2 Japanese Walnuts, that I had to stratify myself. They also germinated nicely. It was in the warmest weather when the Japanese ones sprouted outdoors, but the black English Walnuts came up in March I think it was (not sure now)

The Japanese Walnut seed is expencive, but it is faster growning, and has been known to produce nuts in 3 years from planting! It is a lovely plant.

The black, English walnut is slower, but hardier. There are other sorts of Juglans, I am especially thinking of Russian and Eastern European Varieties, but I don't know a supplier, and I don't know any of their details.

I think that planting outside, if you can, is worth loosing some that don't come up, becasue resultant plants are much, much hardier. I may have been lucky with mine, however, so just follow the instructions supplied with the seed. If you don't want to be messing about with stratification times and temperatures etc. try any small scale, specialist seed merchant who sells pre-stratified seed. The small scale specialists are usualy very helpfull, in fact, I have never yet had a bad experience with one.

medieval knievel · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:56 pm Post subject:

medieval knievel · Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:14 pm Post subject:

was in marks and spencer yesterday, and they have walnuts, crop year 2009. so i'll open a couple, and if they look nice and fresh, i'll plant them. if not, they'll go into my sundried tomato and walnut pesto, which if i say so myself, is fabulous.

frengers80 · Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:12 pm Post subject: walnut seeds

hi,I have a stunning mature walnut tree where i work and have got at least 2 dozen young trees from this one,some planted intentionally and some planted by jackdaws,who i usually have to battle with each season for the fruit,they normally win!!!so i reckon they should be viable,give it a go anyway.

medieval knievel · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:05 pm Post subject:

frengers80 · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:45 pm Post subject: walnut seeds

hi,excellent news,im just waiting for all the random seedlings the jackdaws have planted around the grounds to start germinating,they come up in very unusual locations!!

medieval knievel · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:10 pm Post subject:

how quickly do they grow for you?