Tennessee conditions. This 7-year-old tree began bearing annual crops 3
years after planting. In 1946 it was 18 feet tall and heavily laden with
nuts yielding 2-1/2 pounds of cracked-out kernels. (Hancock County,
Tenn.)]
[Illustration: Figure 2. Black walnut makes an ideal combination nut and
ornamental tree. This 8-year-old Thomas has been producing nut crops for
3 years. In addition, it has enhanced the beauty of the lawn and
provided welcome shade. (Anderson County, Tenn.)]
Table 1.--Number of Questionnaires Sent and Returned, Reported Tree
Survival and Cause of Tree Mortality by State.
Questionnaires Trees Reported
State Sent Returned Planted Living
no. pct. no. pct.
Alabama 161 44 274 45
Georgia 50 28 26 62
Kentucky 174 49 241 54
Mississippi 19 58 72 26
North Carolina 586 40 733 71
Tennessee, East 1,386 40 1,516 66
Tennessee, West 720 44 809 61
Virginia 180 48 160 84
All 3,276 42 3,831 64
[Illustration: Figure 3. Thomas tree planted in the farm orchard. This
young tree has received excellent care and began bearing at 5 years of
age. (Hancock County, Tenn.)]
Reported cause of tree mortality
Pre-estab Livestock, Insects, Total Planted
-lishment destruction Drought diseases Unknown Trees Lost
pct. pct. pct. pct. pct. no.
Ala. 11 7 51 2 29 150
Ga. 30 10 0 20 40 10
Ky. 2 2 46 4 46 112
Miss. 19 4 49 0 28 53
N. C. 15 16 12 13 44 223
Tenn. (E.) 7 18 20 7 48 515
Tenn. (W.) 8 9 38 7 38 318
Va. 32 12 12 4 40 25
All 9 13 29 7 42 1,406
Table 2. Number of Bearing Thomas Plantings Established 1939-44,
by Age of First Bearing and Growth Class.
Plantings Age in years at first bearing Growth rate
Year Number 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Low Medium High
1939 27 1 6 10 6 4 1 19 7
1940 112 2 14 39 41 16 9 58 45
1941 89 1 4 17 35 32 1 58 30
1942 71 1 12 18 40 1 34 36
1943 38 1 13 24 1 21 16
1944 5 5 2 3
All 342 3 36 74 120 83 22 4 13 192 137
Table 3. Tree Survival, Growth, and Percent Bearing
by State and Year of Planting
Plantings Trees, Growth, Bearing
State reported survival annual trees
number number feet percent
Alabama 71 124 1.6 65
Georgia 14 16 1.5 18
Kentucky 85 129 1.5 71
Mississippi 11 19 1.0 29
North Carolina 235 518 1.9 25
Tennessee, East 553 1,007 1.5 32
Tennessee, West 318 491 1.6 32
Virginia 86 135 1.6 0
Year of planting
1939, 1940 255 627 1.6 64
1941, 1942 499 693 1.6 44
1943, 1944 326 558 1.6 18
1945, 1946 293 561 1.5 0
All 1,373 2,439 1.6 32
Table 4. Data Obtained from Returned Questionnaires and Actual Field
Examination of 40 Plantings and Field Data Only on 68 Plantings.
Data on 40 Plantings Data on
68 Plantings
Questionnaire Field Field
Tree Survival, percent 77 75 51
Average Height, feet 9 11 13
Cause of Tree Mortality, percent
Pre-establishment 33 42 11
Livestock and Other Destruction 4 23 47
Drought 13 0 0
Insects and Diseases 8 4 2
Unknown 42 31 40
West Tennessee Variety, Breeding and Propagation Tests, 1947
AUBREY RICHARDS, M.D., Whiteville, Tennessee
I surely wish I could have made the trip to the Northern Nut Growers
Association meeting, but I simply had "too many hens setting" at that
time. I've been waiting for you [the Secretary] to show up down here for
the big news--at least it is to me--if it holds up. If you have ever
tried to propagate heartnuts on Japanese walnut you know what it means.
Here it is: Rhodes, Wright and Fodermaier heartnuts patch-budded on 10
Japanese understocks (all I had) took 100%. The same 3 varieties as a
control on black walnut gave a take of only 80%.
These trees give me a chance to check on the performance of black versus
Japanese stocks for these varieties. From last year's propagation,
Rhodes on black is beating Rhodes on Japanese and Bates (which was not
used this year) seems fully as good on black walnut stocks.
