A detailed guide to walnut tree planting methods, teaching you how to grow walnut trees step by step

Walnut is one of the nuts most loved by ordinary people, with benefits such as delaying aging, enhancing memory, and nourishing the brain and boosting intelligence, and is even known as the “longevity nut”. As market demand for walnuts continues to rise, growing walnut trees has also become a very promising planting project.

Walnut tree planting methods

1. Orchard site selection

Walnut has strong adaptability and does not have strict requirements for environmental conditions. Generally, places with an altitude of 500-1500 m, an annual average temperature of 9-16 degrees C, annual rainfall of 800-1200 mm, sandy loam or calcareous soil, pH 6.5-7.5, and deep, loose, fertile soil with good drainage can all be planted. Soil that is too clayey, too wet, or poorly drained is not suitable for planting. Walnut is a light-loving fruit tree and requires sufficient light, so when building an orchard in mountainous areas, south-facing slopes should be chosen.

2. Fine land preparation

Land preparation is an important step for improving the survival rate and growth and development of walnut cultivation. Land preparation is generally carried out half a year before afforestation. The method of land preparation can be chosen according to the site conditions of the walnut orchard: generally, for slopes below 10 degrees or flat land, full land preparation is used, with plowing; for slopes of 10-20 degrees, reverse-slope terraced land preparation is used. That is, according to the planting spacing of rows and plants, reverse-slope terraces are built along the trend of the slope; for slopes greater than 20 degrees, fish-scale pit land preparation is used. That is, a small platform is built at the planting point, with stone blocks used to build a ridge below. At the same time, according to the planting density, planting pits are dug in the prepared orchard land, generally requiring 1 m square. When digging pits, the soil should be placed in layers, and the topsoil should be filled into the pit in layers or mixed with farmyard manure, green manure, and crop straw.

How to plant walnut trees

1. Generally, dig the pits about 1-2 months in advance. Digging pits in advance is conducive to the maturation of the land. At this time, fill the topsoil into the bottom, and turn the subsoil to the top.

2. Soak the sapling in water with added “plant transplanting agent” for 3-4 hours to replenish water for the sapling and let the agent penetrate the roots of the sapling. This is conducive to the sapling's sprouting and survival.

3. Before planting, use a small knife to cut open the grafting film at the grafted part of the sapling. If it is not removed, it will affect walnut growth and cause the sapling to easily break at this point.

4. Do not put in fertilizer when planting. This prevents improper use from causing root burn to the sapling and affecting survival. You can wait until the sapling sprouts before applying fertilizer in an isolated way.

5. Backfill part of the topsoil into the tree hole, place the sapling in the center of the tree hole, fill with soil and firm it, gently pull the sapling upward by hand, then tread again, repeating three times. Doing this is conducive to the spreading of the sapling's roots.

6. Pour in an appropriate amount of water, and the water should soak through. Pour in an appropriate amount of water according to the degree of dryness and moisture of the soil. The soil moisture should be such that it can be held into a ball by hand and can scatter when lightly pressed by the palm. If it cannot be held into a ball, it is dry; if it cannot scatter, it is wet.

7. Take a 60 cm square black film and put it down over the top of the sapling, press the surroundings with soil. This can effectively prevent weeds from growing and has effects such as heat preservation, moisture retention, and fertilizer retention.

8. One month after the sapling survives, a fertilization ditch can be dug 20-30 cm away from the sapling. Isolated fertilization methods such as ring fertilization and radial fertilization can be adopted. Never apply fertilizer at the roots of the sapling.

9. Trunk setting is done after the sapling survives, cutting off the top at 50-60 cm above the ground. This is to dwarf the tree shape and improve the high-yield nature of walnuts. When setting the trunk, 3-5 main branches should be retained.

Walnut planting time

There are two planting periods for Ma walnut: spring planting and autumn planting. In the north, spring is prone to drought, the root wounds of Ma walnut heal relatively slowly, and rooting is relatively late, so autumn planting is better. Autumn-planted trees sprout early and grow robustly. For 3-4 year old grafted finished trees, the next year can have a yield of 1%-20%. That is to say, planting trees after autumn, in less than a year, can recover part of the investment and bring a relatively good return. The specific time for autumn planting is from before leaf fall to before the soil freezes (that is, October to November is acceptable); for spring planting, the best time is as early as possible when the local soil has just thawed, generally from late March to late April. Through the author's many years of cultivation experience, planting before leaf fall has better results and a higher survival rate than planting after leaf fall.

Pest and disease control

Before planting trees, check whether the roots and stems of Ma walnut trees have “root cancer” disease. The symptoms are small red nodules on the root crown, soft in texture and smooth on the surface. After the stem enlarges, it becomes a dark brown spherical or flat cancer tumor, lignified and hard. The surface is rough or uneven. In addition, round spot root rot is the main disease of Ma walnut trees. The control methods are: first, increase the application of organic fertilizer; second, prune reasonably; third, combined with trench fertilization, irrigate with 500 times dilution copper sulfate solution, or lime sulfur mixture, or 75% chloronitrobenzene 800 times solution, irrigating 50-75 kg per tree.

The above are the walnut tree planting tips summarized by the editor for everyone. I hope they can be helpful to everyone! Planting walnuts is not only easy to grow and high-yielding, but also has many sales channels, and can even be processed into products such as snacks, biscuits, and walnut oil for external sales.