Walnut growing conditions. Walnut - a tree of the Walnut family
Walnut is a tree that came to us from Central Asia more than a thousand years ago. It was brought by merchants from Greece, which is why it got its name.
Now it is grown in many regions of our country, in Ukraine, in the south of Belarus, in Moldova, as well as in the Caucasus. At different times, the walnut was called differently: the tree of life, the food of heroes, the acorn of the gods. And there were reasons for that: the kernels of these nuts are not only very useful, but also taste good. Other parts of the plant are also widely used, for example, the leaves are used for medicinal purposes, and the wood has long been used to make magnificent furniture.
Description
Today, probably, everyone knows what a walnut tree looks like. This is a perennial that belongs to the Nut family. It can reach a height of twenty meters, with a dense spreading crown. The leaf of the walnut tree is pinnate, located on the petiole, up to forty-five centimeters long. This culture is monoecious, having small same-sex flowers.
Walnut, care, cultivation, watering, planting which will not be a burden even for a beginner in gardening, is a dioecious plant. It has generative kidneys of two types - female and male. Buds with emerging female flowers are laid at the ends of fruitful one-year-old shoots. Male buds on a fruitful shoot are located on the side and collected in an inflorescence. They are sometimes called earrings. Walnut is a tree in which dormant buds are also formed, they are always located on the central shoot and are designed to restore the plant in case of damage to its aerial parts.
This powerful tree stores pollen in catkins (male flowers). The wind blows it up to a distance of one hundred meters. This long-liver grows for 500-600 years, if the cultivation of the walnut tree and its care are carried out in accordance with agricultural technology. Almost all types of soil are suitable for it. The only exceptions are saline, swampy, highly eroded soils.
Walnut - a plant that loves lit areas, tolerates fairly low temperatures. Quickly and easily recovers from damage. Dead shoots are replaced by actively growing new branches.
Fruit
Today, from many gardeners from different regions of our country, you can hear: "We grow walnuts in the country." And this is not surprising, because the fruits of the tree in question, which are a false drupe, are the most valuable food product.
The outer pericarp is painted in light green color, has a flat surface. When the nut is fully ripe, the pericarp becomes brown or black. Its function is to protect the nut-bone.
The plant usually blooms in April-May. The fruits fully ripen at the end of August. Outwardly, the nut kernel resembles the human brain. It contains many valuable nutrients - at least 65% fat, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and tannins, a huge amount of vitamins (B, A, C, B2 E, K, P and others). The chemical composition of the nucleus includes a wide range of amino acids.
Planting a walnut in the field
The walnut, planting, growing and caring for which is not very difficult, belongs to trees that tolerate fairly low temperatures well. With constant sunlight, it forms a luxurious spreading crown. Walnut does not like tightness on the site and close-lying groundwater. In addition, it is not recommended to plant a walnut on compacted or heavily waterlogged soil. The best soil for it will be carbonate loam (wet).
Location selection
Walnut is a tree, the cultivation of which and the receipt of a good harvest of fruits largely depend on the correct choice of a place for planting. Gardeners are often interested in: "How many walnut trees to plant on the site?" It largely depends on the available space. Anyone who wants to grow this plant needs to know that it gives a good harvest only in the most illuminated area. Walnut at the age of 25-30 years has a crown with a diameter of 8-12 meters.
If you decide to plant not one, but several seedlings at once, you must leave a distance of at least five meters between them. The only exceptions are planting on slopes, where they can be planted a little closer to each other (3.5 m).
Soil preparation
In the event that the fertile soil layer is rather shallow, it should be replaced or additionally fertilized. For this, a large amount of manure is introduced, which is mixed with ash, and superphosphate is added. This composition is applied to a depth of 80 centimeters in the landing pit. In the future, with the favorable growth of the tree, every year it is necessary to change the soil along the width of the crown.
In prepared and fertilized soil, we make a pit measuring 40 x 40 cm. To further stimulate the growth of young lateral roots, a sheet of PVC film can be placed at the bottom of the pit. When planting, carefully lay out the lateral roots horizontally and sprinkle them with fertile soil. The upper roots are left at a depth of about seven centimeters from the surface.
Walnut (tree): cultivation in the suburbs
Increasingly, certain types of crops, which have long been considered exclusively southern, began to be planted in the central regions of Russia. Such plants include persimmon, apricot, peach, cherry and walnut.
Growing this tree in the Moscow region has its own characteristics. Here, the most early-growing and winter-hardy varieties are usually used. This durable and unpretentious culture bears fruit well on various soils and on different terrain. It is not recommended to plant a walnut on deep sandy and poorly ventilated land.
reproduction
For many gardeners in the Moscow region, growing walnuts is still a novelty. Plant propagation methods are seeds and grafting. Let's consider them in more detail.
Reproduction by seeds
First, select seeds for planting, while giving preference to local varieties. They should be large, without any visible damage, the core should be easy to remove. Harvesting seeds can be carried out when the green shell of the nut begins to crack. Nuts should be well dried indoors at room temperature.
To make them germinate faster, carry out additional stratification. Varieties with a thick shell are stratified for about a hundred days at a temperature not higher than +7 ° C, seeds with a medium and thin shell - at a temperature of +18 ° C for about 45 days.
Seeds are planted at the very beginning of April. By this time, the earth should warm up to +10 ° С. In fertile, pre-prepared soil, large nuts are placed at a depth of ten centimeters, medium and small - at a depth of seven centimeters. In order for the seedlings to have straight shoots, the nut must be placed in the prepared hole on the edge, sideways.
