Part 5

It is hoped that more interest will be shown in planting nut trees by farmers and home owners. The Department of Lands and Forests is enlarging its staff of Extension Foresters, and no doubt they will include the propagation of nut trees in their extension work.

Nut Growing at the Horticultural Experiment Station, Vineland Station, Ontario

W. J. STRONG

There was very little interest in nut growing in the early days of the Horticultural Experiment Station although back in 1914 a few filberts and Persian (English) walnuts were planted.

The first nut orchard at the Station was set out in 1922 and since then several lots of nut trees have been added from time to time, principally filberts and Persian walnuts. Also a few black walnuts, Japanese heartnuts, Chinese chestnuts, hickories, pecan and several hybrids were planted.

In 1922 twenty varieties of filberts were obtained from a nursery near Rochester, N. Y. These were reputed to be some of the better sorts imported from Germany but when they came into bearing only one was true to name, this being Italian Red. Another un-named variety in this lot (field number 3 R 1 A T 10, 11, 12), proved to be hardy and very vigorous. The nuts were only of medium size but very well filled and of good quality. The rest of these were a nondescript lot of worthless varieties or seedlings and so after a few years nearly all were uprooted and discarded.

At this time (1922) four varieties of Persian walnuts were planted, Franquette, Mayette, Hall and Rush. The Franquette and Mayette have not grown very well here and have given very poor yields. Both Hall and Rush made good growth the first 15 or 20 years from planting but latterly, growth has been poor and yields have fallen off considerably, although this year (1947) there is a very fair crop showing, but with rather much dropping. The nut of the Hall variety is quite large but the husk is thick and the shell is thick and coarse, also in some seasons the kernel has not filled out very well. The Rush has given good crops of medium-size nuts. It seems to be rather susceptible to bacterial blight.

Five named varieties of black walnuts also were planted at this time (1922), Thomas, Ohio, Stabler, Ten Eyck and McCoy. The Thomas has proven to be the best of these and the value of the others was pretty much in the order named. The last two were quite inferior as to nut, while the Stabler lacked vigour and did not yield very well, although it is a nice nut and the kernel comparatively easy to extract.

Eight Persian walnut seedlings in the same plantation, set out in 1926, have made poor to fair growth. They have given very few nuts until this year (1947) when two of them are showing a very fair crop.

About 1928 twenty Japanese walnuts and hybrids with the butternut, and about the same number of Persian walnut seedlings, which have been brought in by the late Professor Jas. A. Neilson, were transplanted to the permanent fruiting positions. The Japanese walnuts and hybrids were worthless and so were discarded. The Persian walnuts, however, seemed to be of more value, several are quite nice nuts and one, at least, looks to be worthy of increase for further trial or limited distribution. This seedling (field number 13R3T14) has made very fair growth and has shown only slight winter injury. For the last five or six years it has given moderately good yields of very nice looking nuts. The nuts are large, rather long and oval, resembling somewhat the Franquette. The shell is smooth and moderately thick, well sealed but easy to crack. Usually they are quite well filled and the kernel is mild in flavour and of nice quality.

Another Persian walnut, set out about the same time, is the McDermid. The original tree was found on the property of a Mr. McDermid at St. Catharines, Out. One grafted tree and four seedlings were planted on the Station grounds. They grew well and showed very little killing back and for several years gave quite nice crops of nuts, but of recent years the yield has been rather small. The nut is blunt-oval in shape and of good size with a fairly hard shell which is well sealed but not any too easy to open. The quality is fairly good but the pellicle is rather strong flavoured.

The year 1936 may be considered the high water mark in nut planting at the Station. A variety block of filberts was set out that year and fifty one-year-old Persian walnut seedlings (Carpathian strain) were planted in a nursery row, and in permanent location in 1937. The filbert planting consisted of from three to nine bushes each of twelve varieties, including Aveline (white), Barcelona, Bixby, Bolwyller, Buchanan, Cosford, Daviana, Du Chilly, Medium Long, Red Lambert (?) and Jones hybrid. These were planted in a compact block, 18 feet apart each way on the square. A lesser distance no doubt would be sufficient for upright growing sorts like Du Chilly but some of the more spreading kinds can use the greater distance.

Most of these filberts started to yield a few nuts at five to seven years from planting and at nine or ten years were giving good crops. Yields have fluctuated considerably from year to year, and also between varieties and different bushes of the same variety. Yields obtained from individual ten-year-old bushes and size of nut are given in the following table.

Quarts[2] Pints, nuts Size of nut Name (with husks) (without husks) No. per pint

Barcelona 11 8 101 Bixby (1) 11 9 130 Bixby (2) 22 12 148 Daviana (1) 10 6 94 Daviana (2) 11 7 90 Du Chilly (1) 20 11 93 Du Chilly (2) 17 12 92 Medium Long 11 8 115

[Footnote 2: Canadian measure.]

