When to harvest walnuts. Walnut in the Middle lane: varieties, planting and care

walnut (Voloshsky) nut a real green treasure, a record holder among the world's nut crops. The fruits provide strength in a vegetarian diet, increase potency and are the best antioxidant, the green peel is rich in iodine and has a healing and anti-inflammatory effect from a simple touch to the skin.
The smell of walnut leaves repels flies. Therefore, the walnut was planted in such places where long conversations or waiting were expected, the gathering of important people.

A ripe walnut with a cracked and exfoliated green peel easily flies off the tree, all low-quality fruits remain on the tree even if the branches are strongly shaken.

How they planted walnut in Crimea for doubling the root system:

• Before planting, a flat stone was laid at the bottom of a shallow pit so that the tap root of each of the two seedlings would immediately go to the side and find nutrition in the most fertile layer, and not go deep into the barren underlying rock, where there is also a danger of being in groundwater.
• A few handfuls of wheat or barley; the grain germinated over time, but the sprouts could not break out on the surface of the earth, they rotted in the soil, providing the young seedling with organic substances, barley known for inhibiting the growth of any other grasses, including weeds; the passages that they made in the ground served the roots of the walnut for a long time, improving opportunities for breathing and food - after all, the earth in traditional Crimean gardens is not loosened.
• The seedling was double - at the roots of two young nuts, a flat cut was made with a sharp garden knife and firmly attracted to each other with a washcloth, so that reliably splice; after one year, the trunk that looked a little weaker was cut off, and the remaining one received double root system and a double portion of the juices of the earth.

In Crimea, walnuts are usually planted in front of houses, or on the street, or in the front garden.
So at least half of the crown is outside the site.
In the second half of September, nuts of ideal taste can simply be picked up on the streets (outskirts, or the so-called "quiet center") of all Crimean cities. The question is often asked on the Internet - how to store walnuts, because in the Crimea, in the south of Russia and throughout Ukraine and Moldova, you can pick up whole bags of fruits. Walnut it is necessary to collect only completely free from the peel. And without blackness from rotten peel. It is not necessary to clean such fruits. Warm the nuts for 20 minutes in the oven at a temperature of 80 ° C. This eliminates their damage from the fungus, destroys pests, and dries the core. Processing for confectionery purposes will be faster and easier. The best mixes with a great therapeutic and healing effect are obtained in combination with honey, lemon, dried apricots, raisins, figs, prunes.

Good varieties of walnuts have a very thin shell.
But in the 20th century, the local hickory nut with a very dense shell was brought from North America.
Due to pollination, the quality of the Crimean walnut has deteriorated greatly.
Hard-shelled nuts can be cracked open by squeezing the nuts between the door and the frame (this is if you go to school or the office).
you can just stick the key or short screwdriver into the place of the nut to which the stalk was attached, and turn so that the shells fall apart in half.

In the nuts of August and September, the thin peel is separated from the fruit, so they are healthier. I read that unripe nuts contain growth vitamins.
The thoughtful reader can verify this.

Quote:

There is reliable information that the walnut grew in the Tertiary period, and its distribution area was much wider than at present. During archaeological excavations, the remains of this culture were found in Greenland and on the banks of the Ob River in Siberia. After the Ice Age, only insular remnants of this area remained in the southern part of the northern hemisphere and certain types genus in the southern hemisphere (Zhukovsky, 1964). I. S. London, cited by Cociu (1958), considers Iran to be the birthplace of the walnut, based on the fact that it grows wild in Asia Minor and the Caucasus. Other researchers suggest that China, India, Japan may be the birthplace of the walnut, where it was cultivated much earlier than in Iran. The first information about the walnut in Europe is found in the literary monuments of the 7th-5th centuries BC. Pliny mentions that the Greeks brought this culture from the gardens of the Persian king Cyrus. Greek gardeners appreciated the excellent ornamental trees and mainly taste qualities nuts. Therefore, this culture was called royal. From Greece, the nut came to Italy, and later the Romans spread it to France, Germany, Switzerland, and Bulgaria. In the USA, it became known only in the second half of the 19th century, in England - in 1652. The walnut was originally brought to the Crimea by Greek colonists from Turkey and Greece in early XIX century. Therefore, it was called Greek, and later Greek. It was brought from Moldova and Romania to the southwestern part of Ukraine under the name "Voloshsky". Walnut has been known in Moldova for a relatively long time. The Odessa Archaeological Museum stores samples of nuts found during excavations in the southern regions of the republic, whose age is more than 1800 years.