We want to immediately warn impatient gardeners that a walnut planted in open ground sprouts slowly, you will have the first seedlings suitable for planting in seven years, and those that can be used for rootstocks in three years. It is more expedient to grow them in film greenhouses. Thus, you will have seedlings for rootstocks by the end of the first year, and suitable for planting in open ground - after two years.
Graft
This method is especially effective when it is necessary to preserve the positive properties of the parent tree. For the stock, two-year-old seedlings are used, previously planted in ordinary pots with a diameter of about 12 centimeters. It is better to keep them indoors in winter so that they can give good shoots by the time they are vaccinated. February is the best time to get vaccinated.
After this procedure, the room should maintain a constant temperature of +26 ° C, and this should be both in the air and in the soil. It is optimal for continuous growth. Plants are planted in the ground in mid-May.
Care
Today, many gardeners dream of having a walnut (tree) on their plot. How to grow it healthy and well fruiting? To do this, you need to know some of the subtleties of caring for him.
pruning
A walnut is a tree that does not need to be pruned to form a crown - it will cope with this issue on its own. If you need to remove unnecessary branches, then do not do this in the spring - the nut loses a lot of valuable juice, and this will adversely affect the further development of the tree. Branches can be removed at the beginning of June, and it is better to do this in two stages. Part of the branches are cut off in the first year, leaving a knot about 7 centimeters long, which is removed the next year in the spring. The cut must be treated with garden pitch.
Watering
Young trees need watering in spring and summer. In addition, the plant needs it during a prolonged drought. Each tree will need approximately 30 liters of water per square meter. m. Watering is carried out twice a month. Mature trees that have grown to four meters in height can be watered less intensively.
top dressing
Walnut is a tree that needs to be fed 2 times a year - in spring and autumn. Phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied in the fall, and nitrogen fertilizers in the spring. When using nitrogen fertilizers, it is necessary to take into account some nuances. They must be introduced carefully, as they can favor the development of certain types of bacteria that are harmful to the plant.
When to harvest?
To answer this question, look at the green pericarp. Once they start to crack, the nuts can be harvested. After that, they should be kept in the basement for about a week - this way it will be easier to clean them from the blackened top layer. After cleaning, the nuts should be washed with water and dried in the sun. If you still have some of the fruits on which the pericarp is not removed, then you can pour all of them into a pile and hold them in the sun for some time - this way they will ripen faster.
Diseases
Many people love walnuts. Tree diseases sometimes cross out all the gardener's efforts to grow high-quality fruits. To prevent problems, it is necessary to study the possible risks in order to provide timely assistance to the plant and save the crop. We will talk about the most dangerous diseases in this article.
White butterfly (American)
It is a serious quarantine pest. Damages all fruit species in the southern regions, develops in two generations. Summer (July) and autumn (early September).
codling moth
The pest develops in two generations. Caterpillars of the first generation appear at the very beginning of June and practically destroy young fruits. They eat away their core.
In August, the most harmful appears - the 2nd generation of caterpillars. They penetrate into the fruit through the base and eat away the cotyledons. Such fruits fall prematurely. One caterpillar is capable of destroying several fruits.
warty mite
This is a pest whose adult size is not more than 0.1 mm. It overwinters in the buds on the plant and causes great damage to the leaves before they are fully developed. Young plants are more often affected. This mite rarely damages fruits. As a result of the activity of the mite, dark brown spots resembling warts form on the leaves throughout the plate.
Mining moth
This pest develops in three generations, but the second and third are considered the most harmful. Caterpillars bite into young leaves and feed on their pulp, while not touching the skin. Damage of this type is called "mines". An adult individual "does not mine" the leaves; it prefers to live in a folded leaf, gradually destroying it.
Serious attention should be paid to the fight against moths, since, with uncontrolled reproduction, the mining moth can cause enormous damage to trees.
brown spot
The causative agent of this disease is the fungus Marssonina juglandis Magn. The disease affects green shoots, fruits and leaves. In early May, small rounded brown spots appear on young leaves, and then grayish in color, with a wide brown border. Often the spots merge. Affected leaves fall off. Red-brown, slightly depressed spots appear on the ovaries. In areas affected by the pest, the tissue slows down growth, the fruits begin to dry, crack and crumble. Often they rot, the core deteriorates, and it becomes inedible.
Particularly favorable conditions for this disease are created in the first half of summer with heavy rainfall. Brown spotting leads to huge yield losses - up to 50% or more.
bacteriosis
Dark spots appear on branches, leaves, inflorescences and fruits. Especially often the disease develops intensively in warm and damp spring weather.
Bacteria are carried by insects. Getting on pistillate flowers, pollen significantly accelerates the penetration of bacteria into them. During the flowering period, the disease destroys up to 90% of young ovaries and flowers.
Walnut tree: benefits and harms
The fruits of this tree are rich in a huge amount of nutrients. That is why doctors recommend including it in your daily diet. This is especially true in the spring and autumn periods, when many of us are overcome by vitamin deficiency.
Due to the high content of iron, cobalt and zinc in the composition of the fruits, they help to increase the level of hemoglobin in anemia.
Walnut increases potency. This has been known since the time of the ancient Greeks. And its oil is a powerful aphrodisiac.
Fruits significantly improve bowel function. The protein contained in the fruit normalizes the microflora, which, in turn, eliminates the problem of dysbacteriosis and constipation.
Walnuts lower blood sugar levels. In order to achieve this goal, only the infusion of the partitions of the nut shell should be used, but not the fruit itself. Endocrinologists do not recommend this remedy for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Harm
As can be seen from the foregoing, this is a very useful plant - the walnut tree. Harm, or rather, contraindications for these fruits are also available.
