Planting Black Walnut Seedlings from Deepots

[smp928s]

Hello All:

I am relatively new to this forum as far as posting goes and am a complete novice in terms of planting trees. I am in Upstate, NY, near Albany. Last Autumn I gathered about 50 black walnuts from a local tree and put them through the stratification process over the winter. I was surprised that I had nearly a 100% success rate. I purchased some deepots and have grown the nuts into seedlings which are mostly over 1' tall and seem to be doing quite well. I would like to plant some of them before the summer heat arrives but am looking for the best way to transition these seedlings from deepot to ground. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Do I want to try and keep the plug of potting medium intact or would I be better served to clean the plug away and spread the roots out? Should I improve the soil? I am assuming it would be a good idea to put something around them to keep animals away but is it necessary to give them a support stake or something similar?

How long can I grow these seedlings in the deepots?

I greatly appreciate any help. I haven't been able to find much info on growing in deepots. I didn't really expect to have this many trees. It was more of a science experiment gone right don't want to waste these trees now that I have gone to the trouble. I have quite a lot of land with which to plant them on and I also have family member and friends that want some.

Thanks!

- Stephen

 

[blades]

One thing to note about Black walnut trees, they kill everything around and under them. Species survival technique. So when you transfer them be aware of this.
Seeing how you have a system down pat, maybe you try your hand at Chestnut trees they are gorgeous when full grown. Will have to be a hybrid though As the American Chestnut was wiped almost completely out by a virus or some such thing. Very few left, on the endangered list.

 

[smp928s]

Thanks for the reply. I am well versed in the black walnut as far as knowing that it is the juglone produced by the tree that can kill some competing vegetation. There are many things that will still grow in their presence. I do know that juglone is death to tomatoes and have heard that using walnut leaves/walnuts in compost can taint the compost.

I have read up a lot on the American Chestnut. Fascinating story. I think that the hybrid trees are hard to come by and are likely quite expensive.

 

[blades]

Chestnut well worth effort, more so than the Walnut. I have 2 , it has been a struggle, fighting off deer chewing on them and such. They are up about 5' now and doing well. The drought last summer was tough on them, but they seemed to have come through ok.

 

[smp928s]

I'm assuming you planted hybrids? Where did you get them?

 

[blades]

It was quite a while ago that I got them from a local nursery, small place swallowed up by a larger outfit. They are hybrids but I do not have the paper work anymore. Lost a bunch of that kind of stuff to a pipe break a few years back.

 

[Sagetown]

A friend of mine found several black walnut sprouts in his mother's garden. Dug some up and brought them to me at work. At home, I stuck them in the ground, and one grew to be 6"-8" diameter at the trunk before storm damage caused me to cut it down. Even at that it sprouted back several times before I dug up the stump.

 

[Leslie Clark]

There are things called Miracle Tubes from an outfit called Tree Pro for protecting seedling trees. I bought a few online to try out with my upcoming attempt at hickory trees from seed. I'll look into the deepots for step one. Thanks!

 

[fraidofheights]

Hello All:

I am relatively new to this forum as far as posting goes and am a complete novice in terms of planting trees. I am in Upstate, NY, near Albany. Last Autumn I gathered about 50 black walnuts from a local tree and put them through the stratification process over the winter. I was surprised that I had nearly a 100% success rate. I purchased some deepots and have grown the nuts into seedlings which are mostly over 1' tall and seem to be doing quite well. I would like to plant some of them before the summer heat arrives but am looking for the best way to transition these seedlings from deepot to ground. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Do I want to try and keep the plug of potting medium intact or would I be better served to clean the plug away and spread the roots out? Should I improve the soil? I am assuming it would be a good idea to put something around them to keep animals away but is it necessary to give them a support stake or something similar?

How long can I grow these seedlings in the deepots?

I greatly appreciate any help. I haven't been able to find much info on growing in deepots. I didn't really expect to have this many trees. It was more of a science experiment gone right don't want to waste these trees now that I have gone to the trouble. I have quite a lot of land with which to plant them on and I also have family member and friends that want some.

Thanks!

- Stephen

Hi Steven,

We've planted about 50 bare root Black Walnut on our farm, this Spring. As you can see, the Black Walnut has a large tap root, and it's always important that you ensure it is planted straight vertically, and that the tap root isn't bent (J-Rooted in Canadian Tree Planter talk). We didn't ammend ours at all- just plowed a with the tractor and planted them directly into the soil (sandy loam). Watered them in.

No problems with watering (wet, cool summer) or browsing (deer are preferring the silver maples).