# Walnut question



## DW (May 10, 2002)

My mother used to say she liked black walnuts better than English walnuts. I have no clue about the difference. Would like to know the difference & info. on where they are grow b/c I'm sure there's none here in CO...my mother was from the midwest (se IA). Thanks!! I KNOW someone will know the answer.


----------



## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

Black walnuts have less meat, but a stronger taste. The hulls are one of the hardest organic substances known, which makes getting at the meat a tedious process.


----------



## bonnie lass (Nov 3, 2004)

Make sure you really, really want one before you plant it in your yard. It secretes a substance called juglone that inhibits the growth of other plants. You need to wear rubber gloves when handling them because they will stain your hands, and it is extremely difficult to remove. To crack the hard shells, you need to buy a special machine. Some people crack them by putting them on the driveway running over them with a car. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/help/juglone/juglone.htm


----------



## shorty'smom (Feb 17, 2005)

They grow native here. Want some seeds? You can use a hammer to crack them, but you need a nut pick and a lot of time to get them out of the shell. They are strongly flavored. They are ok. Pecans grow native here also, and they taste much better. We also have hickory trees. I tired a hickory nut. It's about like a black walnut. Stringent! yeow. I'll stick to pecans, thanks. The walnut trees grow faster than pecans and they make pretty lumber and good firewood. the nuts that fall in the yard make good practice for your old beat up chipping wedge if you golf.


----------



## mtman (Sep 2, 2004)

black walnut for firewood thats crazy they pay a lot of money for the wood to make veneer in furnature makeing


----------



## shorty'smom (Feb 17, 2005)

If it's being a problem for us (such as droping little permanently staining balls of perpetual sidewalk hazard) it's firewood. Not to mention the no other plant will grow under one (not even grass) thing.

However there is one down in the woods behind the house that is so large I could barely believe it was a black walnut. It's at least 40 feet tall. There are pecans next to it that are so large it takes 3 people to stretch arms around one. The walnut tree does no harm there, so we leave it alone, naturally.

Pecan makes excellent firewood too, if you don't dry it out too long.


----------



## shorty'smom (Feb 17, 2005)

hey, um...before you try that chipping wedge thing, tell everybody to stand well away and wear clothes that you will use in the future to chage the oil in the car in, or some such.

My mom liked to make mincemeat with black walnuts. We picked them up after the husks were dry, and put them in doubled paper bags and smashed them around until the husks were broken off. Then we picked the nuts out of that. Then we kids got to crack the nuts and mom picked them out. (I never liked mincemeat cookies)

Be prepared to get a manucure later.


----------



## silentcrow (Mar 15, 2005)

I have a black walnut out back...has plenty of grass around it. Sometimes too much!


----------



## bonnie lass (Nov 3, 2004)

"hey, um...before you try that chipping wedge thing, tell everybody to stand well away and wear clothes that you will use in the future to chage the oil in the car in, or some such." :haha: :haha:


----------



## cabe (Mar 6, 2005)

We grow and maintain about 500 Black Walnuts out here and many Hickory, White Oak, and Christmas trees (Fraser Fir).You have recieved many good answers, and I do not have much to add.One thing that does matter when harvesting the nuts, is the longer you leave them in the green hull , the stronger the flavor and color of the meat.I like it pungent and dark, mainly for cooking.This makes an awesome Walnut cake.Use it in the icing for a real treat, and just give me the whole pot of coffee. Marty.


----------



## CorbyWolf13 (Mar 24, 2005)

Did someone mention having black walnut seeds? I love the taste of the black walnut, especially in nut and fruit breads. 
As for hulling and shelling black walnuts, well, there was one in the center of the driveway to my house when I was a kid. I loved that old tree and my stepmom used to grow all kinds of flowers around the base of it. We had a blast hulling and shelling them in the late fall and winter. All it took was a hammer and a flat stone.
Dee


----------



## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

Black Walnuts won't actually kill or stunt every plant that grows around them, but it does hurt many. Some plants are not bothered by juglone at all. We have a lot of black walnuts trees on our property. We harvest the nuts, cracking them with a hammer and using a nut meat pick to get the meat out. Black walnuts has a much stronger flavor and darker color then english walnuts. They are also oilier, which probably explains the stronger flavor. We use our black walnuts in ice-cream, nut breads, cakes, and cookies. My DH loves them!
Try buying some black walnuts at your local grocery store first to see if you actually like them. Some folks, like my DD, can't stand them. I know our local Kroger store carries them in small bags with the other nuts in the baking section. See if your local grocery store does too!
Cracker barrel country stores also sells bags of black walnut candies you can try too. Expensive, but yummy!