Higher yields have undoubtedly been obtained from other plantations and from other individual bushes and certainly lower yields, also, may be expected. Those given above are for 1946 from the best ten-year-old bushes in a plantation of forty plants.

Yield and size of nut while of major importance are not the only criteria for appraising the value of a nut variety. In filberts, such points as ease of husking, amount of fibre and, of course, quality must be considered. Also, as in other nuts, thickness of shell and proportions of kernel to shell are quite important. Vigour and hardiness of bush and hardiness of flower, male and female, are assumed, as without these high yields are not to be expected.

Most of the filbert varieties in bearing at the Horticultural Experiment Station with a few of their outstanding qualities are noted below.

Barcelona has a rather thick shell and too much fibre. It matures early, first week of September, and the nuts drop out of the husk fairly readily. The plant is strong and vigorous and somewhat spreading in habit of growth. It appears to be hardy.

Du Chilly is not always hardy and it is difficult to husk. Some bushes of this variety have given quite low yields.

Medium Long is a useful nut. It is not as large as the former two, but it fills well and there is very little fibre; also the shell is thin. It ripens somewhat later than Barcelona and is easy to husk.

Bixby is of medium size, somewhat pointed with a medium thick shell but almost no fibre. It is late in maturing, first week of October, and does not husk readily.

Daviana is a large, attractive nut with a moderately thin shell and has very little fibre. The quality is good. The nuts are mostly borne singly but with some pairs and they are apt to cling to the husk.

Cosford is a very nice nut. It is similar to Medium Long, somewhat smaller and of good appearance. It has a thin shell and is of good quality. It ripens early and separates readily from the husk. Perhaps not always hardy.

Bolwyller is hardy, yields moderately well and has nice quality.

Buchanan, much like Bixby, but a more vigorous grower. Rather difficult to pick. The nut has good quality and very little fibre.

Italian Red, one of the best but not hardy.

The filbert plantings have been added to from time to time. In 1942, 200 open-pollinated seedlings of the hardy seedling (3R1AT 10, 11, 12--1922 planting) were set out and are now (1947) beginning to bear a few nuts. The main purpose of growing these seedlings is to find a larger nut of good quality with the vigour and hardiness of the female parent.

In 1944 a bush each of Beethe, Buchanan, Luisen and Volkugel varieties were set out, also bushes of the following hybrids:

Rush x White Aveline No. 21

Rush x Kentish Cob No. 110 and 111

Rush x Barcelona No. 157 and 159

Rush x Bolwyller No. 200

Rush x Red Lambert No. 394 and 398

Rush x Du Chilly No. 485 and 555

Rush x Daviana No. 529 and 521

This material was supplied by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for test purposes. So far none of these has come into bearing.

The seedling Carpathian walnuts (1937 planting) are nearly all bearing a few nuts. Some began in 1943 while other bore nothing until several years later. One tree in 1946 gave six pints of nuts, without the husks, another four pints and several two pints, but most of them much less. As in other seedling trees there is much variation in this lot of walnuts. They vary considerably in habit of growth and vigour, also in nut characteristics. They have shown little or no winter injury. It is too early yet to pass judgment on these seedlings. Undoubtedly many of them are worthless, others are on the border line, and a few may be better than seedlings already growing in the Niagara fruit belt. It is possible that some may have sufficient hardiness for planting in the less favoured sections of Ontario.

Other types of nuts growing at the Horticultural Experiment Station are of general interest. The chestnuts and most of the pecans are very young and so are not bearing. Several hickories, =Carya ovata= and =C. laciniosa=, and Japanese walnuts bear some nuts occasionally. The Persian walnut x black walnut hybrids bear a few nuts sometimes but are worthless; the trees however, are nice as ornamentals. The Japanese walnut x butternut hybrids usually have a nice crop but the nuts are of questionable value. The trees are nice ornamentals although subject to wind injury.

Several seedling Chinese chestnuts were topworked to selected Chinese chestnuts, grafts of which were obtained from the Division of Forest Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately these were all destroyed at the result of construction work.

In addition to plantings made at this Station, nuts and nut seedlings have been distributed to people who wished to grow a few nut trees on their own places.

Cultural practices have been very simple at the Station. After planting, the trees were cultivated for a year or two, then the space between sown to grass and clover and the space just around the trees was mulched with manure, hay, etc. The grass is cut several times a year and placed around the trees as additional mulch. Small quantities of a good commercial fertilizer such as 4-8-10 have been applied occasionally and some nitrogen also has been used.

Pruning has been reduced to a minimum, a light thinning out of branches being given as required. Very little attempt has been made to keep filberts to a single stem, but the walnuts have been kept to a single low-headed trunk.