These delicious nuts should be avoided by people who are prone to or allergic to protein. In severe cases, the use of fruits can provoke anaphylactic shock.
The same can be advised to people prone to obesity, as these fruits are very high in calories. In patients suffering from psoriasis, eczema, neurodermatitis, the disease can worsen even after eating two or three nuts.
Doctors do not advise exceeding the daily intake of this product. Otherwise, beneficial properties can give an undesirable opposite effect, as well as cause inflammation of the tonsils or irritation of the oral mucosa.
Walnut - a tree, no doubt, useful. However, care must be taken when consuming its fruits. If they have darkened or become moldy, then they have begun to produce a poisonous enzyme that can cause serious harm to your health.
The walnut tree grows up to 300-400 years. This means that at least 5 generations of one family can hide in its shadow and enjoy the fruits. If you are just setting up your garden and dreaming of a family tree, perhaps this article will help you make a choice in favor of a walnut.
Walnut wood is a valuable wood species, has a beautiful dark hue and is often used for the production of expensive designer furniture. The leaves are used to make a natural dye for fabrics. And if you rinse your hair with a decoction of walnut leaves, they will acquire a darker shade.
From unripe fruits, which contain vitamin C, all kinds of desserts are cooked in the form of jam or ground with honey and dried fruits. And the kernels of mature nuts contain such irreplaceable vitamins as K, which regulates the mechanism of blood coagulation, and P, which normalizes the condition of the capillary walls, increasing their strength and elasticity. Over time, stored nuts only concentrate their beneficial substances.
How to harvest and store crops
Nuts begin to bear fruit, depending on the variety, at the age of 3 years. Approximately in 5-6 years we will collect only 5-10 nuts. At the age of 15, we are waiting for 1-2 buckets of crops, at 20 years old - a bag, and at the age of 50-100 years - a whole centner! The fruits ripen in different periods from August to mid-October.
When the ripened pericarp, the green peel around the nut, begins to crack, and the nuts fall to the ground, then it's time to harvest. You should not hit the branches with sticks to get the fruits. Perhaps you need to wait a bit and collect fallen nuts or use stepladders and ladders so as not to damage the branches with "barbaric" methods.
Approximately in 5-6 years we will collect only 5-10 nuts. At the age of 15, we are waiting for 1-2 buckets of crops, at 20 years old - a bag, and at the age of 50-100 years - a whole centner!
The collected nuts must be cleaned of the green pericarp so that there is no rotting. Dry, spreading a thin layer in the open air. Place nuts in linen bags and store in a cool and dark place. You should not store nuts in hot rooms, as their oils become toxic and bitter at high temperatures. Walnuts stored in the shell retain antioxidant properties, and without the shell, they quickly oxidize and reduce their usefulness. It is better to plant these trees on the border of the site so as not to shade the rest of the plantings. Walnut is quite unpretentious and disease resistant. The walnut is undemanding to the soil; it grows almost everywhere. But does not like heavy and damp soils.
Planting a walnut
Planting of seedlings is carried out in the spring, since the young walnut is sensitive to frost and does not take root well during autumn planting. But it is better to prepare a pit for seedlings in the fall. It is necessary to dig a hole of about 1X1X1m. It should be 20-30 cm deeper than the roots. The fertile soil layer is mixed with humus and peat in a ratio of 1:1:1. We add fertilizers: dolomite flour - 500-1000 g, superphosphate - 2.5-3 kg, potassium chloride - 800 g. Fertilizers are mixed with the soil mixture, the pit is filled and left for the winter.
In the spring, the main root is cut to a length of 40 cm and the cut is covered with clay. The remaining roots are straightened, you can treat them with a growth stimulator. To do this, prepare a clay mash: take 1 part of rotted manure and 3 parts of clay. Water is brought to a creamy consistency with the addition of growth stimulants - "Epin" or "Humate". The roots are placed in a hole and covered with a mixture of earth and humus 1: 1. The root neck should be placed at ground level or slightly higher. The soil is well trampled down and watered with 1-2 buckets of water. When water is absorbed, the ground is mulched with straw, humus or peat to retain moisture. In dry weather, water 2-3 times a week.
Planting of seedlings is carried out in the spring, since the young walnut is sensitive to frost and does not take root well during autumn planting. But it is better to prepare a pit for seedlings in the fall.
Walnut pruning
Walnut is a light-loving plant, and a dense crown reduces the tree's fertility. Pruning stimulates growth and shapes the future crown. The crown can be improved-tiered, cup-shaped with 3-4 or shift-leader with 5-6 branches.
Fertilizer
Fertilize walnuts with special complexes or green manure, such as lupine, oats, rank, peas. Green manure is sown between rows at the end of summer and plowed into the soil in autumn. Mineral fertilizers should be applied carefully, as the root system does not like loosening. Nitrogen fertilizers should not be applied during the fruiting period and under young trees, as they can cause plant diseases. And phosphorus-potassium is well perceived and increases fertility. A medium-aged tree requires 10 kg of superphosphate, 6 kg of ammonium nitrate, up to 3 kg of potassium salt, 10 kg of ammonium sulfate per year. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in the spring, and the rest in the fall.
Diseases and pests
Brown spotting or marsoniosis- the most dangerous disease of a walnut. It affects leaves, nuts, fruits. Brown spots appear on the leaves, in rainy summer they grow. The leaves fall off, the fruits remain unripe.
- Fight method: We collect and burn fallen leaves, cut off damaged branches. You should also spray the tree with 1% Bordeaux liquid 3-4 times with an interval of 2 weeks. Also, it is good to use fungicides "Strobi", "Horus", "Redom il Gold", etc.
nut moth. Its caterpillars bite into the pulp of the leaves, weaken the tree.
