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Author Topic: My teeny little walnut trees  (Read 4380 times)

Offline Cindi

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My teeny little walnut trees
« on: November 17, 2007, 12:18:56 pm »
Well, well, well.....last fall we went to my Sister's house in a neighbouring town.  She has walnut trees, and the nuts are simply wonderful.  We brought home a whole bunch, left them outside for a few days (oh brother, here we go again with procrastination), and then went to get them ready for the curing.  Most of them were gone!!!!!!

We have two species of squirrels that love to live around our place.  The Douglas Squirrel, a little cute grey one.  The other one is a black one, no clue what the species name is, but it is huge, probably at least double the size of the cute little grey Douglas.  The big black one is an annoyance, I see it run along the conifer trees alongside our ravine and the trees branches shake and tremble.  YOu know it is the big black squirrel.

Oh right, where was I?  I digress (hee, hee).  We managed to dehydrate a few of the lovely fall time treats, barely enough to whet your whistle, but still, we obtained a few.

This year my Sister's trees did not even produce narry a fruit.  Rats!!!!  It must have been the ugly summer weather we had, far too much dark days with not an awful lot of that beautiful sun that brings on the harvests, and of course, the rain (that even got my tomatoes the blight in the middle of August, even under cover in that beautiful greenehouse my Husband built for me, blight middle of August, unheard of....period)  :( :roll:

Oh brother, lost again.....right.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed these little trees growing in one of the raspberry patches.  I examined these little trees, and lo and behold!!!  They are walnut trees.  Wonderful little squirrels, now I have a different adoration of them.  They had burried the nuts and these trees grew.  So they would be a one year old tree, yeah.

I did a little research on walnut trees, evidently they will/may produce fruit in their 6th year and may live up to the 70th year (approximate dates of course).  I carefully dug up these little trees, brought along some nice bonemeal and some healthy soil that has been amended with peat moss, manures and composts (the area around my blueberry bushes), put these products in my wheelbarrow and headed out the back with shovel in tow.

I spent a good hour searching for the most appropriate spots to heel in these little treasures that I had found.  Each hole I dug was large, I placed the little trees within, gave them some bonemeal, beautiful soil that I mixed in with the natural soil from the hole, gently stomped them in, threw away the weedy, grassy soil that was the first shovel full of the hole (much to the great happiness of the Titan pittbull who chased down the sods and shook the blazes out of them, running back for the next treat I would throw for him), and then let Mother Nature take on her job of growing.  We have had lots of rain, so I didn't have to bring a great big bucket with water, that is the beauty of planting in the cool autumn.  In a few years, we will have our own walnuts, if the squirrels don't do the nut attack first.  I hope with the 5 trees that I planted, there would be enough to share with the squirrels, and any other creatures high and low that may be privy to this too.  Yeah!!!!  One more winter chore accomplished.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, our sun is gonna shine later this day.  The bees will love it too, they were out yesterday for a short glimmer in time, they had a great time.  I got stung on the eyebrow because one of the colonies did not appreciate me taking off the entrance reducer to take out the sticky board to count the mite fall after the oxalic acid vapourizing, so that gave me a little feeling of happiness   :roll: :-D ;) :) :)  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline reinbeau

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2007, 02:54:45 pm »
The farm I used to work on had black walnut trees lining the driveway.  For whatever reason the owner never harvested them, he considered them a nuisance (the nuts).  They're kind of nasty to harvest, you have to get rid of the outer layer (that stains everything, especially hands, black) and then break open the husks of the nuts to harvest them.  The trees are neat, though, I like their shape, and every late summer I'd see bluebirds roosting in them, resting up after rooting around on the ground for insects.   

Are they black walnuts, Cindi? 

Offline MrILoveTheAnts

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2007, 06:29:56 pm »
For the tree not producing fruit, you might want to look into what actually pollinates them. It might be similar to pumpkins where the seeds will produce squash or other similar melons. In other words the tree of one species (male?) might have to pollinate several other trees to different species, and might not bloom at the same time as the others (female?).

Offline taipantoo

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2007, 10:43:08 am »
My oaks sometimes do not produce acorns.
I'm inclined to think that it has more to do with a mid-winter thaw that tricks the trees into thinking it is spring.
I've seen them bud in January and then dessicate and die back with the cold dry air of late winter.

If your trees are black walnuts, you may not want to plant them too close to other crops.
If my memory serves me, I think they produce a substance call juglone(SP?) that is a natural herbicide.

