Hazel nuts in the husk.

Hazel nuts out of the husk. These are the biggest hazel nuts I have ever seen. I collected them less than 8 miles from my farm and hope to cold stratify and grow them here.

Heartnuts.

Heartnuts.

Butternuts.

Named cultivars of grafted black walnuts.

Buckeyes. Not an edible nut, but we sold a bunch last weekend for 50 cents each.

Black walnut/butternut/heartnut cross, given to me by another fan of nuts. They are are all species of walnuts and cross with English walnuts too.


Most of the nuts I harvested will be cold striated and grown next Spring.

Keith

Keith, what do people buy the buckeyes for?

Very good assortment. My grandpa always told me that only one side of the buckeye was toxic, but only squirrels knew which side. Eric

Ohio State fans are the biggest market in my area for buckeye nuts. I also sold some to people who wanted to grow them. I sold 2 to a girl who wanted to carry one in her pocket for luck. I sold them 2 for a dollar.

We had buckeye trees with us, but nobody bought any last weekend. We sold a few the weekend before for $15.00 each for little trees that sprouted in the Spring from the same parent trees the pictured nuts came from.

We are going to collect a bunch more buckeyes and Diane and my partner will make necklaces and other jewelry for Ohio State fans with them.

Keith

I'll collect several types of hickory nuts and purchase English walnuts and a few hundred pounds of hazelnuts too. I'll sell most for eating, but still grow a good amount.

I'm going to collect persimmons and hopefully some pawpaws too. We will make stuff with the fruit and grow the seeds.

Keith

Whatcha plan on making with your persimmons, Keith? Trees down here are pretty loaded this year I noticed.

Keith, what is the process for planting a buckeye? Do the seeds need stratisfied? I find myself in possession of a couple dozen buckeyes and the wife wants a tree.

We have a yellow buckeye tree in the yard....Those are neat trees.

The old timers used to keep a buckeye nut in their pocket for good luck.

We planted 3 persimmons this spring on the farm. Would really like some pawpaw seedlings to plant. Eric

I joined the Ohio Nut Growers Association back in the Spring. I had wanted to go to the meetings since 2021, but stuff always went wrong or came up. Many of the members grow persimmons and pawpaws too. Several of them sell half pints of persimmon pudding for $15.00. I want to make that to sell and eat. My partner makes persimmon and pumpkin pies. Diane will try making some other deserts with it, if I can get a lot.

I met a guy the weekend before last, who we sold trees to, who offered to let me collect persimmons and hickory nuts from his property. He's supposed to have large quantities of both.

ONGA gives away scions of named cultivars of many types of nuts, pawpaws and persimmons in the Spring. We have a few hundred persimmon trees left. I want to graft better varieties on a lot of the wild stock trees we have. There are some American/Asian persimmons that get large, that can handle the cold and that have more pulp then seed. Most American persimmons have more seeds than pulp.

Keith

Buckeyes do need cold stratified. The easiest way is to bury them about an inch deep in the ground and cover them with wire to prevent them from getting eaten by rodents. When the ground finally warms up well, usually in May, they pop up really quickly. As long as you don't let them dry out, most buckeyes will germinate. Last year, we planted the buckeyes within a few days of collection. We potted up some buckeye trees early to sell, but have most in air pruning beds, that we need to dig, once they go dormant. We have hundreds of apricot, peach, black walnut
, oak and persimmon trees to dig too.

Keith

We sold our last pawpaw trees the weekend before last. Our pawpaw trees were tiny and looked rough, but they still sold really well. They were so small we didn't take them to most of the events we sold at. We bought them from Hartman's Plant Nursery in Michigan back in the Spring. They have been out for a while now. I want to purchase 300 bare root pawpaws in the Spring from the Missouri Department of Conservation, but there website is still showing sold out from last Spring. I will plant as many pawpaw seeds as we can probably get.

Pawpaws frequently take 2 years, or even more to germinate. The seeds were made to pass through the digestive tracks of megafauna, like giant sloths, for stratification. The coating on pawpaw seeds is a laxative.

ONGA asked me to teach classes for them at an event they will do in 2027. I have to take 200 trees to the event to sell, which the host will pay me for. I can take orders for more at the event. It should be very profitable for me.

Everytime I teach classes and merchant at an event, sales have been phenomenal for me.

Keith

… you aught to be ashamed of the provocative thread title

Thank you for the info Keith.

You're welcome.

Keith

Chinese chestnuts I've picked up the last two days.

a very good read thanks Keith,

I went and got more horse chestnuts,

Keith keep posting more pictures we don't have any of the trees you're talking about up here that I'm aware of anyway .

This is interesting stuff ha ha !

These nuts...