- Fight method: To combat them, you need to spray the plant with systemic poisons for fruit crops: Bombardier, Tanrek, Confidor, Calypso.
. Caterpillars live first in spider web nests, and then crawl along the tree. Leaves and young shoots are damaged.
- Fight method: If nests are found, they must be urgently removed and burned. Can be treated with insecticides: Aktara, Calypso, Confidor, etc.
. Caterpillars feed in early June and eat out the kernels of young fruits, after which the fruits fall off.
- Fight method: It is necessary to carry out timely treatment with insecticides, as with the American white butterfly.
Aphids are of different types. They feed on the juice of leaves and buds, and also weaken the nut.
- Fight method: In the fight against aphids, pesticides, such as Decis 2.5 EC 0.025%, will help. During the growing season, the treatment is repeated, since aphids have two or more generations over the summer.
Nut codling moth- the most dangerous pest. Caterpillars infect young fruits, and they fall prematurely.
- Fight method: To combat the pest, an overlay is used on the trunk of "trapping belts", which are strengthened at a height of 30-50 cm from the ground. This is a tape made of dense fabric, 15-20 cm wide, non-drying glue (ALT) is applied to it. If there are too many pests, the belt is changed and the old one is burned. We also spray Decis 2.5 EC 0.025% or Karate 2.5 EC 0.1-0.15%.
Nut warty mite. A very small pest (0.1 mm), as a result of its harmful activity, formations resembling warts appear on the leaves. Damages young plants.
- Fight method: To combat the tick, you need to use special preparations - acaricides, for example, Vermitek.
Walnut breeding is developing very actively, and many new varieties have been bred, winter-hardy, resistant to diseases and pests. For example, varieties: Yarovskoy, Chernovetsky, Skinosky, Kozaku, as well as early-growing varieties, for example, Ideal, Bukovinsky-1, etc., which begin to bear fruit already in the 2nd year. But this is a topic for a separate article.
If your garden does not yet have a walnut, be sure to plant it. In summer, in the shade of its crown, you can hide from the heat, and in winter you can enjoy tasty and healthy fruits. The noble, unpretentious, prolific walnut can become your family tree for centuries!
Foreword
Many are used to the fact that most trees are planted in the spring. However, there are crops that are best planted before the first frost. How to properly propagate these plants - learn in detail.
The autumn period is great for planting a walnut from the fruit. It is at this time that ripe nuts fall to the ground. You will be required to select the best fruits and properly prepare them.
So, as soon as you harvest, you need to set aside the strongest and largest nuts for planting. The shell of each selected nut should not be damaged. It is also worth paying attention to whether the green peel is easily separated from the shell. If it does not stick, then this fruit is suitable for further planting. Do not immediately throw away waste, as. In the future, it can be used to prepare tinctures and useful potions.
sprouted walnut
After harvesting the fruits, you can begin to prepare them for planting. To do this, put the nuts in a container, pour them with wet fine sand and take them to a dark room with high humidity. It is important that there are no drafts in the room. The optimum storage temperature will be between 0-5 °C. Many gardeners germinate fruits on the shelf of the refrigerator or in the cellar.
Every week, the fruit container must be checked. Nuts need to be ventilated, leaving under an open window for 2 hours. The sand in the tank will need to be moistened.
In order for the fruits to germinate faster, they need to be cleaned of the pericarp. This can be done 2 weeks after collection. Peel the fruit very carefully, without damaging the inner shell of the fruit. A damaged nut usually does not germinate or develops into a diseased plant.
Immediately before planting in late autumn, all fruits must be poured into a bucket of water. Those nuts that remain on the surface should be thrown away immediately. And those that sank to the bottom can be confidently planted in the soil.
Planting a walnut
For planting fruits, you need to select a site with moderately moist soil. The plant will not germinate in places with high groundwater. Also, do not plant the fruit next to the bath or garden house - walnuts have very powerful roots that can destroy the foundation of the building.
For planting, it is best to choose loamy soil. If necessary, the soil should be strengthened with organic fertilizers. To do this, you need to dig a hole at least one meter deep. The excavated earth must be prepared using the following additives:
- 1 bucket of fresh manure;
- a glass of ash;
- half a bucket of humus;
- 100 g of superphosphate.
Stir and pour the mixture back into the pit. In the future, you should not feed the earth, as this may reduce the fertility of the tree.
In loosened soil, you need to make a hole 15 cm deep. During planting, in no case should you put the fruit with the tip up. A tree planted in this way will bear fruit much later. It is best to arrange the walnut fruit flat. Planting one fruit in a hole is also not worth it. It is best to put 4-5 fruits inside, and subsequently choose the strongest and healthiest of the sprouted seedlings.
Often watering the planted fruit is not necessary. Watering twice a month at the rate of 5 buckets per 1 m² will be optimal. In principle, a growing seedling can be watered more often. So he will grow faster, but it will be much more difficult for him to endure winter frosts.
The first fruits on the tree will appear 7–15 years after planting, it all depends on the variety of the nut. However, a grown tree will delight more than one generation of your family with its fruits for a long time, because the life expectancy of walnuts is more than 300 years.
If your garden does not have a mature walnut tree, then this crop can be propagated as a seedling. Before work, you need to purchase a tree. As practice shows, it is best to buy seedlings on the market. Among the variety presented to you, you need to choose only the strongest tree, in which there are no flaws in the upper part of the bark. Particular attention should be paid to the condition of the roots. The seedling must have a clear and strong tap root. Such a tree will easily take root in your garden and will eventually produce a good harvest.
walnut seedlings
After buying a seedling, it can be planted in the ground. As practice shows, not all gardeners can cope with this. Before planting a walnut, you need to prepare the soil. First you need to dig a fairly deep hole. The excavated land will need to be fertilized. We take a large amount of a mixture of manure and ash, add 50 g of superphosphate to the mixture. After preparing the soil at the bottom of the pit, we pour drainage from broken bricks or small stones. Then we cut the main core of the root system of the seedling, pour a small layer of prepared soil on top of the drainage, and put a tree on top of it.
