How to sprout a walnut

September and October are the time of the mass collection of walnuts. Surely, many, pulling out of the shell especially tasty kernels, asked themselves the question: “Will I grow a tree with the same fruits in my land?”





It is possible to germinate a walnut and use it as a planting material for growing a full-fledged tree. Today. "Site" He will tell you how to do it correctly.

You can plant nuts both in autumn and in spring. Seeds do not need preparation for sowing in the autumn of the harvest year, but this method is applicable only in southern areas (Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, North Caucasus, Central Asia).





As for places with a harsher climate, frosty and snowy winter, then spring sowing is preferable, requiring special actions, which will be discussed further.

Sprouting

1. Selection of seed material
   For planting, it is better to select large fruits with a thin shell. Only freshly harvested undamaged nuts without visible shell defects are suitable for sowing.
   
   
   
   Seeds should be of the correct shape, with a light color, with a more or less flat surface. The core is large, tasty, slightly sweet, without sharp tartness and bitterness, easily extracted.
   
   Do not buy nuts for sowing in the store, as it is not known when they were collected. Old nuts are not good, they dried in the middle and will not give a full sprout.
   
   
   
   
   
   Many are concerned about the question of whether the grown seedling will inherit the properties of the mother plant. According to statistics, this happens in 60% of cases. Sometimes a tree grows from a planted nut, giving even better fruits than those used for planting.
   
   In any case, the nut changes perfectly with the help of vaccination. On the grown seedling you need to graft a knowingly good and large variety. It is better to take cuttings from young, but already fruit-bearing trees.
   
   
2. Stratification
   Experiments show that the best method of pre-sowing preparation of nut seeds is fruit stratification (long-term aging at a certain temperature) for 90-95 days, from January 15 to April 15-20. To do this, nuts should be placed in a container with clean moist sand and stored at a temperature of 5-7 degrees (for example, in a cellar, garage, basement).
   
   
   
   Nuts with a very thin shell (such that is easily crushed by the fingers) may not withstand this period of stratification and rot. For thin-walled fruits, stratification in wet sand at room temperature (15–18 degrees) is necessary for 1–1.5 months before sowing.
   
   
3. Domestic germination
   In addition to stratification, there is a method of pre-sowing soaking nut seeds, which is convenient to use in a city apartment.
   
   
   
   Nuts for soaking must be placed in a container with warm (45-50 degrees) water. After two days, the water is drained, leaving a little at the bottom, and put the container in a warm place for 2-3 weeks. After this time, nuts usually give rise.
   
   
   
   
   
   Growing nut seedlings at home is convenient in plastic half-liter glasses. The bottom of the glasses is pierced so that excess moisture is drained. The containers are filled with garden earth, and the sprouted nuts are laid to a depth of 5 centimeters on the edge, with roots down, and a shoot up.
   
   
   
   
   
   Nut germination in glasses lasts 2-3 weeks, and after a month the shoots reach a 10-centimeter height and require transplantation into a larger container. At the end of May, when frosts are no longer terrible, plants can be planted in open ground.
   
   
   
   
   
   Interestingly, nuts planted in the ground in autumn will only begin to germinate at the end of May, and the height of 10-20 centimeters will reach only by autumn.
   
   
4. Grounding
   Walnut seedlings They are laid in the soil at such a depth that the root necks rise above the soil level by 3-4 centimeters. The roots need to be straightened well to give them the former position (before digging). After installing seedlings, the pits are covered with soil, mulched and watered.
   
   
   
   Fertilize a walnut when planting is not necessary, since it is absolutely unpretentious tree. It is important to remember that over time the tree will grow significantly. The distance to the nearest plant should be about 5 meters. We do not advise planting a nut near buildings, a powerful root system of the plant can damage the foundation.
   
   

How to crack walnuts for sale without damaging the core? If there are a lot of them, it is better to use special devices for these purposes. To reduce the amount of low-value products (quarters, octopuses, “amber”), the best way available at home is to crack the nut on an ordinary glass bottle.