Our walnut trees came in yesterday, and I was super impressed with the root systems on these trees. This is my hubby George holding one of the Chandler Walnuts right before we planted it. We put in six Chandler and a Franquet. We have room for one more Franquet next year…or this year if I can find one. This shows a few of the little trees planted, as well as the scale of the tree we took down. It’s been a job, but we’re about to get it.
The trees were bought from Burchell Nursery in California. They are big one inch trees on Paradox hybrid rootstock and were only $30.00 each!
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That’s a tree, alright.
My biggest problem with walnut trees is getting them not to grow. They come up wild around here and are near impossible to kill.
Wow, that was a big tree. What kind of tree is that? Your walnut trees look great! I hope they do well for you. What area are you in? Looks nice and warm there. You need lots of room when you have to space your trees that far apart. It’s going to look really nice when they grow up. I bet you felt the ground move when that tree fell!
Yes, the ground shook when that big cottonwood came down. I have a video too.
We decided when that big ole tree lost a massive limb a few years ago, to replace the huge trees, that threw shade on the orchard, with smaller trees that would also produce food.
We’re in Skull Valley Arizona. It’s a small community of about 500 people 18 miles west of Prescott. We are at 4400 foot and below the snow line, so everything likes to bloom early.
Those walnuts are spaced 39 feet apart, because my husband trims trees, and wants each one to be able to grow and branch…and not look too crowded when they are fully grown.
Thanks for the good wishes. I can already see those trees, in my mind’s eye, grown and making shade…orchard grass covering the ground…it’ll be nice. Picnic table made with one of the huge rounds cut out of the trunk of that big tree. No shortage of projects here. 
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The biggest logs in the pioneers cabins came from cottonwood logs. Now days they make cupboards, trim, and even microlams from poplar trees. (cottonwood). They seem like weed trees but are actually a strong wood. Lots of crown molding is made from it.
I’m with Rob. In our area, walnut trees are everywhere. I never imagined people planting them, but I can understand it since I have hulled, shelled, and picked out a few but it’s a lot of work for very little meat! Which brings my question: Are the “domesticated”/ commercially developed walnut trees like you just planted much different from the wild pecans that grow here? Bigger? Better? Just curious.
Ahhh I see.
We have Arizona black walnuts that grow all over the place out here, wherever there is water. They are a ton of work cracking, for the tiny, but tasty nuts. What we just planted are large English walnuts. You can get full, and I mean full, in a matter of minutes with nuts like these.
One thing I have thought of doing, is budding, or grafting the wild trees over. Basically it would be free food. I know they use the California Black Walnut as a rootstock, and one of the trees we just planted was whip and tongue grafted…and I can do that!
So many possibilities.
This is two halves from a shelled nut, and one unshelled. These are off our neighbor’s English Walnut tree, and I don’t know what variety it is.
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Thanks, Jolene! The picture alone pretty well explained why you’d plant English walnut trees. I’ve almost never gotten a full kernel out of the walnuts that grow around here- and if I did they wouldn’t be nearly that big!
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