How to properly grow walnuts: tips for beginners
Content
Seed (nuts) preparation
To understand how to grow a walnut from a nut, it is important to choose the right fruit, because the main way of planting this tree is seed propagation.
The nut germination takes place after one year. For sowing, large fruits with a thin shell and good taste are selected. They take only whole nuts without any damage. They can be picked up when dropped or knocked off a tree.
The shell should have a good appearance, without damaged segments, spots, dots. It is not advised to use store fruits, they may be old and unsuitable for growing.
The pericarp may not be removed, but in this case the germination process will slow down. When cleaning, it is advisable not to damage the inner skin, but to detach only the outer shell.
It is recommended to use rubber gloves or any other hand protection during the process, since when working with a nut, you can get dark, difficult to wash stains.
The peeled nut should be placed in a bucket of water. Take those fruits that have sunk to the bottom for planting, since they have intact kernels.
After the nuts are peeled, they should be dried. To do this, they are laid out in the sun, laid out in one layer. After a couple of days, they hide in the shade to dry out. Do not keep seeds near heating appliances. Fruits intended for autumn planting do not need drying.
Growing from Seed Video
From the video you will learn how to grow a nut from seeds.
Planting seeds in open ground
It is important to understand not only how to germinate seeds, but also how to plant them in open ground. You can do this in the fall or spring.
In the autumn, seeds are sown directly to a permanent place, because later, during transplantation, you can damage the root and "kill" the plant.
The diameter and depth of the pits should be up to 1 meter, it will provide the necessary amount of nutrients for the future tree. The seeds are deepened by 15-20 centimeters and covered with a mixture of soil and humus.
In addition, in order to understand how a walnut grows, one should also adhere to the rules for planting it in order to get good fruiting. So, the seeds should be placed seam up.
There are about three fruits per hole, which are placed at a distance of 20-25 centimeters from each other. When planting, nuts are laid in the form of a geometric figure, depending on their number (three seeds - a triangle, four - a square).
Having covered the hole, the mound that forms should be tamped. From the grown seeds, the strongest is chosen, and watering of young trees is carried out from May to July, four buckets of water per 1 square meter. If the weather pleases with precipitation, then watering is not carried out, and when the summer ends, it stops altogether.
If the landing is carried out in the spring, then the process itself is carried out in May. Until this time, the seeds are stored in a cool place. Stratification is carried out in 3-4 months. Nuts are planted at a temperature of + 4 + 7 degrees in wet sand.Before that, they can be kept in a jar of water at room temperature.
The seeds are deepened by 7-9 centimeters. After 10 days, a growing seedling can be observed. By autumn, it already reaches 15 centimeters. Initially, the growth process occurs upward, and then the trunk thickens over time. With abundant watering, they reach a considerable length, but because of this they are more difficult to endure the cold season.
Preparing a seedling for planting in the garden
Some gardeners recommend, especially for beginners, to grow with seedlings. In order for a walnut to grow and care is observed, an equipped nursery and a lot of the nuts themselves will be required.
For a nursery, a site that is good in terms of lighting and is reliably protected from the wind is chosen. The soil in the prepared area is dug up and humus is added. This procedure is done in the fall.
Nuts are sown in rows with a distance of 50 centimeters between them. The distance between the seedlings themselves should be at least 15 centimeters.
The land must be periodically loosened and weeds removed. In case of drought, be sure to water it regularly. After 1-2 years, the seedlings will be ready for transplantation to a permanent place.
Having this nursery, there is a great opportunity to choose the seedling that will bear fruit best of all, as it is stronger among its "relatives".
You can also grow a potted seedling. Then the collected material in the fall will be ready for transplantation by the spring. For this, the nuts are placed in water for several weeks. Then they are germinated in sufficiently moist sand, and after germination, they are moved into a pot with fertile soil. Those plants that were grown at home must be hardened. To do this, in the established warm weather, they are periodically taken out into the street for a while, in a calm place protected from direct sunlight.
Choosing a place for planting a seedling
In order to have complete information on how to grow a walnut, you need to know how to choose a place to plant it. The yield in each year depends on the correct place.
Since the nut loves light, it is worth choosing a site that is well lit and spacious, because the tree will need to spread its crown somewhere. Then the fruits will ripen on all branches.
The distance to the nearest tree should be at least 5 meters. Due to the fact that the walnut is a fairly tall tree, then later it can block the sunlight with low trees that are planted near it.
It is important to remember about the power of the root system, therefore, it is not advisable to plant near buildings in order to avoid damage to the foundation.
If the composition of the soil is not the most suitable, it must be fed. A tree is planted on the south or southwest side of the buildings.
Planting a seedling
In the process of planting a seedling for a permanent "residence" it is very important to do this procedure carefully so as not to damage the root system and trunk. It is necessary to spread and spread the roots of the seedling. First, the lowest roots are covered, then the next ones are laid out and again sprinkled with earth. The topmost layer of rhizomes should be in the ground at a depth of 7-8 centimeters from the surface.
It is necessary to take care of the tree in order to avoid walnut disease, and if branches or leaves are damaged, they are cut off, and the rest are treated with appropriate solutions.
It is important to know how to grow a nut from a nut, as well as follow a simple rule for its care, and this beautiful and useful tree will delight not only you, but also your descendants.
Landing video
From the video you will learn how to plant a walnut correctly.