Sweet Chestnut and Walnut

[The avantgardener]

4 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

How well spaced would you recommend? 

 

Some of the websites that sell fruiting nut trees have a good range from timber producing to heavily fruiting varieties. 

Walnuts can grow very large (100ft), but tend to spread from young. You can selectively prune it to maintain the desired size, as long as you don’t let it get too big and then keep hacking it back it should still yield nuts. There are also hazel trees with truffle mycorrhiza impregnated in the root system, if you get the soil right you could be shaving truffle on your neeps and tatties. Kent cobnuts are very heavy yielding large hazelnuts, you can hit them back hard every 5 years and get  a good supply of bean/pea poles, stakes and binders for the allotment.

[trigger_andy]

13 minutes ago, The avantgardener said:

Walnuts can grow very large (100ft), but tend to spread from young. You can selectively prune it to maintain the desired size, as long as you don’t let it get too big and then keep hacking it back it should still yield nuts. There are also hazel trees with truffle mycorrhiza impregnated in the root system, if you get the soil right you could be shaving truffle on your neeps and tatties. Kent cobnuts are very heavy yielding large hazelnuts, you can hit them back hard every 5 years and get  a good supply of bean/pea poles, stakes and binders for the allotment.

Some nice tips to look out for there. I'll do all that you recommend here. 

 

Thanks

[Mrblue5000]

Do you get late frosts? Walnuts may not crop every year that far North.

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Mrblue5000 said:

Do you get late frosts? Walnuts may not crop every year that far North.

Yeh, unfortunately we do.  What about Sweet Chestnut? 

 

Cropping every year is not the be all and end all. But some crops would be nice. Also nice just to have a few Walnut trees regardless. 

[openspaceman]

14 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Yeh, unfortunately we do.  What about Sweet Chestnut? 

 

Cropping every year is not the be all and end all. But some crops would be nice. Also nice just to have a few Walnut trees regardless. 

Even as south as I am chestnuts are much smaller and slightly bitter tasting compared with ones you can buy from Italy but that may be because the varieties grown were mainly for producing coppice poles.

 

Have you ever managed to pick walnuts, chestnuts, cobs or cherries that were edible locally? There is a reason that oats are grown rather than wheat as you go north. Also vegetative storage rather than seed crops, e.g. neeps or tatties.

 

I'm not saying it cannot be done as I've never spent an autumn that far north.

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, openspaceman said:

Even as south as I am chestnuts are much smaller and slightly bitter tasting compared with ones you can buy from Italy but that may be because the varieties grown were mainly for producing coppice poles.

 

Have you ever managed to pick walnuts, chestnuts, cobs or cherries that were edible locally? There is a reason that oats are grown rather than wheat as you go north. Also vegetative storage rather than seed crops, e.g. neeps or tatties.

 

I'm not saying it cannot be done as I've never spent an autumn that far north.

Hazelnuts are good up our way. Never looked for Cobs though and to be honest never heard of them until I started looking for nut trees. Cherry’s are good as well. We have loads of wild cherry in the garden. Slightly bitter but the month we-in-law grows sweet cherries. Never tried any local chestnuts or walnuts and would not know where to look for them either. Apples are good and of course with all the rain loads of mushrooms. 

[openspaceman]

24 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Hazelnuts are good up our way. Never looked for Cobs though and to be honest never heard of them until I started looking for nut trees. Cherry’s are good as well. We have loads of wild cherry in the garden. Slightly bitter but the month we-in-law grows sweet cherries. Never tried any local chestnuts or walnuts and would not know where to look for them either. Apples are good and of course with all the rain loads of mushrooms. 

cobs are just hazels with ten times the nuts, very nice roasted that's what is in cadburys wholenut.

 

Presumably you have the advantage of no grey squirrels. Down here they destroy them before they are ripe.

[trigger_andy]

3 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

cobs are just hazels with ten times the nuts, very nice roasted that's what is in cadburys wholenut.

 

Presumably you have the advantage of no grey squirrels. Down here they destroy them before they are ripe.

Just Red around my way thankfully, and I want to encourage more. So even if they ate them all I’d still be happy. There’s too many splattered on the roads near me. It’s very sad. 

[openspaceman]

4 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Just Red around my way thankfully, and I want to encourage more. So even if they ate them all I’d still be happy. There’s too many splattered on the roads near me. It’s very sad. 

None left here  but they were plentiful in my mother's childhood. I've only seen them in the lake district. Anyway they prefer pine woodlands and I don't think their tastes are quite as catholic as greys. Greys outcompete dormice here because dormice wait until the hazel are ripe. Sad anyone would run reds over.

 

When you plant I'd advise planting a few small trees rather than standards and thin them out as required.

[Rough Hewn]

Walnut canopy with coppiced sweet chestnut and hazel understorey.
Chuck a few elm,oak,ash and yew in with some pioneer birches etc.
Dream woodland!!!
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