the most famous walnut of the Crimea, Nikulin's walnut from the film Prisoner of the Caucasus. At the Valley of Ghosts above Alushta

Walnut
General information: deciduous tree up to 20-35 m high with a powerful developed root system. Life expectancy is 400 years on average.
The fruit is a dry drupe with a fleshy inedible cupule that dries up and cracks when ripe. Fruits in size can be small, medium and large; in shape - round, oval, oval-oblong, oblong-flattened from the sides, ovoid, obovate, etc. The surface of the shell is almost smooth, finely and coarsely wrinkled, sometimes bumpy with numerous cells. Requirements: walnut - warm and moisture-loving a culture that can develop and bear fruit exclusively in the southern warm regions prefers humid places. It grows well and bears fruit where the average annual air temperature is 8-10 °C, and the average monthly temperature of the warmest month is 20-25 °C. It should be remembered that walnut is a heat-loving crop that requires a lot of heat, sun and high average annual air temperature, so walnut fruits do not ripen in the middle lane. Warm, open, gentle slopes are preferable for walnuts. He needs a deep layer of soil rich in minerals and soil moisture. Walnuts are not recommended to be grown in hollows, where frosty air usually stagnates and the level of groundwater is high.
Formation of the crown of a walnut tree
1. Walnut seedlings are cut short, leaving only 2 buds, which is a height of 20-30 cm above the soil level. In the course of post-planting pruning, it is necessary to remove the standard growth, which occurs near the grafting site and can be quite abundant.
2. Two shoots develop from the left buds, one of which must be removed. To bookmark the crown, a stronger and well-located shoot with a more obtuse angle of departure is chosen, the second shoot is cut into a ring.
3. A new tree stem is formed from the left strong branch, which should be no more than 1-1.5 m in height. As the shoots grow on the left branch, they begin to form the crown of the tree, choosing for this shoots with good angles discharge. When forming a crown in a tier, 3 branches are left at an interval of 10-25 cm, 2-3 additional single branches are laid above this tier
Composition: the nut kernel contains fats, proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts, vitamins A, B, C, E and P.
Landing: seedlings are planted at a distance of 10 x 10 m, followed by thinning. Walnuts are most often planted as two- or three-year-old seedlings without a developed crown, most often in spring, so that their crowns do not freeze during autumn planting in winter. If a seedling is planted on permanent place, and the height of its trunk is still insufficient, the stem is lengthened in the first year of planting due to the escape from the terminal bud. The remaining buds are removed at the beginning of their blooming or, if the trunk is still weak, short lateral overgrowing branches are left, which are cut out in mid-August.
You can grow walnuts and direct sowing. To do this, 5-6 fruits are sown on a well-loosened area to a depth of 10 cm, treated with special agents against pests.
Of the sprouted plants, the best, the strongest, are left. This plant forms a tap root that penetrates deeply into the ground, which gets the necessary moisture and nutrients from a sufficient depth.
Varieties
A large number of varieties of walnut are known and widely cultivated. Krasnodar, Kairov, Pelan, Adil, Dawn of the East, Breeder, Dessert .
Care: regular moistening of the soil, but moisture stagnation should not be allowed. The tree is vigorous, therefore, it needs a systematic replenishment of the supply of nutrients through the introduction of mineral and organic fertilizers. It is necessary to monitor the level of soil acidity, which should be in the range from neutral to slightly alkaline. The soil in the near-stem circle of a walnut must be regularly loosened and mulched to preserve soil moisture.
The need for post-planting walnut seedling pruning.
If the seedling is not pruned after planting, it will remain weak and develop several shoots in the upper part, located in a whorl, with sharp corners of discharge. Forming a crown with such an arrangement of branches will subsequently be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The crowns of trees that have not undergone post-planting pruning, even after many years, may remain underdeveloped.
pruning: the walnut crown is formed according to an improved longline and modified leader system. The crown is created on a trunk with a maximum height of 1 - 1.5 m. It is important that the height of the trunk be as small as possible. After planting a walnut seedling in the second year, during bud break, the tree is cut to 2 buds, of which one will be used as a backup. grown out of her annual runaway almost immediately cut out, leaving only one annual shoot. If the annual shoot does not reach at least 60 cm in the second year, it is again shortened to 2 buds in the third year in the spring, proceeding in the same way as in the previous year. After that, the crown shoots, as a rule, reach the required length and in the future they are no longer shortened. After crown formation, pruning is usually not needed. Every 2-3 years it is necessary to cut out dry and too densely growing branches, which maintains the most favorable lighting in the crown. Walnut trees have a high shoot-forming ability, easily tolerate crown rejuvenation and quickly recover even after winter freezing.
Usage: the kernel is very nutritious, used as food in fresh, as well as raw materials in the confectionery industry for the manufacture of halva and other oriental sweets. Jam, pickles are made from green fruits, medications get vitamins. Due to the high content of protein and nutrients and compounds, walnuts are prescribed for people weakened by diseases, suffering from beriberi, loss of strength and general weakening of the body. Peanut butter used for food, for the best grades of paints, soaps, varnishes, ink, to obtain essential oils. Cake is a highly nutritious feed for livestock and poultry. From the leaves, trunk bark and roots, a very durable black and brown dye is obtained for fabrics, wood and hair; from the shell of nuts - tannins.