There has been a marked increase in interest in the planting of nut trees in Ontario since the first plantings were made at the Station. These Station plantings serve to demonstrate in a small way that nut trees can be grown in the Niagara fruit belt of Ontario. The feasibilty, however, of growing nut crops in a commercial way, even in this district, is still open to question, although it is felt that farmers and others should be encouraged to plant a few nut trees on their property both for the sake of the nuts and because of the ornamental nature of the trees.

Soil Management for Nut Plantations in Ontario

J. R. van HAARLEM, Horticultural Experiment Station, Vineland Station, Ontario

Fruitgrowers with high priced land, such as we have in the Niagara Peninsula, are not much interested in using such land for a crop not yet proven commercially sound. Plantings, whether large or small, are likely to be made on low-priced marginal land needing good care. It is doubtful if these locations are best suited to proper nut culture since most nut trees are deep rooted with extensive root systems requiring the best soils.

At the Vineland Station we have three plantations made up of 110 walnuts, 240 filberts, 14 chestnuts and 6 pecans. These comprise named varieties and seedlings of black, Carpathian, and other Persian walnuts, filberts, chestnuts and pecans.

During the first years of the life of these plantations we maintained a clean cultivation program during the spring and early summer followed by the planting of a green-manure crop about July 1st each year. Such crops as buckwheat, millet, rye, and weeds, have been used on occasion. We soon found that the treatment was not good enough for the trees and we then changed to a grass sod with mulch around each tree within the spread of the branches. Since this sod-mulch treatment was applied the trees have done very much better, making fine growth and maintaining a large leaf area of good color. This treatment is fairly representative of the many trees planted in dooryards under sod conditions, where the grass is cut and left on top.

Most of our Ontario soils are deficient in organic matter and, depending on location, deficient in phosphate or potash, or both together. The mineral deficiency should first be corrected by liberal applications of the required fertilizer before placing the plantations in sod, in fact it would pay to do this several years before setting out the trees, growing alfalfa on this land and returning all the hay back into the soil. For plantations already set out these minerals could be placed in a furrow cut just under the outer spread of the branches. Our soils have a high fixation factor for phosphate and potash and we have found that the best practice is to place the fertilizer under the surface either with a deep-placement machine or as outlined above.

After the plantation is in sod an application of 500 to 1,000 lbs. of a 4-8-10 fertilizer every fifth year should take care of the mineral requirements. However, our experience with fruit in general where planted in sod is that not sufficient care is taken to keep the trees well supplied with nitrogen, many growers laboring under the mistaken idea that just the sod is sufficient. Liberal applications of either manure or nitrate in the spring is necessary to make sure that the tree gets its required nitrogen and not just the sod alone. Mineral fertilizers should be applied in the late fall, for under our conditions fixation of phosphate and potash is considerably less at that time. The plantation may be seeded down in the early spring but mulch should not be added until late fall. Applying the mulch in late fall will allow the material to fill up with water from the fall rains and winter snows, and so prevent the serious withholding of water from the trees during dry spells in the summer, because the light summer rains are seldom sufficient to soak through the dry mulch material. We have had several instances where a summer-applied mulch has seriously robbed the tree of needed moisture during dry weather. Do not look for immediate improvement from sod-mulch, it will take at least two years to become well established. Improvement should begin to show up the second year after applying.

We sometimes see a chlorotic condition of the foliage, different from the pale yellow foliage due to nitrogen deficiency, which occurs on marginal or shallow soil and often where the soil remains too moist, as along a water course or low spot. We frequently see this same trouble on grape foliage in such locations. This is probably due to a lack of sufficient iron intake caused by a deficiency of manganese. It can be cured by either spraying with a 1% solution of magananese sulphate or applying the dry salt under the spread of the branches. The spraying method seems to give better and faster results.

It has been reported from British Columbia that some die-back is due to deficiency of boron. Perhaps some of the die-back we see on nut trees during the summer is due to this cause and not all to winter injury. The very erratic results from ground application of borax would indicate that borax should be incorporated with one of the regular sprays as a 1% mixture.

Our conclusions therefore are that nut plantations should be placed in sod as soon as possible and a mulch established the fall of the year the grass is sown. Each year cut the grass and draw in around the tree to supplement the mulch. If not enough material is gathered in this way it can be supplemented by straw or old hay. Manure or nitrate should be applied each spring and trace elements where needed can be incorporated in the regular spray program.

* * * * *

Discussion after J. R. van Haarlem's paper.

Dr. MacDaniels: "I realize that there are more trees which are starving to death than are being overfed."

Silvis: "Do you recommend that freshly cut hay be used as mulch?"

Van Haarlem: "Any crop refuse can be used as mulch. Anything that will rot down. The pH of the soil should be 6.2 to 6.5."

O'Rourke: "Would you use clean cultivation for the first year?"

