Walnut: description, photo, cultivation and care

These beauties are still a rarity in gardens and summer cottages. Some people spare space for it: the trees grow large, although the apricot is no smaller. Others don't know how to grow walnuts. Still others are scared off by the legends about this crop: the nut harms its neighbors, its leaves are poisonous, the first harvest is many years away.

Photo of walnuts

derevo greckiy oreh (2)

But those who grow it and produce decent annual harvests do not complain.

Description of the plant

Walnut kernels harmoniously combine fats, proteins and carbohydrates. In addition, they contain minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, fluorine, zinc) and almost the entire group of vitamins.

The photo shows peeled walnut kernels

The calorie content of the kernel is 7 times higher than that of beef. During the flight, astronauts consume paste and cream from nut kernels.

Due to such a rich content of nutrients valuable for humans, medicine classifies walnuts as medicinal plants. Doctors advise eating nuts when exhausted, tired, after illness, with atherosclerosis and cancer.

Infusions and decoctions of leaves and unripe fruits and pericarp improve metabolism, stimulate digestion, and heal purulent wounds. Used to treat diathesis, anemia in children, mastitis, gout, acne.

Nuts are worth growing. Now early-fruiting varieties have appeared that produce the first harvest in the second or fourth year and are not demanding in terms of care, are quite winter-hardy, and productive. Branches frozen in winter are restored within a year. The fruits are transportable, long-lasting, and retain their taste and healthfulness for 2-3 years or more.

Growing seedlings at home

You can grow walnut seedlings from seeds (nuts). But they must be fresh - from the current year's harvest. After storage for more than a year, the germination of nuts is significantly reduced.

In March-April, plant the nut in a pot with fertile soil and water regularly.A small plant with two or three leaves needs to be hardened off on the balcony. When the return spring frosts have passed, the seedling can be planted in the ground by pinching the main root.

Choose a place that is protected from northeast winds by buildings. Avoid lowlands and depressions into which cold air flows, which is destructive for the nut. In the lowlands, spring frosts, fogs, and poorer ventilation occur more often.

In order for the seedling to develop and grow well after planting, you need to follow important rules.

When purchasing a seedling with leaves that have not fallen, scrub them (from bottom to top) so that they do not evaporate moisture.
Make sure that the root is free of damage, stains, and rot. They need to be cut out immediately.
In the spring after planting (autumn and spring), shorten the above-ground part of the tree by 1/3 to balance it with the root system damaged during digging.

Walnut care

Caring for nuts is even easier than other fruit trees; they are almost not susceptible to attack by pests and diseases.

How to feed

Lack of fertilizers in fruit-bearing plants reduces yield and resistance to cold. Abundant fruiting exhausts the plants, after which the trees do not have time to harden and prepare for winter.

In the first years of life, the nut does not need fertilizer if it is planted in an area with fertile soil.

Excessive fertilizers (organic and mineral) stimulate plant growth and prolong the growing season. As a result, the wood does not mature, and the tree suffers more from frost. Fertilizers should be applied when growing on poor, infertile soils.

In the second half of the growing season, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are used, which increase the frost resistance of young and fruit-bearing trees. The combined application of organic and mineral fertilizers increases frost resistance.

How to water

The walnut has a powerful root system, so it is quite drought-resistant. But if a tree develops dry tops, shoot growth slows down, and productivity decreases, the reason may be low moisture supply.

The varieties Ideal, Oripov, Krapivin, etc. are especially sensitive to lack of moisture.

Water annual seedlings of early-fruiting varieties once a week. Loosen and mulch the soil to retain moisture. In the second to fourth year, one watering per decade is sufficient.

Regular watering is especially important during the period of fruit formation and growth, in the first 30-45 days after flowering. The growing first shoots also need moisture (May-June).

In July-August, fruit buds begin to form. The quality of the fruit depends on watering from the second half of July to the end of August.

Excessive watering in September, when the wood of young shoots is ripening, can damage the tree.

Pre-winter watering is necessary in October, after the end of the growing season. When growing nuts on sandy soils, water more often, and on clay soils - less frequently.

Shaping and trimming

In the first year after planting a nut seedling, it is not pruned. In the second year, a trunk height of 80-120 cm is laid and all lateral branches in the trunk area are removed. From the third year, the formation of the intended crown begins.

The side branches - future skeletal ones - above the trunk should be located on the trunk in a spiral, evenly. The distance between them along the trunk is 50-80 cm. Such a crown is grown for 4-5 years or more.

The bowl-type crown should have 4-5 skeletal branches, sometimes 3.

Having formed a given number of skeletal branches, the central conductor is cut out (usually in the fourth or fifth year).

In general, the nut forms its crown well. In spring (April) it is impossible to trim the crown due to rapid sap flow. The main pruning of early-fruiting varieties can be carried out in the second half of June - in July, and the final pruning - in August.It is advisable to carry out phytosanitary pruning in the fall, immediately after harvesting.

The leaves and pericarp of walnuts contain a substance with herbicidal properties - juglone. It is washed out of the leaves by rain, flowing down, and suppresses the plants growing under its crown.

Dogwood, Japanese quince, irises, and hostas grow well under walnut trees. Next to it is an apricot, if their crowns do not touch.

The photo shows a walnut blossom in spring

Roses are covered with fallen walnut leaves, but they are removed in the spring.

For the walnut itself, compost from its own leaves is very useful. Compost them separately and mulch the tree trunk circle with this compost, apply it in the spring for digging.

Ash from the leaves and pericarp of the nut is not dangerous for other plants, because Juglone is not preserved when burned.

Frost protection

Insufficient winter hardiness is the main argument of experts against growing walnuts on an industrial scale. But in gardens and summer cottages, measures can be taken to protect walnut trees.
Small seedlings (1-3 years old, 150-170 cm high) in late autumn can be wrapped in spunbond and the root collar sprinkled with soil.

Mature trees endure winter more easily. But in case of a harsh winter, you can cover the roots and trunk circles after loosening the soil in autumn. Sawdust, straw, grass, and fallen walnut leaves will weaken the effects of low temperatures in a snowless winter.

The nut tolerates frosts of at least minus 19 degrees and bears fruit. The Ideal variety is damaged at minus 15 degrees, but quickly recovers.

Walnut shells can be usefully used for planting: as drainage, mulch, and to structure the soil. It’s just advisable to grind the shells, not into dust, of course. This is a natural product that contains useful substances, will undergo organic processing in the soil and serve as a fertilizer. The crushed shells can be composted.Some summer residents throw the shells into the grill when preparing barbecue, and do not smell any iodine, only a pleasant nutty aroma.

About the varieties of walnuts in detail written here ⇒