Walnut Seeds - Start your own orchard

Hardy English Walnut (Juglans regia) Moberg Seed are now available for the first time.

You too can grow healthy tasty "English" walnuts.  We commonly called them "English" walnuts and they are sometimes call "Persian" walnuts (Juglans regia). Nurseries have been selling them for all most 80 years regionally. 

In our search for regionally adapted English walnut trees we started out 25 years ago by planting over 600 trees.  After 25 years we have only six trees left from the original plantings and one we feel is worth propagating.  In parallel we have been on the hunt for regionally adapted selections.  We believe we have found another tree worthy of propagating.

The mother tree we call Moberg is all alone in a yard on a hilly location. The mother tree is self-pollinating as no other type of walnut can be found within 1000 feet of it.  It produces every year and over a 55 gallon barrels worth of nuts.  It has over 50% kernel with a slightly sweet, and less bitter (a.k.a. tannin) than you often find in your grocery store. It is in a very windy USDA zone 5b location similar to our zone 5a/b nursery.  English walnuts need a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.5 and prefer deep gravel loam.  Grows upwards of 60 feet tall when mature and makes a very good shade tree.  An orchard full of the mother trees could make a very good commercial orchard and is why we are bringing it to you.  We know it is good in USDA zone 5b and if you are willing, please try in 5a or 4b!  Trees start producing nuts in year seven or eight depending on how happy they are. 

Seeds Sold in packs of 20 or 50 seeds.

The seeds usually ship within a week of placing the order. Keep the seeds refrigerated and moist.  Then plant out in the spring to grow your own hazelnut tree.  Great low-cost way to buy trees and great for education of our next generation.  We consistently get 75% germination when stratified properly.   Cannot ship to West coast or Canada for small orders.  For bulk orders or tax exempt please email us at dawnz@znutty.com or call 607 318 1318.  

How to stratify Walnut seeds.

Walnut seed stratification time requirements for this regionally adapted tree hasn't been confirmed, we stratify for over 1200 hours (at least two months) with a cool 34 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The same temperature as your refrigerator.  The seeds have an internal clock that keeps track of time in that temperature range and will then sprout after a few weeks to two months in the warmer temperatures we have in May in the New England states. 

The bag you receive the nuts in will work if you do the following.  Add some water and poke some very small holes near and at the bottom of the bag.  It is important the soil be moist, not wet or the seeds will mold.  If you can squeeze water from the soil then it maybe too wet.  Check the seeds weekly and do not let the seeds dry out or they also may not sprout.

We suggest you pot them about an inch below the soil and protect from rodents like mice, squirrels and chipmunks and out of the wind where soil could blow off and expose the seed.  If planted directly in the soil then create a mound of hardware cloth you can buy at any big box hardware store or farm store. Please close the ends of the hardware cloth and bury all sides in the soil making  small tent to protect the seeds from rodents.

You can fall plant, or store in plastic bags in the refrigerator crisper drawer until spring planting time. For winter storage, wet the potting soil or peat moss with the seed per above. Once prepared, check the seed every week through to spring. Do not allow the seeds to dry out or they will not want to sprout and will wait if they have the energy for the following spring. 

 We recommend a refrigerator at temperatures between 33 to 38 Fahrenheit or underground at a well-drained location in a wire cage container for the winter. Potting soil/mulched covering of wood chips, straw / leaves is strongly advised.

The potted or planted seeds need direct sun and some breeze after germination to grow properly. Therefore, shop lights in a room or partial sun near a window will not work.  Either condition will generate spindly weak seedlings.

With some initial care a few trees will give you a lifetime of delicious nuts to enjoy year-round. 

Propagation of seedling trees

Please remember that the seed grown from named cultivars can not have the cultivar name. Cultivars are propagated by asexual means, that is, by grafting, layering, cuttings or tissue culturing and through a license to propagate. A named cultivar has the same set of genes in every tree produced this way. A seed produced tree gets genes from 2 parents and so every seed grown tree is unique with its own set of genes and so should not be loosely named as its cultivar parent.