How to grow a walnut from a nut

Walnut refers to durable plants. There are trees that are over 300 years old. The plant loves light and moisture, so it grows best in well-drained soils with moderate moisture, in which there is a small constant level of groundwater. The root system of the walnut is very powerful and penetrates deep into the soil.

There are many frost-resistant varieties of walnuts, so cultivation is carried out even in the northern latitudes of Russia and Siberia. There are cases of successful cultivation in the Moscow region and even the Urals. One of the most popular varieties is "Ideal". It is possible to consider as an alternative walnut hybrids with gray or manchurian walnut.

Of course, in warm regions, the choice of varieties is much wider.

For growing walnuts in northern latitudes, see the following video.

Walnut trees can be propagated in several ways:

• Seeds.
• seedlings.

When choosing a place to plant a nut, keep in mind that the tree will be sprawling and tall. It is important that in the future it does not interfere with buildings or other trees.

Shrubs should be planted next to walnut seedlings. In the first years of growth, the tree will not interfere with their fruiting. And after 6-9 years, when the nut becomes quite large, the shrubs are easily removed.

Propagation by seeds is the main method of planting a nut. Germination of walnut seeds is one year. For sowing, large fruits are selected, which have a tasty kernel and a thin shell.

There should be no visible damage, stains or other defects on their shell. It is not recommended to plant store-bought nuts as their freshness is unknown.

Nuts can not be peeled from the outer layer (pericarp), but peeled fruits germinate much faster. Peel the nuts carefully so that only the outer shell separates and the inner shell remains intact.

Peeled nuts should be lowered into a bucket filled with water. For planting, select sunken fruits, as they have a solid core, so the probability of producing good sprouts in such nuts is higher.

After cleaning from the outer green shell, the fruits are laid out in one layer to dry in the sun, and then (after 1-2 days) they are removed to dry in the shade. It is not recommended to dry fruits that will be used for planting in the future near heating devices. If you are going to plant walnut fruits in the fall, you can not dry them at all, but immediately sow them in the chosen place. Such seeds will sprout next year in May.

The depth and diameter of the pits for walnut seeds should be up to one meter.This depth is required to provide the future tree with a supply of nutrients. Seeds are planted in pits to a depth of 15-20 centimeters. The soil selected from the pits is mixed with humus and returned back.

Three or four fruits are placed in each hole, placing them from each other at a distance of 20-25 centimeters (fruits are planted in a triangle or square). The pit is filled up with the formation of a mound in the middle, and then the soil is compacted. Among the seedlings that have grown, choose the strongest. Seedlings grown from seeds should be properly cut. It is necessary to water young walnut trees from May to July twice a month with the expectation of four buckets of water per 1 m2. Watering is postponed in rainy weather, and stops in August.

Seeds that will be planted in May should be stored in a cool place, and about 3-4 months before planting, they are stratified. It provides for laying nuts at +4 + 7 degrees in wet sand. Before laying nuts in the sand, they can be held for a short time in a glass dish filled with water (water temperature is room temperature).

Seeds are sown in open ground in May. Planting depth is within 7-9 centimeters. The first shoots appear in about ten days. By autumn, their height is approximately 10-15 centimeters. First, shoots grow upward, and then their trunks begin to thicken. If you water them abundantly in summer, then the plants can grow higher, but in this case they winter worse.

You can grow walnut seedlings at home in 500 ml plastic cups. The bottom of the glasses is pierced to remove excess moisture.The containers are filled with garden soil, and the nuts are laid to a depth of 5 centimeters. Having covered them with earth from above, watering is carried out and the glasses are sent to the balcony or to the basement. By the beginning of February, they are transferred to the house, watered abundantly and put on the windowsill.

Shoots in such glasses appear 2-3 weeks after returning to the house. When the plants reach a height of 10 cm (usually after a month), they are transplanted into larger containers, for example, cut into 1.5-2-liter bottles. After sending these containers back to the windowsill, the plants are watered in a timely manner, as they require moderately moist soil.

In April, when the temperature rises to +15 degrees during the day, the plants can be transferred to a glazed balcony for hardening before planting in the soil at the end of May. At this time, there is no longer a risk of frost, and the seedlings reach a height of 20-25 centimeters. At the same time, we note that nuts planted in the ground in autumn only begin to germinate in May, and reach a height of 10-20 centimeters only by autumn.

Seedlings are laid in compacted soil to such a depth that the root collars rise three to four centimeters above the soil level. The roots of the seedlings need to be well straightened to give them their former position (before digging).There is an opinion that a brick or flat stone should be installed under the center of the seedling root so that the roots of the future nut are powerful, but it is erroneous. Having installed the seedlings, the pits are covered with soil, after which the soil is compacted, watered and mulched, and excess branches are removed from the tree.

Growing a walnut, you always want to get a tree whose fruit performance will be good. However, most often, when propagated by seeds, seedlings do not retain the properties inherent in the mother variety, so new plants are usually grafted. Preparation of cuttings for grafting is carried out from young walnuts, which are already bearing fruit. Since grafting is a very time-consuming task that requires certain knowledge, it is sometimes easier to purchase an already grafted seedling. The fruiting of a grafted tree begins at the age of 8-10 years, but if the crown is formed correctly and the care of the plant is good, then the first fruits appear already at the age of 4-5 years.

We advise you to watch the following video, which shows in detail how the walnut is grafted correctly.