Growing black walnut trees is a matter that starts from seeds, and it is a challenging task as these trees take ages to grow and if not planted right, they can take even more time to grow.
For this reason, you must remember to follow a pre-mediated scheme to ensure that once the seeds are planted, they will germinate and all your work will not go in vain. The black walnut trees are known for their fruit and unique foliage ways.
In this article, as you keep reading, we will take you through the simplest three-stepped process of how to grow black walnut trees from seeds.
Contents
How To Successfully Grow a Black Walnut Tree?
To grow a black walnut tree successfully, you must pick the right location, and determine the viability of the seeds that you will use. You must also sow the seeds right, and provide the optimal care. Lastly, you should also be mindful of the diseases.
There goes a lot of thinking and preparation in the sowing of a black walnut tree seed which is why it is of utmost importance that one has done his research on the matter. As a result, you must know how to best grow the black walnut tree for their nut production along with some handy tips and tricks to make the process look a bit easier.
– Choose a Location
The primary step is to look for a sound location where you will sow your walnut seed. This needs a lot of thinking and preparation as you cannot just plant a seed anywhere in the ground. What you should do is look for a spot that has the most fertile soil with a pH of between 5.5 and 7.5, so that the soil is the right kind for it to grow in.
On the same note, try to avoid all the areas that have some water logging systems installed or are prone to erosion because these spots will not retain the seed for a longer time, and the roots would become vulnerable.
As the seed, takes time to grow, you want to find a spot that will surely hold its shape for a long period of time not to disturb the growth period of the seed and the tree.
Keep in mind that the walnut trees are long trees so make sure they have enough way to grow horizontally and vertically as they have a good girth as well. As a result, it is best that you make sure that there are no weeds around it, and if there are uses a herbicide to get rid of them as fast and smoothly as possible.
– Determine the Viability of the Seeds
The second step here to growing black walnut trees is to check the viability of the seeds to be used. The viability of the seeds determines whether a single seed will be enough for one whole or if you need to add multiple seeds.
Also, the higher the viability of the seed the higher chance of germination and successful growth. The reason why you should do this, is that you wouldn’t want to pick the seeds that will give you a challenging time to develop; on the contrary, you should pick the speedy ones.
– Pick the Right Seeds
Remove the husks from all the seeds and wash them thoroughly. After doing so, you should leave them in water for a couple of hours and see which seeds float and which ones settle down. The ones that are floating are completely useless so collect them, so discard those, and make sure that you would take the seeds from the bottom and from there take a seed for further examination.
Now, peel the seed from the side and look at the color; if the color inside is white and bright the seed is viable but if the seed is beige and gives off a bad odor, the seeds are non-viable. The matter would mean that the process would not be successful, either because the seed has been rotten, or it is old. As a result, check the seeds thoroughly and separate the ones with the white, odorless seeds, because these are the seeds that are fit for sowing.
– Sow the Seeds
The last step is to sow the seeds in the ground. The number of seeds collected decides whether you should add one seed per hole or more.
They need to go at least two inches deep so make sure the hole is dug accordingly. After the site preparation, sow the seed in moist soil and cover it completely in a patting motion.
– Provide the Optimal Care
After you have done the matter in the correct way, you must now provide the seeds with the right care in order to see them grow. Note that the best time to sow the black walnut trees is from May to June so that they will have successful growth.
After sowing the seed, water the soil to keep it moist but make sure that the soil is not soaking wet. The matter is due to heat and humidity, which are two main generating factors for the germination process of a walnut tree seed so make sure they are in check. You will germinate at the earliest in a week or at the latest in around three months or so.
Check on the plant every now and then and look out for any needed weed control, and you can definitely see your black walnuts once they have reached the maturation phase. It takes so long to grow black walnut trees because that is how its germination process is designed by nature. When a black walnut tree is planted, you might start getting the walnuts after 10 or so years but you will see lumbar in more than 25 years or so.
This is very common for trees that involve nuts. The more time you give such trees the taller they will grow and the more lumber they will produce. It is said that you do not plant the walnut tree for yourself but for the next generation because they are the ones that will reap the benefits and the profits of a black walnut tree. This is all because by nature these trees take the longest to grow, form a nut, and then settle for lumber.
– Be Mindful of the Diseases
A thousand cankers are the name of the disease that you should be keen about, because it may destroy the black walnut trees as it is a combined attack of a twig beetle and fungus on the sap of the tree. Ultimately the sap flow is disrupted which causes the tree to die and slowly lose its integrity.
The major sign that a black walnut tree is dying is its bark starts to peel away slowly giving the tree an aged and malnutrition look. Fortunately, this disease can be prevented by the use of various insecticides and pesticides, as you must ensure to tackle them from the first time you see it, so that it wouldn’t be harsh for the tree. Once the disease has started to show, the tree might not be completely saved and a part of it would need to be cut or worse, burned off.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about how you can grow black walnut trees from seeds through a simple three-stepped process, but in case you missed anything, here is a simple conclusion of the important points:
- Growing black walnut trees is a three-stepped process that includes choosing the location for planting, judging the viability of the seeds to be used, and sowing the seeds.
- The black walnut trees grow best in humidity and heat, which means in the months of May to June.
- A normal black walnut tree takes around eight to 10 years to grow and to start the production of fruit.
- The best time to sow the black walnut trees is from May to June.
- If the color inside the seed is white and bright the seed is viable but if the seed is beige and gives off a bad odor, the seeds are non-viable.
Here we come to the end of the article. We hope it was informative, and now you can successfully plant and grow black walnut trees, you will see them develop and eat them once they mature.
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