An isolated tree of Bates did not set a nut. Its pollen all shed before
the pistils were receptive. An isolated tree of Rhodes bore a full crop.
Incidentally, a weak chlorine bleach (Clorox) after these heartnuts are
hulled does for them what peroxide does for the ladies and makes them
look very inviting.
Stambaugh again led in topworked black walnuts, bearing its second
consecutive full crop on a 3-year graft. It seems to be immune to
whatever it is that causes the other nuts to turn black, shrivel and
drop off from the time they set until near maturity. Thomas was second.
Snyder, Sparrow and Myers had no crop. I budded 25 more trees of
Stambaugh this year.
The Carpathian Persian walnut that we pollinated this spring with Wright
heartnuts [no other walnuts were shedding at the time] matured a nice,
large, rather pointed, heavy nut. It also matured another nut higher on
the tree than we could reach with the catkins, but I'm sure it's a
blank. It is still more pointed than the well-filled nut. The good nut
is stored for planting.
Rush hazel that set fruit last year with the help of a bouquet of native
[West Tennessee] catkins set only 5 nuts this year "on its own." These I
have also stored to plant.
I didn't have enough stocks to utilize all the pollen-sterile Japanese
chestnut buds you sent me [in early September]. I put in most of them,
even in some cases several to the stock to see what percentage of takes
we would get with the twin T. [See 1946 Report of N. N. G. A., pp.
87-88, for a description of the Twin T budding method.--Ed.]
Here are the percentage takes for chestnut propagation this year. Of
course I don't know how many of these buds will later drop off.
1. Pollen-sterile Japanese on Japanese stock. Late summer buds 100%
2. Austin Japanese on Japanese Stock. Late summer buds 86%
3. Hobson Chinese on Chinese. Late summer buds 75%
4. Zimmerman Chinese on Chinese. Late summer buds 50%
5. Colossal hybrid on Japanese stock. Spring grafts 60%
I had a nice crop of Chinese chestnuts on my young Hobson and Zimmerman
trees. The 1947 nuts were exceptionally large. One 3-year seedling bore
1 bur with 3 nuts fully as large. Connecticut Yankee bore for the first
time, 3 nuts to a bur, but very small, scarcely 1/2" in diameter. (You
will notice I budded none of this variety!) (Perhaps mislabeled
seedling.--Ed.)
I have about 100 nuts from isolated trees that were hand pollinated, as
follows: Austin x Hobson, Austin x Zimmerman, Hobson x Austin and Hobson
x Zimmerman.
I have altogether 3 quarts of select nuts stored in the refrigerator. So
far they are keeping nicely. (I dusted them with Fermate, hope it
doesn't affect germination.)
Notes on Some Kansas and Kentucky Pecans in Central Texas
A letter to the Secretary from O. S. Gray, nurseryman at Arlington,
Texas, October 28, 1947, has some interesting notes on two standard
northern pecans, three new varieties from Kansas, and the Moore variety,
one of the earliest maturing among southern pecans:
We are propagating Major and Greenriver from Kentucky; Coy, Tissue Paper
and Johnson from southeastern Kansas; and Brake from eastern North
Carolina.
Several years ago we used quite a few pecan trees of the Moore variety
in planting around Tulsa. We though it would be a dandy because of its
early maturity in the fall. I find that early fall maturity is only one
important factor. The other is the date of starting growth in the
spring. Moore seems to start out a little early in the spring and that
disadvantage seems to limit it in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. I also
believe this might be a factor in using this variety in northern
locations. [Moore originated in north Florida from Texas seed--Ed.]
I have been considerably impressed with the Johnson variety. It matures
two or three weeks ahead of Moore in the fall. The only data that I have
was made in 1944 when Moore buds began to put out on March 25, Stuart
and Success--April 5, Johnson--April 5, Coy and Major--April 8,
Greenriver and Tissue Paper--April 10.
The Johnson matures on our place several weeks ahead of Major and
Greenriver although I don't have the exact date on maturity.
Experiences of a Nut Tree Nurseryman
J. F. WILKINSON, Rockport, Indiana
In pioneering a nursery as we did in the early days of propagation of
Northern nut trees, especially the pecan, it was necessary to first
locate parent trees in this section that were worthy of propagation, in
order that the nursery stock produced from them would be hardy in this
and more northern territory.
