Description
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 covered nuts ready for collection by both people and wildlife. The nuts have a unique almost fruity taste. 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 (in the United States) for wood workers. Planting and managing black walnut can be a very positive investment in a woodlot scenario. The only recession that could slow appreciating of black walnut would be an apocalyptic drought!
This years seedlings come from the “Cracker” parentage, dubbed so for it’s large nuts which crack easily.
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.
Wild trees can have variable quality with nuts, some have an odd shape for cracking and some don’t have the best taste.
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
Growth Parameters:
Expect a fast growing tree, which at maturity will have an upright form. Full sized tree.
