permaculture

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

For USDA zone 4 I don't think persimmon or pawpaw are a practical 
proposition due to lack of coldhardiness and unreliable production.

Presumably you are after a motor fuel.

I think tree nuts or seeds in general would give high harvesting costs, 
and the yield is alwyas subject to strong seasonal variations

A perennial oilfuel crop for the north is an admirable aspiration, but 
for the near future I think you would be better off to settle for 
sunflowers or canola and maybe do or follow research for the future.

Butternuts have been mentioned but I don't think that pure butternuts 
are practical until the canker is beaten, which I expect will be several 
decades if it happens.

Some resistant butternuts are thought to be hybrids with Oriental 
species, and there are the known buartnut (butternut/(Oriental e.g. 
Japanese heartnut)) hybrids.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada



On 09/03/2011 8:52 AM, Jay Woods wrote:
> I've just realized that I don't know of a single one good for zone 4 or
> colder. The closest thing to this that I do know is the seeds of most
> fruits such as apple, pear, peach and apricot have a small amount of oil
> and the seeds themselves are inedible because of the cyanide content.
> The composition of persimmon and pawpaw seeds needs to be checked on.