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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Oct 14, 2008, at 1:37 PM, EarthNSky wrote:

> That was supposed to be 10" in diameter..

Bev, black walnut trees, like all plants, grow according to  
conditions. Heartwood has many black walnuts; two happy neighbors pick  
the nuts, one to sell them. I've never counted, but I suspect there  
are twenty to thirty trees within five hundred feet of the house.

I have written in years past of a dozen black walnuts between the  
house and the back woods edge that the squirrels planted and I  
cultivated by simply not mowing them. Those trees are now about 25  
years old and most of them are ten to twelve inches in diameter. For  
the best furniture wood I prefer a slow-growing tree with tight grain.  
These are candidates but I will refrain from cutting them as long as  
possible.

If I were planting black walnuts I would plant them near a stream or  
at least in a low area likely to have greater soil moisture. Most of  
the trees at Heartwood are within a hundred feet of the stream or at  
an elevation that means their tap roots are down into the side seepage  
from the stream. Many trees are at the stream bank. The twelve above  
are an exception and there are many other young ones planted the same  
way. None are more than about thirty feet in elevation above the  
stream level.

That is not to say that they won't grow in drier soil. They will, but  
growth will be slower. Great furniture wood but slow wood production,  
contraindicated for those of us in geezerhood as planters should add  
thirty or forty years to their age.

The nut crop this year is very good.