Re: The Black Walnut Tree, by MH

There is a black walnut tree that just yesterday I transplanted in hopes of giving it a chance at life that it otherwise would not have. I moved into a house about 2 years ago. The house includes a driveway with a roof over it but otherwise not enclosed. The driveway is covered with limestone shale (rocks) of various small to medium size. Last spring, I found this scrawny little twig of a tree sappling straining and trying to grow. It appeared to be growing right up out of the rocks not more than an inch or two away from the stone & mortar foundation. Where it was located, it never got any direct sunglight, at best it got some ambient light throughout the day. The amazing thing to me was that the little thing was alive and seemed to be managing to stay that way. This "tree" was about 6 inches tall and had one set of tiny branches, each with one set of leaves. Based on my estimation, it is a black walnut tree. Sometime later, I discovered way back at the one side and corner of the back yard is an old, somewhat abused black walnut tree. I'm pretty sure it is male cause last spring I'm pretty sure I noticed some buds dangling from the high branches. Anyway, when I first discovered this little sappling, it seemed to me to be too late in the growing season to try a transplant. When spring arrived about 2 weeks ago, this little tree proudly shot out it's two branches worth of leaves PLUS a new bit of growth at the tip. Yesterday I decided to give this tree a chance at life that it seemed it would otherwise never have. I hosed it down real good, then began scraping away the rocks. I got about 6 inches down and found that the root of this little guy (or gal... still not sure ;) had actually grown sideways for a few inches befor it then turns 90 degress to point straight up... this may have been it's effort to grow towards the light. This little thing had actually started growing, somehow, from under neath the house...... ?

I was able to get this little tree out of the ground without having broken any of the main roots/nerves. I then picked out a spot in the back yard about 30 feet from the old walnut tree, and made sure that if this little tree ever grows up to be a big tree, it will have plenty of clearance from the nearby nest of utility wires (electrical, cable, telephone) that runs through my back yard. I swear to God, within the first 24 hours after the transplant, this little tree has already grown up and out several inches. The tip of new growth I had observed two days ago has already sprouted another pair of branches each with one set of leaves (the familiar 7-leaflette pattern). That bent part of the root is now just above ground level and will, I hope, become the trunk that will someday be the source of somebody else remarking "hmmm, gee, I wonder why that tree's trunk grew sideways several feet before it then started growing to point up?"

I suspect the weather pattern in Central Ohio is a bit ahead of schedule for what we have here in Central Pennsylvania. I checked the old walnut tree yesterday, I'm pretty sure that the male buds have not opened.... yet, but they are getting close. It may have happened today, I was busy and did not have time to check. This tree looks like it has really taken a beaten over the years....lots of neglect....looks like several branches were hacked off here and there.... probably by somebody from the utility company "just doing my job" :( , and it's sort of half strangled by all kinds of creeping & vining weeds and bushes and stuff.

Question - how does one start walnut tree (male or female)? Will planting the nut work? Does the nut need to still be in the shell? I have a feeling that somehow, this little tree I just transplanted may have gotten it's start with some help from Mr Squirrel having buried a nut and then forgotten to come back and retrieve it. Just in observing the squirrels in my neighborhood, I've noticed that at least one of them is very thorough after this walnut tree has dropped it's nuts. It was kinda amusing to observe, one day late last summer, after the nuts/hulls had dropped. I noticed the squirrels dont' pay any attention until after the hulls have turned black and rotted off the nut/shell. Then they get busy. At that time, I had a whole bunch of individual potted Aloe plants on the back porch. One day I happened to look out the window and saw Mr Squirrel quickly scurrying across the porch rail, with a big walnut, in shell, hanging in it's mouth, going by these potted plants, one by one, and quickly frisking eachg of them (the Aloe branches).... I suspect he was looking for places to hide his nuts. I eventually found one laying sideways near the handle of the lid to the garbage can, and another lying beside an old shoe in the corner of the back porch.....kinda like what a three-year old might consider a good hiding place that is sort of not very well hidden :) I'm guessing what happened is that this one squirrel sort of cornered the market on my tree, or else his "eyse were bigger than his stomach" so to speak.... he had so many nuts to hide before winter that he eventually ran out of good places to hide them all and then resorted to using so-so hiding spots.