Walnut Council members, nut growers and anyone interested in seeing the latest progress on the ultimate in nut producing plantation establishment will want to put October 8, 1999 on their calendars. That's when Forrest-Keeling Nursery and its manager, Wayne Lovelace will demonstrate all they've learned in the last 3 years about the best techniques for plantation establishment.
Forrest-Keeling nursery has established itself as one of the largest nut tree seeding producers in the Midwest. They are specializing in RPM trees that are grown in a series of containers. The roots are air pruned so that a mass of feeder roots are developed. Lovelace reports that the nursery will have between 15,000 and 20,000 walnut and pecan seedlings available this year. Of those, nearly 2,000 are grafted walnut and 1,500 are grafted pecans. The remainder are seedlings grown from nuts from known varieties.
Visitors will view the whole process from nut to the field. In field trials now underway, Lovelace has established a plantation that utilizes every technique to enhance the growth of seedlings. That includes fertilization, irrigation, plastic weed barriers and other ideas that all growers can use.
At a nursery field day 3 years ago, visitors watched a demonstration of field planting trees grown in 2-gallon containers. That planting will be revisited during the October field day. Growth has been fantastic, says Lovelace.
Anyone who anticipates establishing a pecan or walnut plantation for nut production should attend this field day. Lunch will be served by Forrest-Keeling Nursery. Please call the nursery at 1-800-356-2401 to help them plan ahead for the meal.
The field day begins at 10 a.m., Friday, October 8, 1999 at the Forrest-Keeling Nursery, located on Highway 79, about 2 miles south of Elsberry, Mo.
Twenty landowners listened intently as Dr. Bill Reid
described the "3-flap" and "bark-in-laid" graft. Reid, director of
the Pecan Research Field at Kansas State University gave a grafting
demonstration in May at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research
Center in New Franklin, Mo.
Wayne Lovelace demonstrates placement of a weed barrier around walnut trees at Walnut Council field day at Harper-Hill Farms near Butler, Mo.