Planting Walnuts,,, will they grow?

[nativewolf]

I've seen people loose a lot of money cutting and marketing their own Black Walnut.  I have dad talked into doing a thinning cut that we will get bids on and have a logger come and cut. 

Locally, a lot of the loggers won't buck them.  They are drug out tree length and bucked where the buyer says to cut.

MbfVA, some of our best Walnut is on creek banks.  It floods from time to time, but goes back down in a few hours to a day.  Can't speak beyond that, so I guess it depends on your definition of "quickly recedes".   

We are planting a small bottom piece to Walnut this winter.  Maybe 4 acres too rocky and flood prone to crop.  I'm going at 5' spacing in row and 30' between rows.  This is mainly so we can hay between the rows while the Walnut matures.

Exactly, knowing where to cut walnut is a tree by tree decision.  Easy to loose 500 in one mid cut log, we have spent a huge amount of time getting the grading rules down pat.  Even then we second guess some, walnut does not mind flooding as long as it dries out Within a week or two, lots of walnut in the bottoms of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and we all know how much they flood

[mike_belben]

So basically what we're saying is Walnut is like a hickory thats actually worth money?

 

[nativewolf]

 

So basically what we're saying is Walnut is like a hickory thats actually worth money?

 

Guess so

[MbfVA]

I think this particular thread is loaded with wal-nuts.  I'll bet you guys shop at Wal-mart, too.  And buy your drugs at Wal-greens.   And when you fish, you fish for Wal-leyes.

Yeah, if you get your hands on me you'll give me a…

Wal-lup.

I think I'll go plant some trees.

[roger 4400]

I live 30 miles north of Montreal,Quebec.  Overhere I had 100 walnut trees  8 years ago. 25 survived and this year 2 walnut trees gave me 8 nuts  .
If I want to grow some trees from my walnut nuts do I have to peel them and only put the nuts in ground ( maybe 3 inches deep ) or will they freeze so much they will not grow ?
Or do I have to put them in a refrigerator in a humid bag with peat moss and watch them in 3 to 4 month to see if they will germinate ?

[TKehl]

Peeling is optional.

You get colder up there than down here.  However, a snow blanket can give good insulation.  Do Black Walnuts grow naturally in your area?  If so, direct seed is fine.  If not...

[roger 4400]

No, walnut do not grow normally , often too cold here, I guess we are at the north limits of the tree resistance . I got those trees from our government. As I said only 25 survived out of a 100. But now they seem strong and 2 are already giving nuts. Nights are not as cold as 25 years ago.

[TKehl]

With only 8 nuts, I'm thinking refrigerator and damp moss.  Could have some very nice cold hardy F1 crosses!

If you get a bigger crop next year, I would take more risks.

[nativewolf]

Of course if you plant enough someone gets to cut them down one day.  This is the beginning of our third load off of my most recent project.  About 2500-3000bdft per load only because lots of crooks and my loggers old truck make it hard to get much more on.  We're averaging about $2.50/bdft so far and have 2 more to get out.  Next two are tricky logs though, too close to the power lines.  We can only get 2-3 loads/week as we're all part timers.

[SwampDonkey]

They do grow naturally in southern Quebec and Ontario. I have a couple trees, and they are always loaded with nuts. I don't really bother with them too much to plant. I don't find young trees produce very viable seed. Mine are not that frost hardy. Got the seedlings from Quebec.

[mike_belben]

Boy thats a nice little sidejob!

[nativewolf]

Wish I had pictures of those first 2 loads, my phone died on me 2 days ago.  Thursday night I'll upload some that should be pretty good.  It's a lot of money but split for the landowner is high (50/50) and the logger friend has real equipment & costs..so that takes a big chunk.  I've got a little flatbed but so much easier to load on his truck and move it that way.

My personal goal is 1000 trees in 2018.

[VirginiaFarm]

nativewolf: what are the log lengths on the truck?

[nativewolf]

nativewolf: what are the log lengths on the truck?

ahh, every length you can guess.  5' to 16'6".  With walnut it is a different game cutting length.  To give you some perspective, we had two of the best log graders (also buyers) come out to grade the first set of logs, took them an entire hour to grade the 16 trees.  Lots of measure , re measure, and check diameter, remeasure.  Some is straight sawlog export (5 grades) (metric measures), some veneer, some export low grade (think firewood processor rejects, I really should post a picture of this stuff). 

On the top of the bunk there were 10' small veneer logs.  Hope those go at $4.50/bdft or more.  They are going to be 16" at least on the small end, inside bark.  We'll see.  Overall that was not a good load. 

Again, feel free to send me a pm and we can talk or if you can get free tomorrow come up to Fauquier county and you can see us cutting some and bucking.  Everyone is welcome if you are curious.  High hopes we can put $9k in logs on the ground so we'll be working but you can tag along or bring a small saw and help top .  Or if some sawyer/restaurateur shows up he can bring lunch and you know who you are if you are reading this.

[MbfVA]

I'll send you some chicken images and you can put them in your 3-D printer. That way you won't go hungry.