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Black_Walnuts

Feature Article November 30

Feature Article November 30, 2002

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Black WalnutsWere living under siege this week. We cant go out the back door without being pelted on the head with large green golf balls. The walnuts are falling.

Black Walnut trees (Juglans nigra L.) on the property can be a mixed blessing to a gardener. Theyre not common; Southern Frontenac is about as far north as they occur in Canada. They grow quickly, have an attractive, almost tropical looking compound leaf, their nut is edible, and furniture makers value the wood of a mature tree. Thats the good news. On the negative side: walnuts are one of the last trees to leaf out in spring; for a few days in fall when the heavy nuts are falling you need a hard hat to walk under them; the nuts are very thick-shelled, hard to crack, and covered with a husk that stains everything it touches dark brown; and the trees roots produce a substance that kills many plants within a 50-60 foot radius.

It took many years and the death of the two elderberry bushes that had provided berries for the birds, and our pies, jellies and pancake syrup (the latter discovered when a jelly didnt jell) before I became totally hard-hearted about walnuts, and cut all but three. Two are close to the creek in a rocky area where not much else grows, and one presides over a shade garden behind the house.

The walnut protects its territory by releasing a substance called juglone from its roots. This causes the roots of many other plants (including tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, potato, asparagus, rhubarb, peonies, lilacs, apples, white birches) to become woody and unable to absorb water. However grasses, squash, carrots, beans, corn, clematis, many shade plants, and a considerable variety of native wildflowers are usually not affected. Juglone also occurs in lesser concentrations in walnut leaves, bark and wood. Poorly soluble in water, it does not move far in the soil, and breaks down reasonably quickly in composted leaves. Walnut chips or sawdust should not be used in bedding for horses.

Ive stopped trying to deal with the litter of nuts on the ground in October; by spring, the squirrels have eaten most of them. In early summer, I dig walnut seedlings (squirrels dont keep careful track of their buried-treasure maps) from flowerbeds and garden, and pass them on to friends who want walnut trees. Most grow, and at a very satisfying rate for hardwoods.

One friend phoned in great distress to report that the city squirrels had dug up all her seedlings to get at the fragments of nuts on the roots. I provided more seedlings; she covered the ground around them with bricks, and the squirrels dug them up again. She was too distraught to see any humour in my suggestion that we trade squirrels, as hers were diggers and mine were planters.

If youd like to try planting a few walnuts, give me a ring when you plan to be in Sydenham, and you can have some. Wilma Kenny, 376-3804.

With the participation of the Government of Canada