Squirrels plant walnut forests every fall, and their method works: use a fresh nut, keep it moist, plant it two to three inches deep, and cover it with wire so they cannot dig it up.
Written on the farm by Nathan Story · Story Thyme Farms, Missouri · Updated
Story Thyme Farms · Bench cardFall sow or fridge winter
How to plant black walnuts
Juglans nigra. From fresh nut to seedling
DifficultyEasy, then patient
Depth2–3 inches
Cold needed~120 days moist, 33–40°F
Squirrel guardWeighted wire square
Wear gloves when hulling. Walnut stain has to wear off, it will not wash off.
1Collecting the nutsCollect large nuts from a tree you like
2Hulling and float testingHull them promptly, wash them, keep the sinkers
3The one ruleA nut you intend to plant must never dry out
4Option one: plant in fallSow now, 2 to 3 inches deep, with wire over the top
5Option two: chill and plant in springOr chill them 120 days and plant in spring
Materials needed · Hardware cloth · Nitrile gloves · Play sand · Gallon zip bags · Marking flags
Written on the farm · Missouristorythymefarms.com/guides/how-to-plant-black-walnuts
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Planting a black walnut starts the same way as harvesting one, until the last step, where the two go in opposite directions. A nut you plan to eat is cured dry for weeks. A nut you plan to plant must never dry out at all. Keep it moist from hulling until it goes in the ground, give it a real winter, and protect the spot from squirrels.
01Step 1 · Collecting the nuts
Collect large nuts from a tree you like
In September and October, pick up the largest, heaviest nuts under the healthiest tree you can find, with hulls that are yellow-green and dent under your thumb. Walnuts are pollinated by wind, so no seedling will be identical to its parent, but a strong, productive parent tree improves your odds. A dozen nuts is plenty for one or two trees, since squirrels and bad nuts will take a share.
02Step 2 · Hulling and float testing
Hull them promptly, wash them, keep the sinkers
Get the husks off within a few days and wash the nuts in a bucket, wearing gloves. Throw out anything that floats, because floaters are poorly filled and will not sprout. This is the same test used on nuts meant for eating. The dense ones that sink are next year's trees.
03Step 3 · The one rule
A nut you intend to plant must never dry out
This is where planting and harvesting part ways. Curing, the two airy weeks that make a nut good for cracking, slowly kills the embryo inside. Nuts meant for planting stay damp from the wash bucket onward: buried in moist sand, bagged in the refrigerator, or put straight into the soil that same week.
04Step 4 · Option one: plant in fall
Sow now, 2 to 3 inches deep, with wire over the top
The easiest approach is the one nature uses. Plant the nuts two to three inches deep where you want trees, or in a nursery row, and let winter provide the cold period. Then protect them: put a square of hardware cloth over each planting, weighted with a rock, or squirrels will dig up every nut by Thanksgiving. Mark the spot, because sprouts may not appear until June.
05Step 5 · Option two: chill and plant in spring
Or chill them 120 days and plant in spring
For more control, layer the washed nuts in moist sand in a lidded bucket or a bag and refrigerate at 33 to 40 °F for about 120 days, checking that the sand never dries out. In early spring, plant three to five nuts at each spot, two to three inches deep, and keep only the strongest seedling. Choose the permanent spot carefully: full sun, deep soil, and at least eighty feet from the vegetable garden. Walnut roots release juglone, which kills tomatoes, peppers, apples and blueberries, and the root zone of a mature tree reaches 50 to 80 feet out. The deep taproot means the tree cannot be moved once established.
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Questions we actually get
Will my seedling bear nuts as good as the tree I gathered from?
Not exactly, and maybe not close. Walnuts are wind pollinated, so the father is unknown and seedlings land somewhere between their parents. For timber, wildlife, or rootstock that is fine. For guaranteed cracking quality you graft a named cultivar onto your seedling later.
How long until a seedling makes nuts?
First nuts around year eight to ten on good ground, real crops closer to twice that. You are not planting for next fall, you are planting for the version of the farm your kids argue over.
Can I move the seedling somewhere better later?
Only young and only barely. The taproot dives hard the first season; nursery seedlings are dug the following March, sixteen to eighteen inches deep, keeping every fibrous root possible. After year one, treat the tree as permanent.
Is it easier to just buy seedlings?
Missouri residents can order bare-root black walnut seedlings in cheap bundles from MDC's George O. White State Forest Nursery, ordering runs September into April and trees ship late winter through spring. We still plant nuts, free trees from a tree we like are hard to argue with.
From the plant library
Black Walnut — the full profile
Zones, cold-hardy cultivars, spacing, feeding, and where to buy one already rooted.
