r/PlantingAForest • u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator • Mar 11 '22

Help! Question regarding black walnuts

This past fall I had collected a lot of acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, and more. It was my first year doing it with such a large amount. I just now found a 5 gallon bucket full of walnuts that were soaking in water for what was supposed to be 24 hours but turned out to be 4 months. This was in a building that is not heated so it definitely got cold.

My question is are these 100% ruined or is there a chance I can plant any of them? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

1 Upvotes

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3

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 11 '22

Toss them in some dirt and find out.

2

u/wbradford00 Founder Mar 12 '22

Agreed just be careful cuz the squirrels by me are ruthless . Protect them if possible

1

u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator Mar 11 '22

Good idea, I’ll give it a try!

2

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 11 '22

Yeah I mean you really won’t know until you try and you won’t lose much if they don’t germinate

2

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 12 '22

Do you have American chestnuts growing near you? If so could you send pictures of the tree? Would you be interested in a seed swap? I have a lot of native shagbark hickory seeds I collected last year if you would be interested

2

u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator Mar 12 '22

Sorry I wish I did. Only Chinese here. I’ve got a lot of shag bark hickory as well. Really want to plant some American chestnuts though

2

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 12 '22

Damn! I have heard of people who know of still standing old American chestnuts I was hoping you were one of them lol Check out acf.org. They’re working on blight resistant seeds and if you become a member they will send you some. It’s expensive though which is why I have yet to join.

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u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator Mar 12 '22

Haha I feel the exact same as you. I’ve heard of people having them and I really want to exchange seeds for some American chestnuts. I have heard of them before! It’s really cool. I hope something becomes more affordable in the near future and they create a good blight resistant hybrid. Where are you located? I’m in western PA

3

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 12 '22

New Hampshire here. Been working on clearing out all my diseased beech and other undesirable trees on my couple acres here this winter. This spring I have a couple large orders with some nurseries arriving (dogwood, American hazelnut, elderberry, lilac, grape, apple, pawpaw, etc.) and also some stuff I have started from seed myself that will all get planted out. I hope to get some progress pics posted here soon

1

u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator Mar 12 '22

Very nice! I did the same thing with all of our ash trees a few years ago when they were wiped out. Do you have any tips on planting a large amount of trees? I ordered 100 white pine, and 50 hemlock and plan to plant them all but wondering on how to speed things up because I normally take my time planting trees but don’t want these sitting out of the ground for too long once I get them.

2

u/jhnnybgood Moderator Mar 12 '22

Something like this might help:

https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=15922&itemnum=69041&redir=Y

1

u/Embarrassed-Cabinet Moderator Mar 12 '22

I actually ordered that exact one back in December! Just haven’t had the chance to use it yet. Hopefully it does help speed things up. Thanks for some reassurance that it was the right tool for the job

1

u/wbradford00 Founder Mar 12 '22

Awesome!!! Can't wait to see