After filling the hole with the seedling with earth, a large amount of water should be poured into the landing site. It is best if the liquid is warm. In order for the roots to take root faster, the covered earth must be tamped.
Caring for a planted tree or fruit is not difficult. In most regions of Russia, it rains heavily in autumn, so you do not need to water the plant often. The seedling should be well lit. This should be taken into account when choosing a landing site. Do not forget that with the onset of the first frosts, the lower part of the tree will need to be wrapped with a film, otherwise the plant will freeze.
After planting throughout the life of the plant, you need to ensure that it does not get sick. Among the most dangerous gardeners distinguish bacteriosis. This disease actively develops in the spring. The main symptoms of the disease include dark spots on the leaves, fruits and inflorescences of the plant. As a result of this, the bark of the tree becomes brown, and young branches die off completely. The causative agent of this disease lives in the buds and leaves of the plant. To prevent the appearance of bacteriosis, the tree is treated with a solution of 5 liters of water, 20 g of Bordeaux mixture and 50 g of urea. Processing should be done two weeks before and two weeks after flowering.
Bacteriosis on the fetus
Another dangerous disease is root cancer. It penetrates the root system through wounds and cracks in the plant. Convex growths appear in the affected areas. If the tree has undergone a severe infection, then it may cease to bear fruit and eventually die. As soon as you find the first symptoms of the disease, the growths on the pole must be removed immediately. After that, it is necessary to remove the top layer of soil and treat the roots with caustic soda. In the end, you will need to thoroughly rinse the roots with warm clean water.
Bacterial burns are considered another dangerous disease of the walnut. Symptoms of this disease include watery spots on the petioles and leaves of the tree. If the plant is left untreated, the spots will turn black over time. This disease affects not only mature trees, but also young seedlings. Well-marked ulcers form on their stems. If you have not noticed the main signs of the disease on the tree, then you should take a close look at the fruits of the nut. If your tree is infected, then black spots will appear on the peel of its fruits, similar to rot.
To overcome diseases, it is best to use copper-based preparations. Among the most powerful funds in terms of composition, it is worth highlighting "Impact", "Byleton" and "Shavit". Despite their effectiveness, do not forget that these drugs are very toxic. They should be applied no later than a month before the flowering of walnuts. However, even they do not always help to protect plants from extinction. If the tree is heavily infected, then it is cut down. The stump of the remaining plant must be uprooted. Infected fruits are best burned.
Not everyone knows how to grow a walnut at home, however, like any other fruit crop, it is not difficult to grow it, it is enough to plant the plant correctly and take care of it regularly. Growing in tubs or large pots has its advantages: it is easier to protect a heat-loving plant from severe frosts and gusty winds, as well as provide it with the soil mixture it needs. A walnut planted in this way grows as a small shrub and, due to its small size, does not produce large yields. The fruits of a home tree are somewhat smaller, and their peel is stronger than those nuts that are grown in open ground. It should be noted that with proper care, the quality of the fruit can be quite high.
Walnut at home - the choice of capacity
Before planting a walnut at home, you need to choose a container where it will grow. Any deep container with good drainage will do. The first vessel for a young tree should be 25-30 cm in diameter and depth, that is, such that the root system fits freely in it. When grown in a tub, the plant is limited in growth, so 1-3-year-old seedlings must be replanted annually, picking up a pot 8-9 cm in diameter larger than the previous one at each transplant.
A tub, box or pot of walnuts is placed in a place well lit by the sun, where it will be protected from wind and drafts. During the period of flowering and the formation of ovaries for a tree, it is recommended to build a temporary shelter, which will serve as protection from the negative effects of the environment. You can put the tub in the greenhouse for this time.
Planting a tree in any container, the gardener selects the necessary soil for him. A slightly alkaline, nutritious, loose soil is suitable for a walnut. This culture does not tolerate soil compaction.
How to grow a walnut at home - plant care
Caring for the plant, you need to avoid waterlogging and drying out of the soil. With an excess of moisture, the roots begin to rot, which leads to their death. The lack of moisture negatively affects the development of ovaries. The soil should be moderately moist, but not too wet. In extreme heat, the volume of watering is increased.
How to grow walnuts at home
At high air temperatures, the pot is wrapped in a damp dense cloth to cool the roots.
In the spring, to protect the walnut from frost, it is covered with burlap or brought indoors. In the same way, you can save a tree from birds (buds in winter, fruits in summer). Winter frosts are detrimental to this crop, so for the winter the pot is buried in drained soil or transferred to a shelter (in a greenhouse, conservatory, loggia).
When growing a walnut at home, in the spring they mulch the soil with a layer of peat, moss or rotted manure. The mulch layer is updated annually.
Homemade walnut is practically not affected by diseases and pests. When brown leaf spot appears, it is sprayed with Bordeaux liquid.
Top dressing is applied during the growing season, when additional nutrients are very important for the plant. To do this, use liquid mineral fertilizers containing potassium. Top dressing is applied every 14 days from the beginning of the growing season, and then every 7 days until the fruits are fully ripe.
Walnut at home - transplanting and shaping
Transplantation is carried out in the fall, carefully removing the tree from the tub, 1/10 of the roots are cut off, and its aerial part is also cut off. A transplant is necessary until the nut reaches its final size.