Hope this helps.
Tai

Offline Cindi

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2007, 12:22:56 pm »
Ann, these are not the black walnut tree.  Personally I don't know the difference, but I know there is a big one.

I know these seeds came from my Sister's house, the trees that she has in her yard are not the black walnut species.  I remember my Sister and my Auntie on the search for black walnut trees because they wanted to do something with the black walnuts.  I can't quite remember what they were up to, but I think, going back into those cobwebs of my mind, that it had something to do with a parasite cleanse and black walnut is used for that.  So, my Sister's walnuts were not suitable for what my Auntie wanted to do.  I don't think that they ever did find any black walnuts, but then I actually never paid much heed to what they were doing.  I thought that they were rather weird in their search and so I carried about my own business  :shock: ;) :) :)  Have a wonderful and best of this day, best of health to us all.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline bud1

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2007, 08:44:58 pm »
you can get some bud wood from your sisters tree and graft it to yo root stock and have a clone of that tree + it will produce a coupla years sooner
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Offline Cindi

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2007, 10:30:21 am »
Bud1.  Good idea.  But....now you have got me off into another field that I need to do more studying on.  There has been talk on the forum about grafting and it caught my attention.  Now it has caught my attention again.  Two times lucky?  Hee, hee.  Must be something that I really need to get a handle on.  Grafting, done in spring?  or in the dormant winter before the buds set?  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, great health to us all.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline KONASDAD

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2007, 01:55:38 pm »
Walnut trees become so beautiful when they are fully mature. Before that they are scraggly looking. They are also a slightly diff shade of green than most other trees and provide great visual contrast. The husks stain too! The animla sjust love t6he nuts too. I also have one hickory tree and it is the most beaytiful golden color this fall. Truly magificent.
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Offline MrILoveTheAnts

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2007, 02:21:12 pm »
I wish I could find more information then a Wikipedia entry but here we go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut

Under Cultivation and Uses
"The two most commercially important species are J. regia for timber and nuts, and J. nigra for timber. Both species have similar cultivation requirements and are widely grown in temperate zones.

Walnuts are light-demanding species that benefit from protection from wind. Walnuts are also very hardy against drought.

Interplanting walnut plantations with a nitrogen fixing plant such as Elaeagnus × ebbingei or E. umbellata, and various Alnus species results in a 30% increase in tree height and girth (Hemery 2001).

When grown for nuts, care must be taken to select cultivars that are compatible for pollination purposes, although some cultivars are marketed as "self fertile" they will generally fruit better with a different pollination partner."

So a different verity that blooms at the same time is beneficial, or maybe the same variety.

Offline taipantoo

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Re: My teeny little walnut trees
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2007, 05:56:52 pm »
Juglone
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Juglone
IUPAC name    5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthalenedione
Other names    5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone

5-hydroxy-p-naphthoquinonejuglone
regianin
Identifiers
CAS number    481-39-0
RTECS number    QJ5775000
SMILES    CC2=CC(C1=C(O)C=CC=C1C2=O)=O
Properties
Molecular formula    C10H6 O3
Molar mass    174.15 g/mol
Appearance    yellow solid
Melting point    

155 °C
Solubility in water    slightly sol.
Hazards
R-phrases    R25
S-phrases    S28A S45
Related Compounds
Related compounds    quinone
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for
materials in their standard state
(at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox disclaimer and references

Juglone is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula C10H6O3.

Juglone is found naturally in the leaves, roots and bark of plants in the Juglandaceae family, particularly the black walnut. Juglone is an allelopathic compound, meaning it is synthesized by one type of plant and affects the growth of another. In the case of juglone, it is toxic or growth stunting to many types of plants. Landscapers have long known that gardening underneath or near black walnut trees can be difficult. Juglone exerts its affect by inhibiting certain enzymes needed for metabolic function. It is occasionally used as an herbicide.

Because of its tendency to create dark orange-brown stains, juglone has also found use as a coloring agent for foods and cosmetics, such as hair dyes. It is known in the food industry as C.I. Natural Brown 7 or C.I. 75500. Traditionally, juglone has been used as a natural dye for clothing and fabrics, particularly wool, and as ink. Its other names are Iuglon, Juglane, Nucin, Regianin, Walnut extract, Yuglon, NCI 2323, Oil Red BS and 1,4-naphthoquinone. It is an isomer of Lawsone.

 

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