Black walnut trees

Someone gave me a box of nuts. I'm not sure yet if I'll plant them.

they are very "dirty" trees.

Good trees to have out in the timber, not so much fun in your yard. If you need more I have about 5 bushel baskets worth in my yard.

My brother has 5 trees in his yard so I've seen the mess 1st hand.

Only 5 bushel baskets Jayme.
You ought to see my yard.
just

I have a G. Gardner Master Nut Cracker that works great on hickory nuts and black walnuts. You can literally crack the nuts, using the nut cracker, with just your little finger.



Keith

how do you plant they ?

Get that green husk off and put em an inch or two down. They grow like weeds. Every spring I find where all the squirrels put em then forgot. And the seedlings are hard to get rid of without an herbicide. Throw a tap root to China.

I've got a few trees in the yard, very useful to me. After husking the green part we grind it up and dry it in an old crock pot and use it like logwood dye. Dry the nuts and eat them and I guess your supposed to be able to grind the hard shells up and use as sand blasting media I've never tried it though.

Keep in mind they will eventually kill other plants/trees around them as they mature with a hormone from the roots and fall leaves. Again, better as wildlife habitat than a yard tree, unless you have the perfect spot for one.

Lots of walnut trees in people's yards around here. Folks gather them by the bushel full for the nuts. Dry them on a chicken wire "table" for good air circulation. Nuts are excellent eating
Besides drying the husks and saving them for trap dye, one year I bolled about 20 gallon of husks and water. Skimmed off the husks and boiled that down to a couple gallons of concentrated trap dye. I put it in half gallon mason jars while still hot and it sealed them right up. Some of the darkest best trap dye I ever made.

I used to use them to dye my traps before waxing them about 50 years ago.... A little messy to handle!

I would plant walnut trees if I had the time to do it. I do have a walnut cracker not as fancy as Keith's. But it works well. Some people seem to have a decent market for the nuts. I understand the oil from the nuts is really good too . Squirrels seem to benefit mostly from the walnuts around here. Black walnuts are a hobby of mine to be honest. I did go to Stoke's general store in front royal, VA. They sold walnuts from Missouri of all places, LOL. You see the black walnut nuts lying beside the road fairly regular. The firewood from black walnut trees is decent quality too.

Pioneers used the husks to dye clothes.
I wish I could show you the jacket my wife made me. We dyed it with walnut hulls.
I made a logwood type powder with husks too.
just

FYI Danger! Watch out for walnut trees if you have dogs that like to chew or horses. The wood, leaves and nuts all have a tannin in them that will paralyze your dog and can kill horses. We found out the hard way. I had a basket of seasoned walnut wood next to the fireplace and with three Labs you can guess what happened while we were out. They found the wood toys and had chewed wood all over the house when we came home. The next morning when I got up all three dogs were completely paralyzed in the hindquarters. They couldn't move at all. I called the vet right away and while he was researching it so was I and found out black walnut is dangerous to certain animals. He called me back and said to give them lots of water to flush their system out and by late evening they were able to walk again. We have five trees in the backyard that I want to cut down but the wife likes the shade they provide. Nasty trees. Watch the dogs.

Black walnuts work for deworming certain animals . Somewhat similar to Ivomec in rough layman's terms. Just my worthless 2 cents.

I want to trim small branches, 1-3 “ from bottom of black walnuts. Trees are about 30 yrs old. These branches are now touching the ground and are on lawn. Wish to mow closer to base of tree. In zone 3-4 near St. Lawrence River. Finally question. What is the best time of yr. to trim?

I saw a walnut tree last night that hangs over a sidewalk. There were so many walnuts fell off that tree that the nuts were touching one another covering the sidewalk. I'm not a yuge fan of the meat but a little bit in cookies or brownies aren't bad.

From the first falling leaf ( now) until the first of February is the ideal time to trim most any tree, provided it’s done right.

Good answer.

Thanks

You need one of these if you have a black walnut tree. My Mom used hers at 91 when they start falling.
https://www.gardenweasel.com/gardening-tools/pick-up-tools

no, they are gross. My parents used to like them, ruined several batches of fudge and homemade maple nut ice cream with them nasty things.



