Germination of walnuts
It is not so difficult to grow a walnut from a nut. For germination, you need to take a nut of the current year's harvest. Best of all - from your neighbors, from a tree growing in your area. Sowing is best in spring. Nut germination is not very high, so it is better to sow with a margin.
The specimens selected for sowing should be large in size, without visible damage, the kernel should be easily removed.
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Nuts require prior stratification. Varieties with thick shells stratify for 90-100 days at temperatures from 0 ... to + 7 ° С, walnuts with medium and thin shells for 40-45 days - at temperatures around + 18 ° С.
Before stratification, the nuts are soaked in water for three days, changing the water daily. Then it is poured over with wet clean sand and placed in a room with the temperature necessary for stratification. At the end of stratification, some specimens may already be hatched.
Nuts are planted in open ground at the end of April, as soon as the soil warms up to + 10 ° C, in a special "nursery" in a previously prepared fertile soil. Large nuts are planted to a depth of 11 cm, small and medium ones - to a depth of 7-9 cm. The distance between the nuts is 50-70 cm. To get straight shoots from seedlings, it is better to spread each nut in the prepared hole on its side, with the scar down. It is best to grow nuts in special film greenhouses: in them, seedlings suitable for rootstocks can be obtained by the end of the first year, and seedlings suitable for planting in open garden ground - after 2 years.
Sometimes sprouted walnuts are first planted in separate pots so that the root sinks into the soil, and the nut itself remains on the surface. In May, when the seedlings are strong enough, they are transplanted into a special bed for growing.
Planting walnuts in open ground
Walnut seedlings are planted in spring in well-prepared and cultivated soil. Seats are prepared in the fall. If the fertile layer at the planting site is shallow, then manure mixed with ash is introduced into the planting pit (2 glasses of ash are added to a bucket of manure), with an additional addition of superphosphate.
In a hole prepared for planting with a width of 40x40 cm, for additional stimulation of the growth of lateral roots, a square of plastic film is laid on the bottom. The nut quickly develops a powerful root system.
When planting a seedling, the lateral roots are carefully laid out in a horizontal position, sprinkling them with crumbly earth, starting from the lower roots, gradually moving to the upper part of the root system. The upper roots should be close to the soil surface, at a depth of no more than 6-7 cm.
A young tree begins to bloom 3-5 years after planting. The fruits ripen in September. The readiness of the nuts is determined by their green pericarp. Once they start cracking, the nuts are ready. To facilitate the cleaning process, after harvesting, it is advisable to keep the nuts in the basement for about a week, after which it will be easier to clean them from the softened and blackened pericarp. When cleaning nuts from the pericarp, you must use rubber gloves, as there is a lot of iodine in the nut pericarp, which can stain your hands dark for a long time. After peeling, the nuts are washed in water and dried in the sun. If some of the nuts remain, from which the pericarp is not removed, then they are piled in a heap and kept for some time in the sun - this will help the fruits to ripen.
Walnut is an amazing, beautiful and durable tree. Plant it in your garden, and as many as five generations of your family will be able to feast on tasty and healthy nuts, take refuge in the wide shade of the green giant and breathe in its healing aroma.
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- Walnut - acorn of the gods
- Growing walnuts
