anyone have experience planting

[wtnhunt]

black walnut trees? Think i may plant 100 or so along edges of our property on existing tree lines. Oaks and hickories do well here, would seem walnut should too? But I have read that they release a chemical that may harm grasses and other trees, would they potentially kill oaks?

[Ultradog]

I used to own a forty and when i first got it was all hep about planting trees.

I put in several hundred red pines (Norway), a bunch of white and blue spruce and some red cedar. Kill rate was pretty high and only about 20% of them are still alive. But now, 28 years later it's amazing to see how big the survivors are.

But anyway, I also looked into planting some walnut trees. An old timer who was a well known amateur forester told me to get a bunch of bean or soup cans. Burn them in a fire to burn off any coatings they have on them.

Then take a sharp chisel and cut an X in the closed end of the can and bend the tabs inward. Take the can, fill it half full of dirt, put the walnut in, then fill it with dirt and pack it in.

Then bury the can with the X up about 4" below the surface of the ground.

The can will prevent the squirrels from robbing the nut and by burning the can it will rust away as the tree grows.BTW, Walnuts must freeze to crack open the shell to grow.

I never did it.

Yes walnuts, and here we have butternuts - a sub species of the walnut - put out a toxin that kills other plant life. It is in the husks of the nut and is a natural defense mechanism against encroaching plant life. Small walnut trees wont produce enough of the toxin to affect mature or well established trees but if you look under a big walnut tree there won't be a lot of brush or leafy plants under it.

I say you should do it. I am rather proud of the pines i planted so long ago even though i don't own that property any more.

[wtnhunt]

Had considered some pines, and may plant some of them in spots too, dunno yet. Pines may be a better option where I know the horses will be since there are concerns with walnuts and potential risk of lameness. Other considerations are pecans and maybe some wild cherry. We actually have tons of little oaks growing all over our property I could transplant some of them, I mow dozens of sprouts in our yard every year that are not really ideally located. Have one 16 + year old red oak tree I transplanted from a small sapling off our property that is between the house and garage that is probably 30 feet tall now, makes for a great shade tree.

Thanks for the tip Jerry. Probably will go with 1-2 ft tall bare root trees with whatever we do plant and may have to buy 25 at a time, no way I could realistically manage to plant that many trees in one weekend before they would start dying on me. When I planted the bare root peach, pear, and apple trees I bought from tyty nursery spring before last it was a job to get them all in the ground. That was I think 21 total trees. Could start seeing some production from some of those pears next year, couple.

I am gonna have to do something on our east side since we lost depth of the woods there. Getting a lot of morning time sunlight that did not used to hit the house is now hitting it. Know nothing is going to be an immediate fix, but of hardwoods it sounds like walnuts grow fairly quickly with decent soil getting 3-4 ft of growth per year.

[dogdoc]

Walnut trees put out a chemical called juglone that is toxic to many plants and trees but there are a lot of resistant trees also. Here is a website that gives trees that are susceptible and resistant to Walnut.

http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-and-plant-advice/horticulture-care/plants-tolerant-black-walnut-toxicity

todd