Jam from walnuts is rightfully considered the “king” among sweet desserts, which has not only an original taste, but is also very beneficial for the body. This magical delicacy has a strong bactericidal, antisclerotic, anti-inflammatory action. As well as in walnuts, it contains linoleic and oleic acid, vitamins C, PP, group B, contains iodine, magnesium, zinc, copper and phytoncides.

To make delicious walnut jam, you need to choose the right ones. That will provide half the success. For cooking, you need to choose large nuts, preferably perfect shape and of course without black spots and other flaws. The fruits should be not yet ripe - green, with a delicate, milky-wax shell inside. You can check them like this: pierce the nut with a toothpick or a knife, through and through. Excellent quality nuts that are still soft inside. The best time for harvesting is the second half of June, when the nuts are in the stage of milky ripeness.

How to prepare dishes for making walnut jam.

Very important choose cooking utensils. Do not use copper and aluminum utensils for this. Copper ions destroy ascorbic acid. And when cooking in aluminum dishes - the high acidity of the jam breaks the oxide film and the metal gets into the product.
Best to use- enameled containers or stainless steel utensils.
Pre-lids and jars for jam must be rinsed with a solution baking soda(1 tsp / 1 liter of water). Then rinse with hot water and dry. Boil lids additionally.
How to prepare walnut fruits for jam.

Do not forget to wear gloves when cutting nuts so that they are contained in large quantities iodine did not stain the skin of the hands in a dark color.

The first way to prepare nuts.
1. Before you start making jam, nuts need to be prepared.
2. Pre-peel them from thin green skin, and then soak for 2 days in cold water.
3. But do not forget to change it at least 3 times a day.
4. Then the water must be drained and filled with lime mortar.
5. Prepare this solution from 5 l. cold water and 500 gr. slaked lime.
6. Nuts insist in lime mortar for 4 hours and filter.
7. All this must be done to eliminate the bitter taste of nuts, which can also go into jam.
8. Then the nuts prepared in this way are washed under running water, prick in several places with a fork or needle and soak again in cold water for 2 days.

The second way to prepare nuts.
1. But you can prepare walnuts a little differently, without soaking in lime. Peel only the ends of the nuts and pierce each nut in several places with a fork or knitting needle, and stick a carnation into the resulting holes.
2. Then, prepared in this way, put the nuts in a bowl, fill with clean water and keep for 10 days in cold water.
3. It is also necessary to change the water every day 1-2 times. Then you need to boil on the 10th day in hot water 13 minutes.
4. Then drain the water and soak again for a day in cold water.
5. Then take out and dry the nuts.

And in order to cook delicious and fragrant green walnut jam, you need to cook it in three steps. Bring to a boil over low heat, simmer for 5 minutes. Then wait for it to cool down completely. The jam will be thick. So repeat three times.

And if you want to experiment, get an unusual taste, then add orange zest mixed with cinnamon and vanilla to the jam. Get a delicious aroma and unforgettable taste!
After seaming, store the jam in a dark place, at a temperature not exceeding 25 degrees.

Recipe 1 .

This will require: 100 pcs. green nuts, 2 kg of sugar, 8 glasses of water, 10 cloves, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 5 pcs. cardamom. First, sugar syrup is prepared. To do this, pour 8 glasses of water into the basin, pour 2 kg of sugar, after boiling, lower the prepared nuts. And for flavor during cooking, a bag with ground spices is placed in a container: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom. Boil until cooked until the nuts acquire a black nut sheen. At the very end, add vanilla. Pour hot into jars and roll up.

