Detailed Explanation of High-Yield Walnut Cultivation Techniques, a Must-Read for Growers

Walnut is one of the four major nuts, and its nutritional value and medicinal value are also relatively high. It is planted in many regions of our country. Below, let us learn about the high-yield cultivation techniques for walnuts.

High-Yield Walnut Cultivation Techniques

1. Site selection

Choose a leeward and sunny mountain foot, gentle slope land, flat land, or well-drained gully flat land at an altitude of 800 m-1800 m, a sunny slope or half slope with sufficient light, and sandy loam, light loam, or loam with deep soil layers and good permeability, where the groundwater level is below 2 m. Before planting, do a good job of land preparation and fertilization. Dig pits in autumn and winter, and apply decomposed farmyard manure and phosphate fertilizer.

2. Seed selection

Select varieties with good quality and yield. Their branches should be thick and strong, buds plump, free of pests and diseases, with complete main roots and lateral roots and strong stress resistance. They must also be most suitable for the local planting environment.

3. Planting

Choose 1-2-year-old walnut seedlings for planting. Cut off the residual roots of the seedlings, place them in the center of the pit, spread the root system, and hold them upright. When filling with soil, hold the position below the graft union of the seedling with your hand and gently lift the seedling upward, then firm the soil, achieving “three burials, two tramplings, and one lifting of the seedling.” Cover with soil and build a tree disc, that is, build a tree disc 15-25 cm high on the pit surface, and water thoroughly to settle the roots. The time should be from leaf fall in autumn to before germination the next spring, and planting on a rainy or cloudy day is best.

4. Fertilization

For young walnut trees, ring fertilization is best. Along the edge of the tree canopy, dig a ring-shaped ditch around the trunk, mix the fertilizer evenly with the topsoil and apply it into the ditch, then cover with subsoil. For mature trees, use radial fertilization or hole fertilization. In addition, topdressing can be carried out appropriately before walnut flowering, during young fruit expansion, and during the fruit hardening stage, while foliar spraying fertilizer can be carried out appropriately during the flowering period, rapid new shoot growth period, flower bud differentiation period, and after harvest.

5. Pruning

Generally, young walnut trees are not pruned in the year of planting. After they take shape in 3-4 years, cut off downward-facing branches, overly dense branches, crossing branches, drooping branches, and diseased and pest-infested branches to ensure ventilation and light penetration inside and outside, above and below the tree body. For fruiting trees, cultivate and rejuvenate fruiting branch groups. For young trees that have reached the trunk-setting height, after germination in spring, cut back at the trunk-setting height, leave a strong bud below the cut, keep the cut 1-2 cm from the bud, and remove all new shoots sprouting below the shaping zone.

During cultivation, walnut trees are susceptible to anthracnose, branch blight, aphids, sphinx moths and other leaf-eating pests. Growers must spray pesticides in advance for prevention, and diseased and dead branches must be destroyed in several ways, and orchard cleaning work must be done well.