Along the Ohio and Wabash rivers and their tributaries many thousands of
large seedling pecan trees grew naturally, and to locate some of the
most worthy ones for propagation took the combined efforts of all of us
in this section who were interested, as well as the aid of the tree
owners and nut gatherers.
In the year 1910 three nut nurseries were established here in Southern
Indiana, two of which have long since been discontinued. Before that
time a very few propagated pecan trees had been produced in an
experimental way by some fruit tree nurserymen.
Little did I realize at that time the trials and headaches that lay in
the path I was to travel in this venture, such as locating the parent
trees, securing the graft and budwood from them, learning to keep this
wood from time of cutting until used, methods of propagation, trying to
educate the prospective tree buyer as to the value of these trees, and
to believe that pecan trees could be transplanted, and that they would
bear if the taproot had been cut, and many other things.
Production of nut trees in nurseries in this northern territory is so
different, and more difficult than in the Gulf Coast country, where I
spent a part of two seasons hoping to get information that would be of
value here. What I learned there was of little or no value here, so it
was up to us to solve our own problems in this section by experience, as
there was very little in print at that time on Northern nut tree
propagation.
One of our first problems was to learn to keep cions from time of
cutting until time of use, not knowing when that time was. We tried all
times from March until May, having little success at any time. At first
we kept the scions in a cold storage plant in Evansville, and at a
temperature of around 32 degrees, and in wet moss. Later we found it
much better to keep scions at home in a cellar at a higher temperature,
and in only slightly dampened sphagnum moss.
In the beginning our efforts were mostly in grafting, then after a year
or two of failure, probably largely due to the way we kept our scions,
we had some results at the McCoy Nursery, with scions kept at home. The
McCoy Nursery was about four miles from my place, and located in a sandy
soil with a near quicksand sub-soil. At that location they were later
reasonably successful in grafting, using the modified cleft graft.
My nursery is in clay soil with a hard stratum of soil three or four
feet below the surface, and because of this I have been unable to graft
pecans in the nursery, though I have tried every known method, and under
all conditions. I could successfully graft at the McCoy Nursery, then
use the same scion wood and the same method at home, but have a complete
failure; therefore, I turned to budding entirely on pecans in the
nursery.
It is somewhat different with walnut--I can get fair results with
walnut grafting at times, though I do very little of this, as more than
95% of my walnut trees are produced by budding.
I do a lot of topworking on native seedling nut trees for others. Mr.
Sly, who is with me, and I make one or more of these trips each spring.
For this work I use only the slip-bark method, shaping the scion a
little differently from any other I have ever seen used. This has given
splendid results everywhere I have used it, which has been over the
territory from Ohio to Oklahoma.
A certain amount of allowance is made in this work as to safe drainage
of the stock, depending on weather and soil conditions, which vary as,
to season and location.
I do practically all of my nursery propagating by budding, and one of
the most essential things is to have favorable sap conditions in budwood
as well as in stocks.
On walnut I use only the current season's growth of wood for budwood,
and it must be reasonably well matured. Very often sap in the stock may
show signs of leaving before budwood is matured enough for use, and only
the riper buds near the base of the bud stick can be used, in which case
the rest of the buds on the bud stick are lost. Sometimes sap in the
stocks can be held a few days longer by cutting a ring around the stock
above the place where the bud is to be placed, which checks the flow of
sap to the upper part of the stock. Sap in the stock must be in a
favorable condition to hope for good results.
In budding pecan it is different. Either the current or the past
season's growth may be used with about equal results, though the current
season's buds must be well matured. Very often in a dry season when
there is evidence of sap leaving the pecan stocks earlier than usual and
the current season's buds are not well matured, I use the past season's
growth until the new growth is mature.
A nut tree nurseryman has experiences that are both pleasant and
unpleasant in selling trees as well as producing them. This is probably
well known to all of you who have produced and sold nut trees. It is
astonishing how many questions (some of which are amusing) the public
can ask, and very often those that ask the most questions, leading one
to believe they are a good prospect for a large order, may order only
one or two trees, or none at all. Then there are those who have never
bought a nut tree before, and when they see their first one are
dissatisfied because it does not have a root system like a fruit tree;
and there are a few who will try to get replacements whether they are
entitled to them or not, and usually they are not; for, regardless of
the instructions given for the planting and after-care, they will
neglect them, then complain if they have a loss, and certain experiences
have led me to believe they claim loss before having it.