Green walnut jam- recipe 2 .

Prepare nuts - 100 pieces, then take 2 kg of sugar, 2 glasses of water, 10 clove buds, 1 lemon. Nuts are dipped in boiling water, completely covering them, and boiled for 10 minutes, thrown back on a sieve. Sugar syrup is prepared: mixed with 2 cups of water, boiled, skimmed. Nuts, cloves are dipped into the resulting syrup, lemon juice is added. Bring to a boil over low heat. When the jam has cooled, you need to boil it again. So you need to repeat three times, and then cook until tender. Pack in sterile jars.

Green walnut jam- recipe 3 (in Armenian).

It is necessary for 100 pieces of green nuts 400 ml of water, 1 kg of sugar, 10 cloves, 10 grams of cinnamon and 2 lemons. First you need to prepare a syrup of water and sugar, and then cool. Then put prepared nuts in it, and immediately add the juice of two lemons. Boil and leave for a day. Repeat three times, and then cook until fully cooked, until the nuts are completely soft. Transfer the jam to sterilized jars, pour the remaining syrup, cork.

Green walnut jam- recipe 4

Take 1 kilogram of green walnuts, half a kilogram of sugar, a little cinnamon and vanilla. Make sugar syrup. Add a slice of vanilla and unground cinnamon to the syrup. Then pour the warm syrup over the nuts. The next day, remove the nuts from the syrup and boil the syrup further until it thickens. Repeat this on the third and fourth day. When the syrup becomes very thick, put the nuts into the syrup and boil the walnut jam for 10 minutes. Then put walnut jam in jars, close and tie well.

Green walnut jam- recipe 5 (in Bulgarian).

This recipe is not easy, but the result is wonderful. Required: for 1.1 kg of nuts, 1 glass of water, 1 kg of sugar, citric acid (10 gr.). First, prepared and peeled nuts are dipped in a solution of citric acid (0.5%) for 1 hour. Apply the method of alternation. To do this, the nuts are first dipped in boiling water for 4 minutes, and then in cold water for 10 minutes. And repeat this manipulation repeatedly, 7 times at least. At the same time, you need to cook syrup from water and sugar, and then put the nuts into it and cook until fully cooked. But do not forget to add to the jam 10 minutes before the end of cooking citric acid. Pack the jam in jars, roll up.

Green walnut jam- recipe 6 (in Ukrainian).

Required: 1 kg of nuts, 1.2 kg of sugar, 1 lemon, cloves (10 buds). Pre-prepared nuts are washed. And then they pierce with a thick needle, and boil for 20 minutes, and then cool in cold water. Syrup is made from water and sugar, lemon juice and cloves are added to it. The nuts are poured with this solution, and then boiled for 5 minutes and left for an hour, then brought to a boil again and boiled for 5 minutes. This is repeated three times. And only for the fourth time they cook until fully cooked. And still hot poured into jars and rolled up.

We all love healthy and tasty walnut kernels. But I would like the fruits to be brought to us not from afar, but to have the opportunity to grow it in central Russia. And now varieties have appeared specifically for growing walnuts in cold climates.

general characteristics

The walnut is a deciduous tree with a huge lifespan (several hundred years). Its height is 25–35 m. The large, wide crown is covered with complex leaves. The trunk is thick, with gray bark, covered with cracks. The plant is monoecious, dioecious, on which male and female flowers. Wind pollinated. A fruit covered with a thick, fleshy skin, a false drupe. Below it is a healthy kernel (80% of the weight of the nut), which is eaten.

It is interesting! As a rule, there is little vegetation near the tree. This is due to the fact that the roots secrete a special substance, due to which the growth of other plants is inhibited.

Popular frost-resistant varieties

There are 4 forms of walnut: English or Persian, White, Black, Japanese. All of them are members of the family. Walnut.

As for the varieties, the culture of the walnut is southern, imported from Central Asia. And for a long time it was believed that its habitat is the warm regions of our country. To date, the market already has varieties that are winter-hardy, productive, practically not affected by pests and diseases that can be grown in central Russia and the Moscow region.

