I’m looking to add a few nut trees to my property that will produce nuts worth collecting. I got buartnut, butternut, and hazelberts… all doing pretty well. I killed my American chestnuts by not watering their first year, but got a bunch of “Qing” (seed/nuts) from Perfect Circle (and this time I’ll water them). I’ve been told that maybe a Carpathian walnut, and hican would survive? Black walnuts seem like they might work, but not sure they are worth the trouble (never had a cultivated black walnut- only wild). I don’t know anything about nut trees so any opinions/tips would be helpful.
Black walnuts of a few varieties are viable. McGinnis, Minnesota, Weschke, and Cranz should be near the top of your list. Persian walnuts are not generally hardy enough for zone 4. A few hicans and some hickories would work though I don’t grow many varieties. Suggest contacting Ernie Grimo if you want some good suggestions.
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Mercer, WI was 3b not that long ago with occasional 3a lows. Those temps are inevitable to return some year. Tough place to grow most nut trees. Good luck with them
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yep- it’s been 4a for a while now, guessing we’ll be 4b next time they do the charts. Hardiness zone is just part of the formula. The fact that we get so little sun in the fall hurts the sugar value of late fruit. But on the upside, all the water makes for a long fall (giving trees a lot of time to harden off before -30 hits) and a short spring (so plants are dormant during late frosts).
I usually look to see what Canadians are growing, unfortunately we cant buy trees from Canada.
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Plenty of Canada is much warmer than Mercer (or here where I live) 
My cousin is north of you maybe 20-30 minutes. He reports -30 pretty regularly.
FWIW…I’m allegedly 4a. We hit -38 a few winters ago
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I’m in the lake Superior effect zone, it really helps temper things also brings rain and snow. They get a bit colder further south. I got another property 15 minutes north, so much more snow. Coldest I’ve seen in the past 10 year is -27, so ive been getting bold… figs didnt make it, but peaches do.
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Interesting. I lost Madison and Reliance peaches over winters in the early to mid 2000s in southcentral WI.
After what you’ve mentioned already having, black walnuts would be in my tops for you. I think you may have a hard time growing too much else for normal consumable nuts, meaning without getting into unusual things like low tannin acorns.
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Ya, id be surprised if i didnt loose the peaches every now and then in Mercer. In Milwaukee they dont make it past 10 years for most of my neighbors, but the pest load is part of the problem in southern WI.
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I am trying several nut trees east of St. Paul in western Wisconsin. We’ve gotten a taste of hazelnuts (Winkler) and 29 butternuts each of the past two years on trees planted about 8 or 9 years ago. Have managed to keep chestnuts and Carpathian walnut trees alive, but they have barely grown. The pecans all failed. The meager butternut and hazelnut harvest was excellent in taste, so I keep hoping! Last year I tried out the Plantra grow tubes for the first time. The jury is still out on that one. Keep us posted on your progress.
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Tree tubes have made a huge difference for me here. I have chestnuts and Carpathian walnuts that are starting to get about 5 to 6 ft tall. They are not easy as you pointed out, and it seems one has be very selective about where you plant them in the north. The Carpathians still have some exceptional die back sometimes. Whether they’ll ever produce nuts here I don’t know. I started about 15 more from seed this spring that are supposed to be hardier stock selected in Russia. I also tried some hardy heartnuts, but those were a no go.
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Thanks- looks like a great source, good prices too.
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Haven’t tried tree tubes yet. I assume you use them for seedlings? do you leave them on all year or just winter?
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Seedlings and grafted trees. I leave them on all year, haven’t had problems with Plantra tubes.
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Ours were in an out-of-the- way area that didn’t get checked closely most of the summer due to some foot injuries. There was some netting over the top of each 5’ tube, and a couple chestnut trees couldn’t grow through it, so got deformed. I will probably need to chop off the tops on those at that level come spring. I am not sure when to remove the tubes.
I would add shagbark hickory to your list and perhaps other chestnuts, pollination will likely be improved by having multiple seed mothers.
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