STORING AND PLANTING SEEDS
Most nut tree seed requires ideal storage conditions to preserve its
germinating power or viability. Under natural circumstances, such nuts
as black walnuts, English walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, pecans,
hazelnuts, filberts and almost all other nuts, will be planted by
squirrels, mice and other rodents. Although most of these will be eaten
by the animals who buried them, a large percentage of the ones which are
not eaten will sprout. The sprouts which achieve maturity and bearing
age, however, will be only a very small percentage--some say only a
fraction of 1%--of the number that sprouted. This is an expensive and
wasteful method, horticulturally speaking, but it does indicate that it
is best to plant nuts as soon as possible after they have properly
ripened and been dried.
After walnuts, hickory nuts, butternuts and hazels have been gathered,
they should be dried until the hulls have lost most of their moisture.
The husks should be removed from filberts before they are dried. While
this preparation is not essential, nuts are less likely to mold if they
are dried somewhat before they are planted. However, I have planted
freshly-gathered black walnuts and butternuts and most of them sprouted.
If nuts are to be stored in large quantities, the drying-out process is
absolutely essential and should be carried to the point of completely
drying the hulls. The system I followed in doing this is to gather the
nuts after they have fallen and spread them out in the sunlight on roofs
or floors where air can circulate around them. After the hulls are dry,
such nuts as black walnuts, English walnuts and butternuts may be put in
barrels or burlap bags and stored in an unheated basement without
seriously deteriorating. English walnuts are most safely stored when
they are hulled before being packed in burlap bags. These bags should be
suspended above the floor of the cellar by a rope or wire. These are
additional precautions which allow better circulation of air, further
prevention of mold, and safety from mice and squirrels.
Chestnuts, beechnuts and acorns require more care when they are to be
stored, for their viability is very sensitive to dryness. I have found
that these soft-shelled species of nuts should be treated in a different
manner than the walnut and hickory types of seeds if we are to get the
most out of their germination. Since chestnuts are very prone to molding
or rotting, the best way to maintain their viability and freshness over
winter is to stratify them in a can or box between layers of a peat
moss. This peat moss must be decidedly on the acid side and must be
dampened, but must not be so wet that you can wring any water out of it.
The best way to prepare this dry peat moss is to soak it in water and
wring as much water out of it as possible by squeezing with your hands.
Then mix it with half as much of the undampened peat. This will give you
approximately the right moisture coefficient. If stored in cans, the
bottom of the can must be punctured with a few holes about 1/4 of an
inch in diameter, well distributed on the bottom to act as a drain and
to admit some slight circulation of air. The same thing should be done
with the cover.
First, put down an even layer about 1-1/2 inches of this dampened moss,
then put in a layer of chestnuts or other nuts to be stratified, placed
evenly or well distributed but not touching each other. After the first
layer, carefully sift in more dampened moss about 1 inch thick and
repeat the process until either the can is full or all the seeds have
been stored. The last layer should be a 2-inch layer of peat moss before
the cover is placed on. Now the important thing about all this is to
place this can in a storage room of low temperature and yet it should
not freeze solid. But in a temperature of from 32 to 40 degrees is ideal
and preferably it should be on the ground floor so as to maintain the
moisture that is already stored in the seed and the moss. A mechanical
refrigerator which would constantly dehydrate might eventually dry them
out too much for good germination; otherwise such a refrigerator would
be ideal for the storage of small amount of seeds of this kind.
It would be well from time to time to inspect these seeds to see whether
they were in good condition and check the temperatures as well. If they
start to sprout all the better; they can then be planted with the sprout
downward and the nut barely covered with earth. Some years I have had
sprouts nearly six inches long on my chestnuts which had been so stored
and care will have to be taken not to break the sprout when
transplanting the nuts.
In planting nuts, great care must be taken not to plant them too deeply.
Large nuts, such as black walnuts, butternuts and English walnuts, are
often planted with a small part of the nut still exposed. Certainly, the
depth of the soil over a nut should never exceed the thickness of the
nut. Most seeds develop best when they are planted just under the
surface of the soil. The earth should be lightly tamped around the
planted seeds to eliminate air-pockets. A thin coating of manure, not
more than three inches deep, is valuable if large seeds are planted but
it is detrimental to the development of small seeds and manure should
never be used for evergreens. Seeds of the nut pines, usually purchased
from seedsmen and received in a dry state, should be planted no deeper
than their own diameter in a light, sandy loam. A seed bed,
incidentally, is a very necessary protection against rodents in the case
of nut pine seed. I have used a mixture of bone meal on such seeds with
good results. Four quarts of bone meal carefully worked into the first
two or three inches of the surface soil of a 4 x 12 seed bed greatly
increases its fertility. Sifted hardwood ashes scattered over the bed
after the seed is in, will discourage cutworms and increase the potash
content of the soil.
Proper drying and storage are of no use if nuts are not planted where
they will have protection against rodents, improper drainage, and other
hazards. To keep them from being eaten by rodents, nut seeds should be
planted under wire screens inside a deep frame. The seed beds I have
made for use in my nursery are four feet wide and twelve feet long. By
using heavy galvanized hardware cloth 2 x 2 mesh, which means that it
has 1/2-inch square holes, is ideal for the top and sides of this frame.
By using this wire cloth 2 feet wide, 18 inches is sunk under the ground
surface, and only 6 inches protrudes above. This is to prevent burrowing
rodents from going underneath and extracting the seeds which you will
find they will do unless the screen protection goes down deep enough
into the ground to discourage them. A stout frame of rot-resisting wood,
such as cedar or fir should be placed on the inside of this countersunk
screen. This should also be 4 feet wide, 12 feet long so that a similar
frame, which is removable, can be placed over this. The edges of the
frame should match perfectly so that no rodents can reach the interior
of the seed bed without going down 1-1/2 feet under ground to burrow
under the countersunk screen. Several thousand evergreens or several
hundred walnut trees can be raised in a seed bed this size.
The soil is now removed from the inside of this enclosure or stationary
part of the bed to the depth of 6 inches so that the plants will have
head room to develop leaves and stems and still be protected under the
top or removable frame part. The top frame made of the same material and
covered also by the 2 x 2 hardware cloth should be about 6 inches in
height so that there will actually be 18 inches of head room for the
plants to grow in before touching the screen.
[Illustration: _This 60 x 30 foot corrugated galvanized iron fence 3-1/2
feet tall and sunk 6 inches into ground protects valuable hybrids
against invasion by rodents. Photo by C. Weschcke._]
There are several important points to remember in starting a seed bed.
It must be in a well-drained site, so that the seeds will not be under
water or water-logged for any length of time. It should be in an open
place where sunlight is plentiful, unless evergreens are being grown.
Evergreens must be in half-shade the first season to avoid a condition
known as "damping off." The top six inches of soil in the bed should be
the best garden soil obtainable, the growth resulting from using good,
clean soil, free from weed seeds, being worth the trouble of preparing
it. By having the bed in two parts, with a cover that may be taken off,
proper weeding can be done when necessary. The cover should always be
replaced afterward, though, as rodents will sometimes attack the young
shoots and the remainder of the seed kernel.
In the spring of the second season of growth, the young plants may be
dug up and lined out in nursery rows. After two or three years more,
they may be planted in permanent locations.