The effect of planting depth on germination and on seedling size was
investigated by planting black walnuts one, two, three, and four inches
deep. Other nuts were planted in three positions: (1) radicle end up,
(2) on side, and (3) radicle end down.
~Results~: Germination was unaffected by any of these treatments. The
emergence of the seedlings was retarded by deep planting and hence the
final diameter of seedlings was smaller. There was little difference in
seedlings from nuts planted one and two inches deep but they were
noticeably larger than those planted 3 and 4 inches deep. Planting nuts
with the radicle end down invariably produced seedlings with undesirable
crooks in the root-stem region which made them unsuitable for grafting.
Planting nuts radicle end up produced straighter seedlings than planting
them on their side. The latter method was the most economical for
nursery practice.