Walnut tree (walnut) — useful properties. How to plant and care for a tree (110 photos)

If there is no walnut tree on your garden plot yet, you should definitely consider planting it. In the summer heat, it will give you a fertile shade, and in the winter cold, you can enjoy its nutritious and delicious fruits. Low-maintenance and strong walnut will become an iconic tree for more than one generation of your family.

Summary of the article:

Walnut is mainly found in most of the European territory of Russia, in the southern, central and eastern regions of Ukraine, in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan. Iran is considered the birthplace of the tree, but many believe that it comes from China, Japan or India.

Walnut is a large tree, reaching a height of up to 20 meters. The diameter of the trunk of large varietal trees is more than 6 m.

Walnut branches with large elongated leaves form a thick large crown, under which almost no sunlight penetrates. The size and shape of the fruit depends on the variety and growing conditions (this can be seen in the photo of the nut in our gallery), the weight of the nuts is from 5 to 20 g.

Walnuts are well—known centenarians. They can live peacefully for up to 4 centuries, and age practically does not affect their productivity.

In order for the yield of the plant to be consistently high, you should follow certain rules for caring for the tree, know how to protect the nut from potential pests. You should also familiarize yourself with which varieties of trees are best grown in garden plots, whether it is necessary to prune the tree, how to collect and store the collected nuts.

How to plant a walnut

In most cases, the optimal time for planting a tree is spring. But in the southern regions with slight frosts and mild winters, autumn planting is also possible.

The selected area should be sunny enough, otherwise the seedling will start to get sick and may die. It should be taken into account that no other trees, bushes or flowers should be planted near the landing site.

Growing, the crown of the nut completely obscures the ground beneath it, so all green spaces without sunlight will simply die over time. For example, the diameter of the crown of an adult 30-year-old tree is about 12 meters, which continues to increase with the age of the tree.

It is also worth considering the possibility of planting another 1 or 2 nut trees of a different variety on your site. Such a neighborhood will contribute to better over-pollination of trees.

If planting is planned in the spring, then the planting pit for the seedling should be prepared six months earlier, approximately in October. The diameter and depth of the pit depends on the size of the root system, so in the fall it is necessary to do it with a small margin, and in the spring during planting, the dimensions of the recess can be adjusted.

Usually the pit should be at least a meter wide and deep. It is recommended to put a thin layer of soil mixed with humus and complex fertilizers on the bottom of the recess. You can also put wood ash in the pit and cover everything with leaves. By spring, the recess will have an ideal nutrient mixture for the root system of a young nut.

In the spring, before planting, the seedling must be examined, damaged, rotten or dry roots removed. Immediately before planting a seedling in the ground, it should be lowered for 15-20 minutes into a special "chatterbox". It is not difficult to prepare it: you need to take a little water, 1 part of manure and 3 parts of clay. Mix everything, the consistency of the "chatterbox" should be like liquid sour cream.

In addition, a little growth stimulant should be added to the solution. Such a mixture will help protect the roots when planting a plant, the tree will take root much faster and will grow.

It is very important to create optimal nutritional conditions for a young seedling — at first, while the tree is only taking root and taking root, the soil with a diameter of 1 meter around the root will be the main source of its nutrition.

After planting, it is recommended to tamper the soil well and pour water, at least 2 buckets. After the water is completely absorbed into the ground, crushed dry or fresh grass, an additional layer of humus or peat should be placed around the trunk. Mulching is necessary to retain moisture in the ground.

When planting a seedling in the autumn in the warm regions of our country, the rules of planting in the open ground differ little from the rules of spring planting. It is necessary to prepare an autumn planting pit not six months in advance, but only 2-3 weeks before transplanting.

Feeding of young plants

Unlike many other garden trees, the walnut root system does not like loosening. For this reason, it is recommended to introduce all complexes for fertilizing the tree into the soil very carefully.

The plant prefers fertilizer with siderates (lupin, peas, oats). A little nitrogen fertilizers should be applied in spring or early summer, in autumn phosphates and potash fertilizers can be added to the soil around the trunk.

What kind of care does the tree require

In the spring, an adult walnut tree must be cleaned of the "inanimate" bark, it is recommended to wash the trunk with 3% copper sulfate, and also refresh it with lime whitewash. Walnut whitewash is needed to protect against potential garden pests.

All walnuts need sanitary pruning, forming pruning is not required for a walnut tree — the nut copes with this task on its own. Sanitary pruning is best done in summer.

It should be remembered that this culture has a good ability to recover, so you should not fear that the tree after cutting it hurts. All of the slices are recommended to cover garden pitch.

Regular watering is required only for young walnut trees during the heat in the summer. At least 3 buckets of water will be required for each young nut. If the plant has already reached 4 m in height and from time to time the earth is moistened naturally — with the help of rains — the plant can not be specially watered.

Harvesting

The time of harvesting the fruit of a tree is determined by its variety and the weather conditions of the growing area. A nut is considered ripe when the green pericarp nuts begin to crack, and the fruit in a brown hard peel falls freely to the ground.

After harvesting, it is recommended to dry the nuts in a warm place. To dry them, they must be spread out in a thin layer and stirred periodically. After 1-2 weeks of drying, it is advisable to put all the fruits in canvas bags for wintering.

Varieties of walnut tree

Modern breeders have bred many varieties of walnut, characterized by good yields, as well as resistance to cold, diseases and pests. There are trees with early, medium-ripened and late fruits. For more northern regions, it is recommended to plant early nuts that ripen in early September.

The "Skinosky" variety is a walnut tree with an early ripening period. The fruits are ovoid, large with a thin shell.
The Breeder variety is a cold—resistant, high-yielding variety of walnut tree. Regular stable fruiting.
The "Carpathian" variety — loves sunlight and moisture. The tree gives a good harvest already in 5-6 years.
The "Ideal" variety is a large oily fruit that can be harvested in October. It has thin internal partitions that do not interfere with easy cleaning of the nut.

In addition to all of the above, it should be noted that not only its fruits are valuable in the tree.

Walnut wood is one of the most expensive types. It has a noble dark shade and is often used for the production of expensive furniture.

A natural dye for fabrics is produced from the juicy leaves of the tree. Also, the leaves are often used by beauties to prepare a useful decoction for rinsing hair.

The walnut tree has long ceased to be exotic in the gardens of our regions. In general, the cultivation and care of nuts are simple and do not take much time and effort. In gratitude for the care and attention, the tree will generously shower the earth with its fruits every autumn.