A tree growing in a tub can be given any shape. The first years of his life, the formation of the crown is combined with the removal of part of the flowers in order to prevent abundant fruiting. In summer, weak thin shoots, extra and dry branches are removed.
Walnut grows well and bears fruit in our region.
And it seems that there is no trouble with him. Unless you choose a suitable variety - large-fruited and thin-skinned. But in order to keep a tree healthy for a long time (and a nut lives for about 300 years!), You need to take care of it.
Firstly, dry, damaged and thickening branches are cut out from an adult tree, and the elongated shoots are shortened. But they do this not in autumn or spring, like fruit trees, but in the second half of summer. At this time, the leaves of the nut are well developed and the roots work intensively, which will help it quickly restore the loss of juice and heal the cuts.
Secondly, many believe that the nut does not get sick and does not have pests. Unfortunately, over the years it often happens that the fruits fall off prematurely, and most of them are empty or rotten. The reason is plant diseases and pests. The most harmful diseases of the walnut are bacteriosis, brown spot.
Bacteriosis is the most common walnut disease. There are practically no varieties resistant to this disease. The disease affects all above-ground organs of the tree: buds, leaves and their cuttings, male and female flowers, one- and two-year-old branches, shoot growth points, fruits at different stages of their development. On non-lignified shoots, as well as on leaves, elongated brown spots form due to the disease. In rainy weather, the shoots dry out and bend.
How to plant a walnut tree in autumn
The infection overwinters on the bark of diseased branches. In spring, it penetrates into the leaves through stomata, and into other organs of the tree through mechanical damage. Large doses of nitrogen fertilizers in plantings increase the development of the disease. Varieties with thin-skinned nuts are more vulnerable to disease compared to thick-skinned ones.
Brown spot, or anthracnose, walnut affects leaves, shoots, fruits. Numerous spots of rounded or irregular shape appear on the leaves. This usually occurs in early or mid-July. In years with high air humidity, these spots grow very strongly, the leaves dry out prematurely and fall off. On the shoots, small spots first form, sometimes ulcers, the shoot is bent. Damaged fruits remain underdeveloped. At a young age, they fall off, at a later period they remain hanging, due to spots they have an irregular shape. In damaged fruits, the skin of the kernel becomes dark.
Now, in autumn, measures to combat bacteriosis, anthracnose and the main walnut pests (nut moth, aphid, tick, codling moth) are the same: collection and burning of leaves, damaged fruit branches and residues.
Thirdly, like all fruit-bearing trees, walnuts need to be fed. If the recommended organic and mineral fertilizers were added when planting seedlings, then the nut will be provided with the necessary substances for the next 3-5 years. Subsequently, organic (3-6 kg of rotted manure or humus), phosphorus (5-10 g) and potash fertilizers (3-8 g) are applied (per 1 sq.m.) once every 2-3 years in the fall, planting them in soil (usually in grooves along the perimeter of the crown) to a depth of 10-20 cm. Nitrogen (10-15 g) - annually in the second half of April in the form of a solution or dry to a depth of 3-4 cm. trace elements (boron, manganese, magnesium, etc.). Especially if signs of their lack in the soil are noticeable - the death of the ovaries, yellow spots on the leaves, weakening of growth, etc. The doses are the same as for other fruit trees.
How to grow a walnut tree from a walnut tree
How to grow a walnut from seeds in the form of a nut
By applying fertilizers to the soil during the cultivation of walnuts, an increase in growth, an increase in fruiting and an increase in the overall stability of the walnut tree are pursued.
The use of fertilizers to enhance the growth of walnuts is not always necessary. According to its biological properties, it has a rapid growth and therefore does not require additional stimulation.
Growing walnuts at home
For its culture, areas with sufficiently fertile soil are usually chosen, where fertilizers are not needed in the first years of plant life. Thus, it is possible to use fertilizers to enhance the growth of walnuts only under very limited conditions, for example, when growing it on poor, infertile soils (sandy slopes with heavily washed away soils, etc.).
Increasing the growth of walnuts by applying fertilizers on sufficiently fertile soils can lead to undesirable consequences. Excessive growth of shoots will cause a prolonged vegetation, their wood will not mature in a timely manner and the plant will be killed by winter cold. This danger of reducing the winter hardiness of the walnut must be taken into account when fertilizing. V. M. Rovsky (1970) emphasized the need to use fertilizers to increase the growth of walnuts in nurseries only on insufficiently fertile soils (serozems, etc.).
Fertilization of walnut in gardens in order to enhance the fruiting of its trees is necessary and has long been used. N.I. Kichunov mentioned this in our country in 1931.
A. A. Richter suggested for young walnut orchards of the Crimean region. in the first 10 years after planting, apply annually on nutrient-poor soils the following fertilizers per 1 m2 of garden area, g: ammonium sulfate 60, ammonium nitrate 35, superphosphate 80, potassium salt 15. In the absence of mineral fertilizers, it should be applied to the same area 3-4 kg of manure, and with the joint application of mineral and organic fertilizers, the norms of both are reduced by half. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in spring, the rest in autumn, to a depth of 30 cm.
P. P. Dorofeev for the conditions of Moldova advises to apply fertilizers in walnut orchards growing on infertile soils, in the following amount per 1 hectare of area, c: ammonium sulfate 3, superphosphate 2 and potassium salt 1. In the absence of mineral fertilizers, semi-rotten manure in the amount of 30 t/ha.
