Black Walnut, a worthwhile investment

While in school, more than once we were advised to plant black walnut trees on our properties if possible because in our area it is very valuable wood and a good financial investment for your children.

"The lumber of the black walnut is far more valuable than the nuts. The best logs are sliced for panelling or decorative veneer. Sawn black walnut is used for high-quality furniture, cabinets, interior joinery, rifle butts and gunstocks, boats, musical instruments, clock cases, carvings, and many other novelty products.

Although black walnut tree has been a high-return timber crop for decades, few plantations have been established. Many factors contribute to the lack of interest by landowners. One factor is length of the investment period. Like all other investments in timber plantations, years must pass before cash flow becomes positive.

Another factor may be the intensive management required. Black walnut plantations don't require the intensive management of conventional row crops, but numerous production problems must be overcome for plantations to be profitable. "

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/forestry/446-602/446-602.html

phg, there was an extensive thread on this recently on Trees & Shrubs.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/692560/

I don't know - was this a question or a statement. I grew up in southern WI where black walnuts grew everywhere. We had them in our yard even. Not recommended as a yard tree I can tell you. If you had a woodlot to plant them and forget I would say sure - some wildlife value. The big money is in the perfect verneer log. It was odd that as much as they liked the sandy soil the biggest one I ever saw(5'DBH) is growing 2' above the water table on a lake.

My father grabbed some black walnuts off the ground once at my college when visiting me there. Meanwhile, 25 years later, (!) the two that made it are over 30 feet high, and I'm hoping to get some nuts off them to start my own one of these falls. I just have to get there before the critters do-

They are handsome trees, outside of their investment value. And very easy to grow from gathered nuts. He threw them in pots to get them going safely, and then transplanted them after a year or two.

I love walnut as a woodworking material. Is that bad to say on a gardening board? My husband and I built this bed out of walnut. Although it's pretty expensive to buy, I doubt we'd ever cut down one of our own trees for lumber. We have a beautiful straight, tall cherry tree on our property. I had an arborist come to look at some ash trees that are dying and he commented on it as well. I can't take credit for it as we've only lived here for 2 years. I do enjoy looking at it though.

This message was edited Mar 19, 2007 11:08 AM

along with this should probably come some caution about being careful where you plant black walnut because of the juglone it produces which is toxic to many other plants. you have to be careful what you plant near it. I had a very nice little ornamental plum tree in my front yard about 20' from the property line. my neighbor's friend gave her a black walnut seedling and she planted it about a foot from the property line and within 6 months my plum was a goner. the walnut, however is thriving.

That's why the consensus on the other thread was that it is not a garden tree and should not be planted anywhere near where you want other things to grow. That juglans is powerful stuff.

We actually did have grass growing under ours, but mainly having to deal with picking up the nuts before mowing was a pain, and they would stain if left to blacken. In fact mainly what my dad used them for was to use the blackened husks to stain his traps.