# Anyone here have a Black Walnut Tree?



## candelbc (Sep 11, 2007)

I am curious if anyone here has a Black Walnut tree? Did it seem to bear a lot more nuts this year? I have 3, and I can't even walk through my back yard. I am going to have to take off an entire day of work just to get them picked up.

I might save a couple to see if they're worth the effort of harvesting, otherwise, it's to the dump they go. I bet I have well over 2000 nuts in the back yard. 

Anyone have any experience with the tree, harvesting, or using the nut?

-Brad


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## Katie H (Sep 11, 2007)

Wow, Brad!  You have quite a harvest.  We used to have black walnut trees in our yard when I was a child, but don't have any where we are now.  I love black walnuts.  They're suckers to crack, though.  We used to put them in fudge.  They have a very strong flavor and some people don't care for them for that reason.  Good luck.


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## sparrowgrass (Sep 11, 2007)

There are buyers here in Missouri who buy black walnuts by the pound.  It is not much, but lots of retired folks and teenagers pick up nuts to sell.

Walnuts, like lots of other trees, bear in cycles--a couple years of light harvests, then a year or two of plenty.

They are tedious to crack and pick out.  You do need to let the husks turn black and then remove them, which is a chore in itself--very messy, because the husks will dye your hands and anything else a lovely dark brown.


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## Constance (Sep 11, 2007)

We have a black walnut tree in our yard, but we also have plenty of squirrels, and they take care of the nuts.
Black walnuts do have a strong taste, but a lot of people around here like them. My MIL used to make Black Walnut pie. 
The best way to crack them is to dump them out in the driveway, where they'll get run over every time you go in and out. You go out and pick up the cracked ones and pick them out...works great.


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## Caine (Sep 11, 2007)

I have close to 2,000 nuts in my back yard, too, but my back yard's a public beach, so there's not much I can do about it.


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## ronjohn55 (Sep 11, 2007)

Our neighbors have one - we figure it to be over 100 years old. Usually, lots of walnuts. This year, none! (Although it did drop a rather large branch on my SUV back in June)

I've never done much of anything with the walnuts though. Either left them for the squirrels, or just swept them up and gotten rid of them. 

John


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## pacanis (Sep 11, 2007)

Mine runs heavy/light loads of nuts, too. This year I am blessed with a light load. It takes a good part of the day to rake them into piles with just one tree. I was very close to purchasing one of these a couple years ago. Home
I still might. This year my yards are covered with pine cones.


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## candelbc (Sep 11, 2007)

I am not against harvesting the nuts for use, but man, it seems like a lot of work. It's hard enough just to get them all up in the yard. I also don't mind leaving them for the squirrels, however, when they crack and leave the shells, they are horrid on bare feet. 

We'll see. I am taking tomorrow off from work just to pick them all up. I might save a few just to attempt a small harvest. Some will be roasted, some will be left plain. If it's not too bad, I'll worry about harvesting them next year. 

So far in my yard I have 3 producing Black Walnut trees and one Mulberry tree. What a MESS!!!!

Thanks for tips.. I'll keep you posted...

-Brad


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## pacanis (Sep 11, 2007)

candelbc said:


> So far in my yard I have 3 producing Black Walnut trees and one Mulberry tree. What a MESS!!!!-Brad


 
I "had" three pear trees.  Very pretty flowers the first year I lived here..... Then the pears came...... Hornets, bees, rotting fruit wear I had to mow.....
Then the chainsaw came


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## bullseye (Sep 11, 2007)

I have three black walnut trees that I have threatened, in years past, to send to the sawmill to become furniture or gun stocks.  For the last three years, very little produce.  Maybe they heard me?


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## AllenOK (Sep 11, 2007)

I don't remember having to roast black walnuts.  

I processed some once, years ago.  My g'father, on Thanksgiving, took us out to a local HUGE black walnut tree and had us pick up a couple paper bags full of the nuts, in the husk.

Come Christmas, all the husks were black, so we dumped the nuts in the driveway, and walked over them to remove the husks.  We picked the nuts off the ground, and would go at them with our nut-cracker, and a small nail to pick the nut meats out.


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## Fisher's Mom (Sep 11, 2007)

Caine said:


> I have close to 2,000 nuts in my back yard, too, but my back yard's a public beach, so there's not much I can do about it.


 Now I have a picture in my head I can't get rid of!


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## Essiebunny (Sep 11, 2007)

We have 2 and our neighbor 1. Both have produced an abundance of nuts. However, we have many squirrels who help to clean up the mess of nuts.
I love the taste in fudge and a wonderful black walnut cake that my mil used to make.


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## Dave Hutchins (Sep 11, 2007)

I have heard of boiling them for a while to make them easyier to crack after you have the black outer skin off. the drive way in a gunny sack is a good way to go  other wise get a very big hammer


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## candelbc (Sep 16, 2007)

Well, I picked up a bout 5/8's of the Backyard, and I have around 600 pounds of Black Walnuts. I found the only real way to harvest them is to put on my Knee Pads and crawl in the backyard in rows. Then when I am sure I have got them all, I use the lawn mower to mark where I have been and see if I missed any.

What a blast!

-Brad


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