In experiments on fertilizing fruit-bearing walnut trees in Gorny Bostandyk (Uzbekistan), before the start of the growing season, 1.5 kg of ammonium nitrate at the rate of 50 kg / ha of pure nitrogen was applied under each tree, and in October - November 4 kg of superphosphate at the rate of 75-80 kg /ha of phosphoric acid. Fertilizers were applied for 3 years - from 1964 to 1967. Already a year after fertilization, fruiting began to increase. Initially, the yield on the fertilized plots exceeded the control by 4-5 times, and in 1967 even more than 10 times. The average fruit weight also increased under the influence of fertilizers (Butkov and Talipov, 1970).
Studies have also shown that the addition of ammonium sulfate, as well as superphosphate and potassium salt, reduces the susceptibility of walnut fruits to the codling moth.
According to N. A. Tkhagushev (1970), in the Black Sea regions of the Krasnodar Territory, it is necessary to apply a complete mineral fertilizer of 1200 kg / ha of a. w. or 1 t/ha manure and 60 kg/ha a.i. NPK. The same amount of NPK is necessary in the conditions of the Kuban fruit zone.
According to A.K. Kairov, in Kabardino-Balkaria the main walnut fertilizer is applied under autumn plowing. Manure is given once every 4 years at 20 t/ha. Superphosphate and potassium salt are applied annually, respectively, 5-8 and 1-1.5 c/ha. For top dressing, ammonium nitrate is used at the rate of 1-1.5 c/ha during the second cultivation.
Walnut seedlings in nurseries need fertilizer. The use of nitrogen and phosphorus at 60 kg/ha increases the growth of seedlings, the yield of large-sized planting material, and improves the water regime.
In Bulgaria, when creating a walnut garden for deep plowing (30-40 cm), pits are dug for trees every 12 m, 0.6X0.6X0.6 m in size, with shallower plowing, the size of the pits is larger, 1X1X0.6 m. the top layer of soil and a mixture of 15 kg of well-rotted manure, 300 kg of superphosphate and 80 kg of potash fertilizer is added to it, based on an area of 0.1 ha. In the school branches of the nursery in Bulgaria, the soil is fertilized (20-30 t / ha of manure, 6 quintals of superphosphate and 2 quintals / ha of potash fertilizer), hilled at least 5 times, 2 times a summer they fertilize with ammonium nitrate (50 kg each time) and regularly watered (Bonev, 1967).
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl+Enter.
From antiquity to the present day, the walnut has been called the “tree of life”. Due to the unique composition, rich in vitamins, micro and macro elements and other useful substances, walnut fruits are used in the treatment of many diseases, restore loss of strength, and satisfy hunger. To saturate the body with useful elements, a few nuts a day are enough.
Rules for the purchase of walnut seedlings
Growing a walnut begins with the right choice of planting material. The walnut has one interesting feature: the plant first gives all its strength to the development of the root system, then to the growth and development of the trunk and green mass. Therefore, seedlings that can take root and give offspring in the future are not developed shoots with leaves, but a powerful root system. A seedling with leaves, on the contrary, may not take root, moreover, when planting, seedlings are pruned so that food goes exclusively to rooting.
A healthy seedling should be strong, with developed roots (the root system of a nut is pivotal). The bark of the plant should be meticulously examined; it should not have any mechanical or other damage.
Important! If a walnut seedling has too dry bark, rotten and soft roots, you should refuse to buy it - the plant is sick.
The best option for choosing a seedling is to contact a nursery, where you can choose high-quality healthy planting material. And then, in the nursery, they will tell you whether the plant has a seed origin or is it grafted. From a grafted seedling, if it is also early-growing, a crop can be obtained in the third year, and from a seed seedling in the tenth, not earlier. Choosing a place to plant a walnut
Walnut loves bright sunlight, with enough light, the crown becomes sprawling, dense. The walnut is a powerful plant, the height of the tree is up to 25 meters, and the diameter of the trunk often reaches seven meters. The tree can grow on a slight slope, at 18 degrees of slope.
It is undesirable to plant a nut on dense, poorly aerated and swampy soils. The soil for walnuts is recommended with a uniform content of sand and clay, the location of groundwater close to the surface is contraindicated.
As already mentioned, the nut grows as a tall and sprawling tree; when planting, it should be taken into account that it will close the light to plants growing nearby. If this happens, these plants should be transplanted to another place. 
Where to plant a walnut on the site - the best place for the nut will be the southern or southwestern side of the site protected from the wind. When choosing a site for a nut, do not plant it near the house or outbuildings, the roots of the plant, growing, can damage the foundation of the building. Do not plant close to the fence.
Did you know? Pliny's mention of nuts has survived. In them, he writes that the plant came to Greece from the gardens of the Persian king Cyrus, then by trading expeditions from Greece to Rome, and from there to the territory of modern France, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Germany. The nut came to America only in the 19th century.
Preparatory work before boarding
A walnut will not require much attention when growing and caring for itself, if the seedlings and the planting site are carefully prepared. The landing site must be cleaned of plant residues, loosened and leveled. If the soil does not meet the requirements, part of it can be replaced with a more fertile one.
The planting hole is dug immediately before planting, so that the amount of moisture needed by the plant is preserved in it, since it is not desirable to pour water into the hole. Its depth depends on the length of the roots, it should be dug deeper so that the roots are conveniently located and do not break.
Seedlings will need high-quality top dressing. Walnut fertilizer is prepared from the following components: a bucket of manure, 400 grams of wood ash, 200 grams of superphosphate. This nutrient mixture is placed on the bottom of the pit, and when planted, it is sprinkled with soil; contact of the roots with fertilizer is undesirable.
The process of planting seedlings and the distance between them
The most favorable time to plant a walnut seedling is spring. The plant will have time to take root and get stronger before winter frosts, which can destroy young trees.
