Black Walnut

[ottawagardener]

On our new property (assuming everything goes as planned), there is a black walnut grove and a scattered planting of butternuts, oaks including white and bur along with other trees. Their son works/ed for a conservation society so he brought back lots of lovely nut trees to plant.

I am thrilled to have such beautiful trees on the property. The older black walnut grove is starting to bear. I would like to underplant a few things. I have looked up a list of jugalone resistant shrubs and perennials but I would like your experiences on what works. The soil around the Black Walnuts is on the heavy side. Some of the butternuts are in much lighter soil.

[mjc]

Brambles...raspberries/blackberries seem to do as well under the myriad of black walnut trees here as anywhere else on the property, in fact some places they do better, because there is less for them to compete with.

[lavandulagirl]

Here is the text from an article I wrote for the local paper a couple years ago. Bear in mind that it was geared towards northern Virginia, so some of the plants may not be available to you, but there's some good info here:

"Black Walnut trees (Juglans nigra L.) are not uncommon in Page County; many of us have them in our yards. These trees are valuable for their edible nuts, and also for their beautiful hardwood. As a landscape specimen, however, their attraction as a large shade tree is tempered by their ability to kill off much of what we attempt to plant under them.
Allelopathy is the relationship between two plants, where one produces a substance that affects the growth of the other. Black Walnuts produce juglone (5 hydroxy-1, 4-napthoquinone), a chemical which causes foliar yellowing, wilting, and death in other plants. In experiments done by several universities, including Purdue, juglone has been shown to be a respiratory inhibitor in plants. This means that it deprives them of needed energy, and prevents metabolic activity. This allelopathic event is often referred to as juglone poisoning, or walnut wilt. All parts of a Black Walnut produce juglone, so as gardeners we need to work with the trees rather than against them. Even cutting down the walnut won’t work, as studies show that their subterranean root system continues to release juglone into the soil for years after the tree is taken down. Further complicating the struggle, juglone concentrations are dependent on soil drainage, and many of us are already aware of the clay prevalent in our area. Poorly draining clay helps hold the chemical in our yards, exacerbating the problem.
So what can we do to make the area under our walnut trees attractive? Luckily, there are a few plants that will thrive in the presence of Black Walnuts. By planning carefully, we can establish beds that bring color and fragrance into our yards. Here are some suggestions for gardens that can be cultivated in the canopy of these trees, along with partial plant lists. More extensive plant lists can be obtained at many Internet sites devoted to the subject of walnut wilt, including plantclinic.cornell.edu and wvu.edu/~agexten.

FOR A FRAGRANT GARDEN BED:Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff) Monarda didyma (bee balm)Monarda fistula (wild bergamot) Hyacinth var. Tulipa var. Lonica tartarica (tartartian honeysuckle)

FOR SHOWY BLOOM: Alcea rosea (hollyhock) Campanula latifolia (bellflower) Chrysanthemum var. Hemerocallis fulva (common daylily) Iris siberica (Siberian Iris) Narcissus var. (daffodils) Forsythia suspensa (weeping forsythia)

FOR A SHADE GARDEN: Araceae var. (jack-in-the-pulpit) Asarum europaeum (wild ginger) Dicentra var. (bleeding heart) Hosta var. Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern) Osmunda cinnommea (cinnamon fern) Tradescantia virginiana (spiderwort) Begonia var. (begonia, fibrous and tuberous)

There are also a variety of trees that will thrive under a Black Walnut, including Acer palmatum (Japanese maple), Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) and Quercus var. (oak). As to what doesn’t grow, the list is quite long. Avoid planting azaleas, mountain laurel, and other plants in the Rhododendron family. Peonies have managed to show up on both the list that does and the list that does not thrive, so if you’ve spent some money on that cultivar, I wouldn’t plant it under a Black Walnut if I were you! The same can be said for lilac and crabapple. If you are a vegetable gardener, avoid planting anything in the nightshade family near a Black Walnut, (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant) or anything in the cole family (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli). These veggies can be grown with excellent results in containers. If your kitchen garden is quite close to a Black Walnut, sow your beans, beets, carrots and corn in the ground, and intersperse with containers filled with the more sensitive plants. By keeping the containers free of tree detritus like leaves and nuts, you can get nice results.
In terms of that tree detritus, make sure you clear the leaves and nuts from you yard. Most grasses do a marginal job of growing under a walnut, and you can help you lawn quite a bit if you clean up after your tree. Remember not to mulch using Black Walnut leaves or nut hulls, and if you add clippings or leaves to you compost, bury them deep and make sure they are fully composted (unrecognizable) before using. Finally, while Black Walnut produces the most virulent juglone poisoning, the same effects can be seen to a lesser degree involving it’s relatives: Butternut, English Walnut, Shagbark Hickory, Pecan, and Bitternut Hickory. If you have plant die off occurring near these trees, you may well have to reconsider what you are putting near them."