Van Haarlem: "There is nothing against it. We use sod mulch at Vineland. The reason that our growers are not growing nut plantations is that good land, that is good soil, sells for $1,000 per acre. Nut trees grown on poor land, cheap land, do not produce."

McCollum: "I am surprised that rain would not go through loose straw and will go through old straw. Where does the rain go when it falls on the loose straw?"

Van Haarlem: "It is absorbed before it gets through the straw. Dry mulch should be 18 inches deep."

Member: "How would you prevent erosion on rolling land?"

Van Haarlem: "Plant on the contour."

Dr. Crane: "How often do you renew mulch under trees?"

Van Haarlem: "After first application additional may be needed but after that enough is grown under trees which when cut and raked will suffice."

Report from Southern Ontario

ALEX TROUP, Jordan Station, Ontario

Here in southern Ontario we find that most of the northern nuts do well in most seasons. Among black walnuts the Thomas, Ohio, and many others do well. The Thomas does not always fill. The Ohio seems to be the favorite among Persian (English) walnuts. Franquette, Broadview and a few others are satisfactory but sometimes do not fill well. Of Japanese heartnut walnuts nearly all do well. The Mitchell, Stranger, Bates and others are satisfactory.

All the shagbarks and shellbarks are doing well, although only the young shagbarks are bearing, and then only lightly.

Chestnuts have done well at times but some trees have been killed by the blight. We have Japanese, Chinese and some other seedlings. They are sometimes winter injured.

Filberts are satisfactory and usually bear well. We have Barcelona, Du Chilly, Troup, White Aveline, Italian Red, Kentish Cob, Daviana, Mosier, Guy Smith, Nonpariel and Brixnut. The Barcelona drops nearly free of the husk and is a fine nut. Most are of this variety. We do not have hazels.

Pecans will grow and bear but do not fill.

Nut Trees Hardy at Aldershot, Ontario, Canada

O. FILMAN, Aldershot

During the past nine or ten years I have planted a few trees of some of the better known varieties of northern nut species, some of them chosen from the lists of promising selections in the annual reports of the Northern Nut Growers Association, some on the recommendation of reliable nut nurserymen. These trees have been planted here and there in various locations where space permitted on a small fruit and vegetable farm, not in orchard form nor in a solid nut tree planting.

Editor's Note: Anyone reading this paper should remember that it applies to an area of intensive growth of peaches, pears, and other fruits in a bit of Canadian land west of Niagara Falls and protected spring and fall from extremes of temperatures by Lake Ontario on the north and Lake Erie on the south. The paper by H. L. Crane in this report should be read in connection with it.

Aldershot is a fruit and vegetable growing district, about six miles from Hamilton, below the escarpment, on the Toronto-Hamilton lake shore highway. This district is almost at the western tip of Lake Ontario and is more or less a continuation of the Niagara fruit belt which borders the lake. Consequently the climate is not so severe as that of localities situated a few miles farther from the lake and above the Niagara escarpment at higher altitudes. Winter temperatures seldom go much below zero, although, in occasional seasons, temperatures of-20 degrees F., and sometimes even somewhat lower, are experienced.

The soil is a deep, well-drained, light sandy loam, known as Fox sandy loam, considered a good fruit and vegetable soil, if organic matter and fertility are maintained with manure, fertilizers and green manure crops.

Nut trees, which I have planted, include Chinese chestnut, heart nut, filbert, hickories, butternut, Persian walnut, a few black walnut seedlings and two seedling pecans.

=Chestnuts.= The native chestnut grew in the woods of this locality before the blight reached it. I have tried eight varieties of Oriental chestnuts, and I have trees surviving of five: Abundance, Hobson, Carr, Zimmerman, and one of Mr. Carroll D. Bush's called Chinese Sweet No. 3. They all came through a temperature of about-20 degrees, early in 1943 (with the exception of Zimmerman which was planted later) without showing any sign of killing back or other visible injury. Unfortunately, I have kept no records of crops but expect to do so.

=Abundance.= One bearing tree, purchased from Mr. Bush of Oregon, and planted in the spring of 1938. Bore a few burs in 1941. Bore a crop in 1944, missed 1945, a good crop in 1946. It is bearing what appears to me to be quite a heavy crop this year, 1947. Blossoms in July. Bears a good-size, attractive nut, which falls free from the bur, ripening in early October. Abundance has made the best growth of any of the varieties and appears the most promising.

=Hobson.= Two trees, one, planted in 1940, bore its first crop in 1946; the other, planted in 1943, not yet bearing. Has been a little disappointing, in view of the very favourable reports of its performance in more southern locations in the United States. Probably it is a little too far north of its natural environment. In some seasons it has made rather good growth, but not as vigorous as that of Abundance. It bore a fair crop in 1946, however, of attractive nuts of about the same size as Abundance. It ripened in late October about two weeks later than Abundance. These nuts germinated well this spring when planted in pots in the greenhouse.