Seedlings before planting should be inspected, if there are damaged, rotten or dried roots, they are cut off. To facilitate and speed up the rooting process, the roots of the seedlings are dipped into a clay mash with the addition of a growth stimulator. The talker is made from clay, rotted manure and water (3:1:1), the density is like that of store-bought sour cream.
Planting a walnut is carried out slowly, the roots are neatly straightened, it is advisable to give them a horizontal position. Then, starting from the lowest roots, they are gradually covered with soil. As a result, the upper part of the roots should be six to seven centimeters below the ground surface. The soil of the trunk circle is gently tamped, a shallow groove is made around the circle for irrigation. Planted nuts are watered abundantly, about 15 liters of water per tree. Since the crown grows strongly in diameter, the tree does not need neighbors at a distance of less than five meters. 
Walnut, subject to the rules of planting and timely careful care, will respond with a good harvest. Plant care is not difficult, the main thing is to carry out the procedures on time and know some of the features. For example, soil care, weeding, loosening are carried out no deeper than five centimeters, since the upper roots of the plant are located close to the surface.
Did you know? The priests of Ancient Babylon knew about the benefits of walnuts for brain activity. Eminent gentlemen forbade common people to eat nuts for fear that they would become too smart. The walnut, according to many scientists-researchers of antiquity, is among the ten first plants cultivated by people.
Preventive treatment of trees from diseases and pests
In early spring, the plant requires some preventive measures: from the trunk and skeletal branches of the walnut, you need to remove the bark that has died over the winter and the whitewash that has come down; cleaned surfaces must be washed with a solution of copper sulfate (3%); refresh whitewash.
In the spring, while the buds are still sleeping, the tree and soil of the near-stem circle are sprayed with one percent Bordeaux liquid to prevent diseases and pests.
In the summer, to prevent the appearance of pests and diseases, the soil around the nut is cleaned, the tree itself from time to time must be carefully examined for insects, any suspicious spots on the bark and foliage. If found, immediately treat with fungicides (in case of signs of disease) or insecticides (in case of insects).
After harvesting and falling leaves, the trees are treated again for prevention, the same means can be used. Experienced growers recommend using a seven percent solution of urea instead of Bordeaux liquid and copper sulfate. This solution is multifunctional, it is also a rescue from insects, has a fungicidal effect and is a nitrogen fertilizer.
Important! Since the nut needs nitrogen during the growth period, it is better to process it with urea in the spring.
Watering rules
After a winter with low rainfall, or even without snow, moisture is vital for the walnut. Water the tree well, up to about twenty liters of water. With normal rainfall, watering the walnut is carried out once every two months in the spring. In summer, with heat and lack of rain, the need for watering increases. From about May to July, walnut trees are watered twice a month, three to four buckets of water per tree, a lack of moisture can affect the yield of walnuts.
Loosening the soil does not need to be carried out after each watering, the nut does not like this. If it rains frequently in spring and summer, it is not worth watering, the nut loves moisture, but due to the structure of the root system, its excess will be fatal. Watering is also reduced for trees above four meters, their root system draws moisture from the deep layers of the soil.
At the end of summer, watering is reduced. 
If the autumn is not rainy, it is abundantly watered, this is necessary for wintering. Mulching is necessary to avoid cracking and the formation of a rough earthen crust. Thus, the soil will also avoid drying out on especially hot days. Mulch is made from straw or sawdust, peat in a five-centimeter layer.
tree nutrition
In May, it's time to fertilize and the question arises: how to feed the walnut? Adult trees over three years old need up to six kilograms of ammonium nitrate, they feed the nut in early spring or in the first days of summer.
At the end of June, for better growth of shoots, pinch their tops and feed the tree with phosphates and potassium, adding trace elements. On sale there are fertilizers for fruit trees with a complex composition. A tree that bears fruit needs 10 kg of superphosphate, 10 kg of ammonium sulfate, 3 kg of potassium salt and 6 kg of ammonium nitrate for the whole season.
Important! Biological fertilizers can be used: between walnut trees, plant green manure plants (lupins, oats) in autumn, which are plowed into the ground in late autumn.
When and how to prune
In the first three years of a nut's life, it is necessary to form its trunk and crown. The side branches of the tree are pruned every year. Sanitary or formative pruning of a walnut is carried out with a sharp tool so as not to harm the plant, not to leave burrs.
For the formation of the crown, the best period is when the tree has reached one and a half meters of growth, while the bole is up to 90 cm, and the height of the crown is up to 60 cm.
When forming the crown, the branches are shortened by 20 cm, leaving about ten skeletal shoots, they are cleared of germinating shoots and stems. It will be possible to give the crown its final shape in four to five years, but after that it will be necessary to cut only the branches that interfere with the growth of the main shoots, growing inward and thickening the crown too much.
The basic rules for pruning a walnut tree include:
- The procedure is carried out either in the spring before the active movement of juices, or in the fall;
- In autumn, pruning of dry and damaged branches is done so that the tree does not give valuable food to obviously doomed shoots in winter;
- All sections after the procedure must be treated with garden pitch to avoid infections.
Wintering walnut
After harvesting and autumn pruning, the site must be cleaned, all plant debris removed, because it is in them that harmful insects overwinter. Inspect trees, branches and bark, pests also often winter in it, whitewash the tree trunk with lime. It is advisable to carefully prepare young trees and seedlings of the current year for winter: the near-trunk circle of plants must be covered with mulch. You can also cover with manure, but so that it does not come into contact with the bark, the walnut trunks are wrapped with burlap, then you can lay spruce branches on the trunk circle.
