Green Horizons

Most Missourians have either stooped to collect black walnuts from the woods, or know someone who has taken on this task.

The rich, hard-husked nuts are often collected by hand and delivered to various hulling stations across the state under the management of Hammons Products Company, Stockton, Mo. – the largest processor and supplier of eastern black walnuts for both food and industrial uses in the U.S.

Black walnut enthusiasts may make fewer trips to the woods for nut harvesting in coming years, thanks to a new guide developed by the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry. While black walnut trees can be grown for timber and/or nut production, the focus of the guide is toward planting, managing and harvesting top-quality black walnut nuts for sale at the retail or wholesale level from an orchard practice, similar to pecan and other nut trees. Titled “Growing Black Walnut for Nut Production,” the guide is a collaborative effort of the nut tree research cluster at the Center for Agroforestry and the nut research program of Kansas State University. It is the only one of its kind published in the U.S. and represents a decade of research on growing black walnut trees in an orchard practice.

“Black walnut has always been recognized as one of Missouri’s most valuable timber species. With the application of knowledge from this guide, black walnut may soon become known as one of our most valuable orchard species,” said Gene Garrett, director, University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry.

The guide offers sections on

• Nut production vs. wood production
• Setting goals for the orchard
• Site and cultivar selection
• Orchard design
• Transplanting walnut trees
• Harvest
• Marketing nuts

“Growing Black Walnut for Nut Production” is part of the Center’s Agroforestry in Action series, and can be downloaded, printed or ordered from: http://www.centerforagroforestry.org, Publications link. The guide is also available through MU Extension, publication #AF 1011, by calling (800) 292-0969; or order online from: http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/agroforestry.