North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 12:24 PM 4/28/2004 -0500, Charlie wrote:
> Del you may be lighting a brushfire here - in the seedling vs. clonal 
> debate - just this morning I went with a
> bow saw at a black walnut seedling here borne of the Elmer Myers Black 
> Walnut strain.
>
> Observing the extremely straight and exceptionally vigorous growth I 
> hesitated with the bow saw.  I can see
> this walnut hitting 20' by August, from the 12' it is now.
>
> I do think we oversell clonal varieties and clonal rootstocks too 
> much.  There are distinct disadvantages to
> the clonal approach....and not enough growing from seed.
>
> I don't know what to do about the seedling walnut.  Obviously it'll make a 
> decent saw log in just 10 years vs.
> the typical 20.  I've never seen such vigor.   And how-ever can I 
> propagate it if it proves of value for either
> timber or for nuts?   Root cuttings?   Is it possible to obtain Black 
> Walnut trees from root cuttings?

Charlie,

Folks in the southern US have done some work with seedling strains of 
pecans, and recommendations have been formulated for which ones 'work' best 
in certain areas of the Southern pecan belt, based on seedling vigor, 
dormancy-breaking period, etc.

I've seen more than one reference to Elmer Myers seedlings having a 
reputation for vigorous, upright, timber-type growth.
Based on those reports, and yours, if I were going to be planting seednuts 
for a seedling BW plantation for timber-type, I'd be inclined to try to get 
my mitts on a bunch of Elmer Myers seednuts.  Probably some of the 
resulting seedlings would also produce a pretty decent nut, perhaps equal 
to or better than their parent; certainly if the pollen parents were also 
good nut-producing clones, you'd expect some of those seedlings to have 
inherited the genes for thin shell/ease of cracking/kernel quality from one 
or both parents.

I've got a local BW selection that has a serpentine/corkscrew type growth 
pattern, similar to corkscrew willow, but perhaps not so pronounced as the 
willow, and certainly not as pronounced as the contorted mulberries & 
filberts.  Sent some scionwood to Cliff England last year, and he indicated 
that it made the most vigorous growth of any BW he'd ever grafted; the nut 
is nothing to write home about, but it might have some merit in a 
timber-breeding program, or possibly as a rootstock strain.  Guess I need 
to collect some seednuts from it this fall and plant them to see if the 
seedlings have the apparent vigor of the graft.

So far as propagating your seedling selection, grafting/budding are 
certainly possibilities, but Dr. David Griffith has indicated to me that 
there may be some problems with grafts from mature trees NOT exhibiting the 
rapid, upright growth the original tree exhibited in its youth; if you're 
grafting wood from a mature tree, it may have 'lost' all those juvenile 
traits, and you'd have to really work at training it not to begin 
branching  & spreading at a low height - good for a nut orchard, but not so 
good if you're going for timber harvest.
I've not tried root cuttings with BW, and haven't seen anything recently on 
rooting hard-to-root species, like walnuts, chestnuts, etc.