Walnuts and Oaks

black walnuts growing in these oversized plug trays, about two or three months from planting. I keep the nuts in flats until they germinate and then plant into pots or plug trays, or sometimes into beds. I found after experimenting with air pruning beds, the type with a false bottom, that the walnuts developed a better root system in these large plugs, got up to the same size in these first season and didn't get root bound. maybe this has to do with our short growing season in MB. The nuts were sourced from local orchards, so these are walnuts with Manitoba cold hardiness. Since they're in plugs, I'll be able to send them out in the fall, we just pop them out and use a small pot to hold on for shipping. Walnuts I find are tricky to overwinter in a root cellar, probably better to have them in the ground in the fall.

northern red oak growing in some flats. It's borderline cold hardy here in zone 3, the seed was from northern Quebec.

acorns collected over a few days from one tree with a set of tarps. there's lots more to come, definitely a mast year

american hazelnut ripe this week. we collect it for seed, will have it back in stock next month and also plants this fall

this time of year I'm collecting fruit and nuts before wildlife finds them. don't worry, the deer and squirrels will be fine, lots left for them. apples, ussurian pear, acorns.

american hazelnut, this is all I could collect this year so will keep them to grow in the spring, won't be any extra for the seed shop but I did grow our some trays of seedlings, will be able to ship in the fall sale starting first day of fall sep 22

black walnut in plug trays. I find they do well in these, similar to an air pruning bed it stops the tap root and fills the plug with a fibrous root system. I have some in ground as well, these ones are just as big, they get watered more to keep the trays from drying out.

butternuts, the large nuts stay attached like a battery that drives initial growth. some of the nuts are slow to germinate so I keep them in bins in our root cellar, once they're sprouted they can get potted up. so far I prefer this method to an air prune bed, but it's more work.

acorns still viable after storage for 10 months in refrigeration. These are white oak, and I ship them worldwide in an envelope. At this point I’m just selecting the sprouty ones, any that haven’t produced a small radical by now probably aren’t viable, acorns are recalcitrant meaning you can’t dry them and they only store for a limited time.

air prune beds full of black walnuts, took the lids off this week.

black walnut, japanese walnut, buartnut, butternut.

butternuts locally sourced in zone 3. first time growing, I find they take their time or just wait for warm weather to germinate. these are 4-8 weeks out of stratification in the greenhouse, just now steadily germinating. slower than the buartnut and japanese walnut, at least from these seed sources this year. my black walnut are also still coming up. anyone else find the same?

on a walk found some early bur oak acorns. last photos are a 500 yr old oak that fell this year, acorns from nearby trees very likely are it’s seedlings over some generations. #acrons #buroak #seedsaving

oak leaves, think this is bur oak or a hybrid? field guides and inaturalist claim bur is the only oak species in southern manitoba. last photo are all leaves from one tree from various branches.

here I am next to a 500 yr old oak that recently fell in a storm, the base at the ground is at least 4ft wide

going to be a mast year for bur oak acorns

bur oak in it’s second year. Last year they needed a cage, now that the nuts are gone they’re safe from squirrel excavation. #buroak #growingtrees

squirrel found the buffet.. as expected I did hide a pile of nuts from him. So they will pull up plants to eat the nuts after germination, good to know. It’s about time build up the some walls for our beds with oak and hazel and get them more squirrel proof. #nuttrees #growingtrees

bur oak a few days after germination. I’ve noticed our oak and hazelnut trees are still germinating, we had frost in the first week of June and it seems to make them wait. I mulched our beds again today and reinstalled the squirrel deterrent hardware cloth. #acron #germination

bur oak acorns planted in the fall are germinating. squirrel protection is holding up. I’ll wait a few weeks then take the mesh off, not sure yet how long they’re at risk from squirrel foraging #acorn #oaktree #acorns

American hazel are just starting to ripen. good to collect these before the squirrels #hazelnuts #americanhazelnut #foraging #foodforest