After the wind yesterday, there's probably twice that many now Bob.



... just one of our 4 trees. Free nuts for anyone who wants to come pick them up. You got to beat the 1000 squirrels in the yard to them though! lol

Up here Amish put them on pavement then run over with buggy.

I have considered cutting them in quarters with a band saw. It there a simple way to pick the meat out?

Other than a squirrel, does anything else eat black walnuts. If I put walnuts in my deer corn, will the squirrels take them and leave the corn for the deer?

Be sure to leave the branch collar so the tree can heal the cut properly.

I used to rent a place had 13 walnut trees and 3 were right along the driveway. Have to wear a hard hat on a windy day just to cut across the yard

My neighbor say's he knows when it's fall, cause the walnut tree's out back start dropping nuts on the barn tin roof. BANG! Scares the crap out of you.

For me the worst part of black walnuts is that the squirrels plant them all over the place where I don't want them...like in the blueberry fields.

you need more squirrels

We had a very dry summer so most trees sacrificed the nuts or grew very small nuts.

When dying traps, I throw in the nut in the husk. No need to peel or other steps. No need to skim them out. For future years I save fresh walnuts in husks in buckets. They dry fine. To dye traps, just pour in a bucket and boil.

I turned the dry husks into powder.
Cuts way down on the sludge.
Worth the trouble? Probably not but I was bored.
just

Good reason!

I put the black walnuts in a wire fish basket, drop traps into boiling pot, set basket in pot on top of traps. Keeps all the husk bits out of springs.

love the trees in my yard of course we like the meat pick up a few any time i want put out a lot of shade last longer than a lot of trees dont lose a lot of limbs every time the wind blows like watching the squirrels all winter next spring when its time to mow again they will all be gone some of the most valuable wood there is i like them i have a timber with them in it that are worth more than my place when i bought it

Also makes an excellent emergency fishing aid!!!!!

???

You don't want them near gardens or other areas where you want to grow other plants. Espeically true along their drip lines and if you plant only a couple in an open yard their canopy's get very wide. My rat trapping partner has one tree and this year was the least in a decade, only about 200 nuts. Most years several barrels full.

Bryce

The juglone in walnut trees can be used to stun or kill fish.

Keith

I'm happy to see black walnut fans on trapperman. This year has not been super productive maybe average for nut production locally.

Want walnuts ???
come to my house.
LOL
just

It doesn't seem like they are as popular for trap dye as they used to be

They were / are free.
thats very important if you don't have much money and have time
Just checked. Speed dip is $13.90 a quart.
I wonder how many coon it will take to buy a quart.

just.
.

Excellent comeback,AKA just.

We ran a pile of the husks through an old hand crank meat grinder and dried it in a crackpot ended up with 2 gallon zip locks full should dye all my traps next year, the kids used some to dye t-shirts turned out pretty neat

I have never used anything but walnuts and sumac. Just started adding the sumac when I read I needed dto on here a Few years ago. Does store bought stuff do a better job or last longer I have no experience with it?

This year I am having to use my skid loader if I want to remove even half of the walnuts. This is the heaviest mast in 19 years, and has created a walking hazard anywhere in my yard. I have started piles of nuts in several out of the way areas. This should help the local squirrels this winter.

I have dyed traps using logwood and walnuts. One is no better or longer lasting than the other.

Thanks, I was wondering.

We have black walnuts and English walnuts in our yard. Don't plant them where the limbs will be above a driveway, sidewalk, shed, or your house. You'll be littered with nuts on everything. But in an open area, they're great. They do kill anything within 6' of the trunk - easier to mow around.

I very much prefer the English walnuts to the black walnuts. Milder taste, much, much easier to get the meat out. The fight with black walnuts to end up with little crumbled pieces of nut isn't worth it to me. After struggling with black walnuts, the English walnuts don't seem so difficult.

I wish we had English walnuts.

2x. I have a lot of black zero English. I should probably plant some English and some pecan.