Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a number of foraged walnuts and was idly wondering about a very .long term project to try and grow trees from some of them. I realise it would literally take years and years before they bore fruit but I thought it might be nice to do a little "guerrilla gardening" and perhaps plant some in places where they could grow on un disturbed as a legacy for the future. What would you do? Just plant the nuts in compost in individual pots and see what happens, planting on any which germinate into bigger pots until they were big enough to plant out?

Hi Primrose,

They should grow OK from the nuts, it might be better to bury the nut where you want it to be rather than in a pot as transplanting can be tricky. Depends if it might be dug up and eaten where you want it! Try some of each.

If you get a chance to selectively forage go for the black walnut, Juglans nigra, the ends of the branches are dark in colour so distinguishable from the common walnut, Juglans regia. The black walnut will fruit well within 12-15 years, the common takes a lot longer.

MW

I grew a walnut from a nut about fifteen years ago, so I have a fancy that it's coming up to fruit about now. It's at an old address, many miles away, so I may never know. Growing most fruits and nuts from seed almost always, with the exception of peaches and apricots, throw a whole miscellany of different characteristics in their offspring. Walnuts are no exception, and as with other nuts and fruits, there are named clones which are propagated through budding or grafting to eliminate much of the uncertainty attendant with growing pippins. The rootstocks are always grown from seed, so you could perhaps use them to graft other varieties onto. Grafting advances a walnut coming onto fruit, to within just five or six years. On the other hand, raising some seedlings can be a great adventure and may produce something special. But you will certainly have to wait. In the meantime, you will have a very decorative tree.

I would forgo all the folderol of raising in pots and do what the commercial tree nurseries do, which is sow direct into the ground. I would advise sowing them as fresh as possible as their nuts are oily and do not readily take up water once dried. Also, by sowing them now the seeds will be subject to vernalisation — the process of exposure to winter conditions — to overcome dormancy. The seeds are a magnet for woodland creatures, so you'll need to barrack them with wire mesh or similar rodent-proofing. For the first few years, walnuts are particularly vulnerable to late frosts. Mature walnut trees are susceptible, too, but they are better able to wear any damage.

Hi,
Our neighbours have a walnut and judging by the number I pull up from squirrel plantings I would plant direct and remove any surplus. I did try growing years ago in pots but forgot about them after a while.

Hilary