Collins Kids Black Walnut Plantation

[Lollykoko]

[matt walker]

That's great that you got that many seeds in yesterday George. It does sound like a lot of work, but I bet you feel great knowing they are in.

[George Collins]

[matt walker]

[George Collins]

My "nut girl" missed eight seeds in the bucket when we planted Sunday afternoon which I found just today. First thing of note is that when we dug the seeds out two days ago, their tap roots were all growing straight down i.e. in the direction of gravity. When I found them today, the tap roots had all taken a 90 degree turn and were again growing toward gravity. I would have guessed that would have been the effect but actually seeing it was pretty cool.

My Uncle yesterday said that a large planting of walnuts is usually referred to as a grove.

The eight missed seeds were added to the grove this afternoon so now it is up to 40 sets.

[matt walker]

Well, if 40 trees isn't a grove, I don't know what is. Amazing that the roots responded so quickly to their change in attitude. Seems to point to vigor, to me anyway.

[George Collins]

First thing, mosquitos are out in force in South Mississippi. They tore me up this afternoon.

Got home from work early today and started sifting through a pot of seeds to extract any that might have germinated. Out of a few hundred, there were 13 that were ready to plant from that one pot. During the extraction process, I noticed something kinda weird.

Y'all know how as permaculturalists we're supposed to look for the patterns in nature? Well, the nuts were buried in pots back in the fall several layers deep. One of the first nuts found to have germinated was one that was merely left sitting on surface of the stratification medium as a test. Could it be that because it warmed before the others it germinated so soon? As I dug into the pot, there were only two others near the surface that had germinated. I thought that those three would be the only ones I found. I dug deeper and deeper and occasionally, I would find one here and there that had germinated. Then there were several layers where none were found. On the second layer from the bottom, I found like five or six in a clump on the north side of the pot all of which were germinated.

Go figure.

Next thing that experience has taught me: Mel's mix, which is a recipe for making Mel Bartholomew's growing medium as detailed in his book Square Foot Gardening, it FAR better than using straight compost. It is so loose and friable that a nut, regardless of how long a tap root it has sent down, can usually be pulled straight up without damaging the root system even if it has sent out fairly extensive laterals. Mel's mix is 1 part compost, 1 part peat moss and 1 part coarse vermiculite. From here on in, Mel's mix will be used exclusively. My uncle who made the original proof of principle for this method of starting seeds was told to use and subsequently did use, straight compost.

All total, of the ~ 300 nuts extracted from the pot, 13 were found to be ready to plant. One tap root was destroyed trying to position the nut in its hole so twelve were successfully planted out today.

That brings the total so far up to 52.

I've also realized that this thing is about to get away from me so I've summoned my eldest son home to give him the opportunity to pay for his college tuition. Spring Break is next week. I can think of no finer way for a young man to spend Spring Break than to invest in his retirement by planting (hopefully) a few hundred black walnuts.

[George Collins]

Check out this mammah-jammah! Five inches in four days! Now THAT'S what we want to see.



I found this Herculean specimen while planting 16 more today. The total is now up to 68.

[pa_friendly_guy]

That is a wonderful example of what we should look for when planting walnuts. I had not noticed if you have marked the trees at all or not. I didn't know if you planned on mowing that area again, or if it would be left to grow up naturally. You are well on your way George, keep up the Good Work. I could try and give you a pep talk like, Go George, Go George, Go, Go, GO, but you seem to be pretty fired up already so I don't think it would help much. The only way I know to plant trees is one at a time, one hole at a time, one tree at a time. It takes alot of time and effort, but the end result is well worth the one time effort. Thanks for keeping us informed, I enjoyed the picture.

[matt walker]

Yeah, what Guy said. Really cool George, that photo is great incentive to just get 'em in the ground.