I love hickory nuts! I think hickory nuts are much sweeter and delicately flavored then black walnuts. They are also much lighter in color. I know there are a lot of hickory nut cousins like mockernuts that taste bad, but look similar to hickory nuts. Just be sure you have the real thing! We have shagbark hickory trees on our property too.


----------



## via media (Jun 3, 2005)

I have several walnut trees in my back yard and the walnuts are starting to come down. Several people in this thread have referred to harvesting them but when I tried it last year, it went horribly wrong. 

I collected the nuts and left them to dry in the basement for a couple of months. (Actually, I got busy and forgot about them.) Anyway, when I did get around to cracking them, I was so disappointed to find out that the meat had shriveled into nothing.

- At what point do I pick them up off the ground? (Green and mushy, brown and mushy or brown and dry)
- What do I do with them after picking them up? Do I lay them out to dry? Hack into them straight away?
- What about all those little white grub/worm things that are crawling around under the green outer part? Is the nut still edible?

I'm not sure what kind of walnuts they are but I suspect they are black walnuts. 

Thank you for your help!

/VM


----------



## woodspirit (Aug 3, 2005)

mtman said:


> black walnut for firewood thats crazy they pay a lot of money for the wood to make veneer in furnature makeing


 Right now, black cherry, sugar maple, and red oak bring more money than black walnut. Not all trees can be made into veneer. Most can't.
There are different grades of trees like veneer grade, prime1, prime2 etc. Each logging company will have their own grading system. 
Knots and branches will bring value down, as will wane, or physical damage. Some trees have internal defects too. 
Most companies won't even consider buying trees that are on the boundaries of property because of the chance of nails and barbed wire. Trees that are in peoples yards they won't buy either for the same reason. Don't know what's inside. Sometimes you can get someone with a portable mill to cut up those kinds but they usually charge you for that service.
The market for lumber changes on an hourly basis.


----------



## Charleen (May 12, 2002)

mtman said:


> black walnut for firewood thats crazy they pay a lot of money for the wood to make veneer in furnature makeing


We tried to find someone that would buy our black walnut but nobody wanted it because it was so close to the house. Nice and straight, probably at least 25' before branching out, but because of it's location, there's a better chance that there might be a nail in it. 

In the meantime, I pick up walnuts, run the car over them in the driveway to get the outer shells off. Submerse them in water and throw out the ones that float. We'll start cracking these in the winter. Great in chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Via media, I think you just got a bad batch. It happens sometimes. I pick them up as soon as they fall. Hull off the green/brown/black wet part and let the nut dry, about a week to a month, then shell them. The maggots won't hurt the nut but they are gross. Dry those outside or hose them off. Grandpa used to keep the nuts in a bin in the basement and shell them as he got time. One year he was still working on the batch in March. The nuts were still good.

Daylilies, daffodils, muscari, and lots of other flowers grow well around walnut trees. Tomatoes and related plants are very sensitive and won't grow near walnuts.

Black walnuts are my absolute favorite! I did buy some from the store once and they just didn't taste as good. Grandpa froze bunches of them but never had time to eat them. I inherited his "stash" and am enjoying it tremendously. Thanks, Grandpa.


----------



## labrat (Jun 3, 2005)

Hereâs your answer on the growing range of black walnuts. . .










And as far as harvesting and processing; there's a fella' from northern Illinios that has some good ideas. Here's the web page. . . 

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page21.html

I tried copying the text word for word but the info is just too long to place in one message.


----------



## bretthunting (Sep 28, 2005)

i posted this question on another thread but thought i would repost it here also. i recieved a bunch of walnuts from a friend and wanted to get them going up and down the creek on our property (@ 2 miles worth) and was wandering will they take on their own if i just scatter them or do i need to actually put them in the ground and if so how deep, etc.
thanks 
brett


----------



## starwalker (Oct 7, 2005)

We gather the Black walnuts up. Spill the nuts in the husk on the driveway. Run over them with the car a few times and that tough outter husk comes right off. Of course, we use plastic on our hands to pick them up or our hands are stained for a while.  

I don't remember the last English walnut we have eaten. All we eat is black walnuts. If the harvest is low. Walmart sells them shelled. Expensive but when the family wants Peanut butter cocoa fudge with black walnuts. There just is no substitute. :clap: 

We haven't had a problem with grass either. We keep it clear around them so we can harvest the bounty. :happy:


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Bretthunting, just lay the nuts on the ground and smash them in with your foot. The squirrels don't bury them very deep. If you have squirrels around put some sort of wire mesh over the planted nut or plant so many there would be no way the squirrels could get them all.


----------