Many seem to think that a nurseryman should guarantee his trees to live
when planted by the purchaser. To do this would be assuming the
responsibility of the handling, planting and after-care of the planter,
which would make it necessary for the nurseryman to put a price on his
trees that would take care of a lot of replacements to the more careless
ones who would have losses, and be very unfair to those who take good
care of their trees, and have little or no loss, as they would be
standing part of the loss of the careless ones.
The most a nurseryman can do is to produce the best trees possible, dig
them carefully, pack them in first class condition and ship them
immediately.
Discussion after Mr. Wilkinson's paper.
Dr. Crane: "Minor elements are important in plant nutrition The problem
of deficiencies is going to become very important. We do not keep the
livestock we did and we are not returning to the land the manure and
other fertilizers that contain the elements the trees need. Nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potash, also magnesium are needed. We are taking more
from the soil than we are putting back."
Corsan: "In Cuba there are hundreds of sharks. These make fine manure,
wonderful for nut trees."
Prof. Slate: "How many sharks would you need for an acre of land?"
Morphology and Structure of the Walnut
C. C. LOUNSBERRY, Iowa State College
This subject, the structure of the walnut, is discussed in its relation
to propagation. Catkin bearing nut trees, such as the walnut, have a
refined structure that makes grafting difficult. Structure, rather than
form of walnuts, suggests treatment under the headings, bark, cambium,
wood, roots, pith and buds, as well as the sap that permeates them.
=Bark:= When the bark of the walnut is cut, as in budding, it is difficult
to tie down so it will not curl and yet not strangle the bud. The
wax-like covering of the bark is thin. However, the bark itself will
stay green two months or more if weather is cool.
=Cambium:= The cambium dries quickly when exposed to air, and must be kept
covered. Grafted walnuts show callus growth from the cambium, and also
from the pith of stems and the endodermis of the root.
=Wood:= The wood of the walnut is diffuse porous, brittle, straight
grained, and easily split. The wood must be cut diagonally to get
sufficient tension to hold the scion in grafting. The branch grows
rapidly in a short season, May 15th to July 1st in central Iowa. The
upper two-thirds of the one year growth is usually light weight with
pith of large diameter. The base of the one-year growth is the best for
scions. Some varieties of walnut as for example the Thomas, have
relatively large one-year growth and more scions can be cut from its
branches than from the wood of Ohio which is small and willow-like.
Measurements taken in 1940 on 118 common black walnut seedlings planted
in 1939 showed 9/16" average diameter of seedling at crown, 5/16"
average diameter of pith at crown; 3/8" average diameter of seedling at
top; and 1/4" average diameter of pith at top; 3.26 inches average
length of solid pith above crown; 2.91 inches average length of solid
pith in root below crown.
=Pith:= Pith in the black walnut is chambered (lamellate) in the older
wood, but solid in the younger, growing wood. The plates are a light
brown color, getting larger in diameter toward the top of the year's
growth. The leaf traces from the leaf rachis to the pith show heavier
from the bottom buds of the branch than at the tip, and the pith is
usually solid at the bottom of the branch.
=Roots:= When the nut of the black walnut germinates in the soil the lobes
or cotyledons do not rise above the ground like the cotyledons of the
bean but remain in the nut shell under ground, and are broken off in the
growth of the seedling, the root going down and the stem rising above
the ground. Where the cotyledons are broken off, the so-called crown of
the walnut, two rough places appear, nearly opposite on the stem. In
these rough places, two groups of buds are formed, rarely three groups.
Cytological studies at Iowa State College have not shown why there are
not stem initials in the tap roots of the walnut. When the root is cut
off a foot underground, root initials develop but no stem initials. The
sensitivity of walnut leaf buds to water may have something to do with
it.
=Buds:= Buds of the walnut are in vertical groups of two or three in the
axils of the leaves. They have few scales. They appear on seedlings and
current year branches. Some have short stalks. If broken off they do not
usually grow back again. The second year, these buds usually drop off in
mid-season. In cutting off buds, unless the group of buds is taken out
as a chip, some may grow out again.
=Leaf arrangement:= There is a three rank arrangement of leaves in the
walnut, the ninth leaf coming in the same position as the first.
According to the work of Caesalpino, the buds should then rise in three
places at the crown. Only in rare cases does this occur in the black
walnut, although it is usual with the Persian walnut. If the nut is
planted deep this causes much suckering and a tendency to etiolate the
buds so they will stand water.