[mnjrutherford]

Peaches and relatives are supposed to do well around the black walnuts as well. We have a single baby tree we planted near our driveway. I was planning to put black raspberries around it, but we are going with nectarine trees instead.

I'm also rethinking floral interplantings around trees on our property for the sake of making more flowers for our bees.

[ottawagardener]

I've heard that stone fruit, rubes and ribes are all tolerant though most of the success stories I've managed to find involve Rubes.

I'm splitting my tree planting plans to involve those that can tolerate black walnut and prefer more moisture/heavier soil and those that should not dry out but are sensitive to jugalone and those that are drought tolerant or prefer light soils.

This is fun.

[rockguy]

Recently there has been reports of a beetle-carried disease of black walnut showing up in TN. I think this is the first time it's been found east of the Mississippi river. I will look for a reference. I really hope it doesn't become a problem like the chestnut blight or dutch elm disease.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38493311
I don't know how long this link will be good.
We have already had a disease that killed virtually all native butternuts here, starting sometime in the 80's. I had two trees in my woods that bore in alternate years. The last year was a large, good crop then they died.

[mnjrutherford]

;D Of COURSE it's fun! I've got 6 apricots and 3 peaches from Our Precious Val. If they are still alive this time next year, I will call it a success and I'll plan on sending you some cuttings. The apricots are Val's Tommycots and I can't think of the other variety off the top of my noggin. The peaches are Val's Harbrite and Val's Canadian Harmony.

[ottawagardener]

In fact the butternuts were planted because as part of the butternut canker program - trying to find resistant trees. I had heard of the black walnut disease but right now I am plugging my ears and shouting - la laalallalalala.

Thanks Jo - but wait until I have some one year old whips please

Next year, I will also be happily accepting pits.

Telsing

[mnjrutherford]

Aug 4, 2010 10:19:09 GMT -5 ottawagardener said:

Thanks Jo - but wait until I have some one year old whips please

WHIPS??? I don't know what kind of a gardener you think I am, but I don't have any whips hanging around!!! (Actually, I've never heard that terminology but it does sound somewhat naughty. What do you mean by a year old whip?)

Aug 4, 2010 10:19:09 GMT -5 ottawagardener said:

Next year, I will also be happily accepting pits.

The trees I have going now are not even a full year old at this point in time. It'll be awhile before I have any pits. Maybe the whip thing will be more viable?

[plantsnobin]

Thousand cankers disease. Positively ID'd in TN, expected to wipe out walnut trees everywhere. Telsing, it's great that your new property has some mature trees. Try some heartnut trees if they are hardy in your area. They are a very mild tasting nut. You can just go crazy trying all sorts of things with the amount of land you will have available.

[rockguy]

Whips are just one-year seedlings or grafts that have lost their leaves in winter so they look like whips, just a single stem without much in the way of branches.

[ottawagardener]

Let's hope it spreads very, very slowly Karen. I have heard of heartnut but think they are very borderline here. Thankfully bur and white oak seem to be thriving. At least that's one nut I can count on if I can beat the squirrels to it.

Thanks Rockguy.

Jo: Funny how you don't think of words until they hit you in the face like a one year old whip

[mnjrutherford]

Aug 4, 2010 20:11:46 GMT -5 ottawagardener said:

Jo: Funny how you don't think of words until they hit you in the face like a one year old whip

Ain't that the truth? That one just really tickled me for some reason.

Anyway, I'm guessing that "whip" will apply to my trees this winter. But here is something... One of the peaches has put out 3 "branches". They all appear equal in size and vigor. But there is the crotch. As I understand it, this sort of bowl shaped crotch will make the tree very susceptible to disease and insect damage. I'm painfully aware that our location makes us highly vulnerable to such things.

This is the tree:


Close up of the crotch:


Another crotch view:


While we are at it, this is the Harbrite peach:


Another view of the Harbrite:


This is the second Canadian Harmony to sprout:

[kathm]

We have a black walnut growing a few miles from our house in amongst a group of other walnut trees. We gather lots of the others but have never managed to crack a black one to try it. They are solid wood I reckon!

[mjc]

Aug 5, 2010 9:51:11 GMT -5 kathm said:

We have a black walnut growing a few miles from our house in amongst a group of other walnut trees. We gather lots of the others but have never managed to crack a black one to try it. They are solid wood I reckon!

Black walnuts require heavy duty, lever type nut crackers...or a hammer.