=Buds are sensitive:= Buds are sensitive to water, and storage material
must be fairly dry and cool. In two large boxes of scions received last
year from Germany, some 20 varieties of Persian walnut, all had dead
buds when received. They were packed in German peat. When buds are
covered with wax the wax must not be too hot or it will kill the buds.
In placing grafted walnuts in sphagnum or sand they should not stay wet
or the buds will die. Either unions must be above damp sand or sphagnum,
or the buds be protected by wax or adhesive.
=Sap:= In spring grafting there is an enormous flow of sap which will
sometimes tear the plates out of the pith. Grafts may be protected by
girdling the stock a few inches below the place where the graft is set,
or both above and below it. In 1937 259 walnuts three years old were cut
off six inches above the ground and girdled two inches above the ground.
171 crown buds came up, 88 started above the girdling. 207 trees were
cut off three feet above the ground, and the trunk girdled six inches
above the ground. 153 started above the crown, and 90 started above the
girdle. The same year (1937) 195 trees three years old were cut off four
feet above the ground, and all buds above ground were cut flush with the
surface of the bark. This was repeated twice, finally taking buds out as
a chip, except the top bud; 126 died; 69 grew from the top but. 203
trees three years old were cut off five feet above ground and all buds
cut off except upper one; 64 died; 139 grew from top bud. 200 trees
three years old were cut off six feet above ground, and all buds kept
rubbed off except top one; 33 died, and 167 grew from top bud.
=Vitality and sap:= Black walnut sap changes color from oxidation almost
instantly. Bench grafts must be made quickly and put in place at once or
the unions will dry out. If the root does not stain hands in grafting
the graft usually fails. In outdoor grafting if the sap stands in
pockets the sugar will ferment, killing the graft. There is a new Jersey
(3) bulletin which shows black walnut sap as unstable, quickly forming
sugar when exposed to warm weather.
=Vegetative propagation of greenwood cuttings:= Witt and Spence (4) in
England working with greenwood cuttings attained 75 per cent success
with Persian walnut and Royal walnut in July and August. They had no
success with black walnut at that time (1926). The Germans in 1936 (1)
working on greenwood cuttings had most success with the Persian walnut,
but used greenwood taken in September.
=Vegetative propagation or hardwood cuttings:= In 1938 the author (2)
using growth substance on saddle grafts of various walnuts found Asiatic
and western walnuts went on their own roots. At this time the Tasterite
black walnut went on its own root. In 1946 and 1947 using about 25
varieties of black walnut, Persian, western and Asiatic walnuts, eight
inch hardwood cuttings were used beginning in December and repeated in
the spring of 1947. Nearly all the cuttings of the larger size (about
1/2") started in about a month and grew about two months. Then all died.
There were balls of callus on many of them. One on Thomas was an inch in
diameter. The bottom heat was held at 70 degrees F. This may have been
too high, as on raising the cuttings it was found the callus had rotted.
This procedure has possibilities.
Literature Cited
1. Institut fur Obstbau, Berlin. Die Walnusz veredlung. (Vegetative
propagation of walnuts). Merkbl. Inst. Obstb. Berlin 5, pp. 15, 1936.
2. Lounsberry, C. C. Use of Growth Substance in Bench Grafting Walnuts
and Hickories. Northern Nut Growers Association 1938 Report, p. 63.
3. Nelson, Julius. Fermentation and Germ Life. N. J. Ag. Exp. Sta. Bul.
134, 1899.
4. Witt, A. W. and Howard Spence. Vegetative Propagation of Walnuts.
Ann. Rep. East Malling Res. Station 1926-27.
A Method of Budding Walnuts
H. LYNN TUTTLE, Clarkston, Wash.
It took man some thirty thousand years to learn to build a
fire--conveniently. I thought it was going to take me that long to learn
how to bud walnuts, but fortunately the period has been somewhat
shortened.
When I first began to propagate, or try to propagate, walnuts, I
naturally looked to the approved and accepted methods. For me, they did
not work. Before I was through I think I tried them all. I patch-budded
with variations and improvisations. I shield-budded and bark-grafted. I
coated the wounds with grafting-wax, latex, cellophane, asphalt and
paraffine. I trimmed off the bud shoulders to make a smoother tie and
trimmed around the edges to make more contact. I wrapped with raffia,
strings, rags and rubber strips and tacked with small nails. Whatever I
did or however I did it results were all about the same--the sap soured.
In fact over a period of years I tried every way I could think up or
read about to bring the bud and the cambium layer together and make them
stick. Results were surprisingly uniform--the sap soured.