• Dessert. Differs in early term of maturing and nuts with sweetish taste. The height of the tree is medium. The crown is wide. The culture is drought tolerant. Winter hardiness is average: in the cold, the kidneys can freeze slightly. Fruiting begins in the 4th season.
• Elegant. A short tree (4–5 m) with an oval crown. It is characterized by medium resistance to frost. Nuts ripen in 5 years. Collect them in early autumn.
• Aurora. Early, tall walnut. Fruits appear on the 4th year, with the new season the yield increases. Frost resistant, disease resistant.
• Ideal. Early variety. Well known to Russian gardeners. He is loved for high productivity and winter hardiness (withstands up to -35⁰С). Flowers form inflorescences and real grape bunches grow from nuts (up to 15 pieces).

It is important that the walnut has stepped outside its habitats. Low growth, good yield, resistance to frost makes the culture accessible to central Russia.

Landing

The best way to propagate is to get a culture from seeds. In this case, you can be sure what results you will get in the end. Pick up a tree and collect several specimens of fruits from it. A seedling grown from such fruits will be well acclimatized to local conditions.

Attention! To grow a crop, it is worth planting more than one tree. The distance between seedlings is 5 m. Keep in mind that over time the crown will grow. On the slopes, a denser landing is permissible - after 3.5 m.

Walnuts should be planted in sunny, lit places. In relation to soil, the plant is unpretentious. He is "satisfied" different types soils and varied terrain. But do not plant in swampy, sandy and poorly aerated areas. Undesirable proximity to groundwater.

Landing technology next:

1. We plant in the spring, because autumn planting can lead to the death of poorly strengthened seedlings from frost.
2. Landing time - April (more specifically, the time is determined based on the region).
3. The landing pit (50 × 50 cm) is prepared in advance, we fill it with a rich earthen mixture. The composition of the mixture: compost + ash + superphosphate. You can add humus.
4. We straighten the roots, gradually sprinkling them with an earthen mixture. Watering. We compact the soil around the seedling.
5. The root neck is covered with earth by 5 cm.

The first fruits should appear in 4 years.

Care

Walnut - planting and care

The plant is not demanding to care. While it is small, you can grow vegetables between the trees.

Attention! nitrogen fertilizers must be applied with great care, as they can cause the development of bacterial diseases. At the beginning of the growth of the seedling, you should not make them at all.

Why doesn't the tree bear fruit?

There are times when a walnut does not bear fruit, and there is causes:

1. It is typical for young trees in case of strong thickening of branches. It is necessary to remove excess branches and thin out the crown.
2. Good growth, but no flowering. In this case, they say that "the tree has grown fat." Stop watering and fertilizing. If this does not help, then you need to cut the roots.
3. The walnut blossoms, but does not form ovaries. Take a branch with ripe pollen and shake it over a tree where the formation of an ovary does not occur. That is, pollinate the nut artificially.

reproduction

You can get a new plant seeds, vegetatively, grafting.

Reproduction by seeds

Before planting, the seeds are soaked in water, and then in the Zircon growth preparation for 3 days. Planted in April, when the soil warms up to 10⁰C in a pre-prepared fertile soil. Planting depth - 10 cm.

When planting, we do not throw the nut, but set it sideways on the edge. Under the "open sky" growth is slow, seedlings grow much faster in film greenhouses. It is interesting that in their qualities they can surpass the mother plant.

Propagation by vegetative means

Walnut can be propagated by ground shoots that grow in the area of ​​the root collar. Development is much faster than that of seedlings. Fruiting begins already at 3-4 years. If propagated by cuttings, then use the shoots of this year. Landing - the end of April or November.

Reproduction by grafting

As a rootstock, 2-year-old seedlings are used. Vaccination is carried out in March. In the northern regions, seedlings are grown in containers, in December they are left in a warm room. And they vaccinate in February. Disembarkation at open ground produced in May. With this method of reproduction, the qualities of the "mother" plant are completely preserved.

It is important! Seeds must go through a period of stratification (preparation for sowing). This will take from 2 to 3 months (depending on the thickness of the shell), all this time the nuts will spend in wet sand in a cool place. A month before planting, the nuts are transferred to heat, where they are kept in water and growth stimulants.

Pests and diseases: control measures

Compared to other trees, walnuts are less likely to be affected by pests and diseases. But nevertheless, some "friends of the garden" visit it:

• American white butterfly. During the summer it gives three generations, and the third is the most harmful. Butterfly caterpillars, having settled on the leaves, gradually move throughout the tree. To combat them, you can use microbiological preparations or insecticides.
• Apple or walnut codling moth brings 2 generations. Caterpillars crawl inside the nut, eating out its contents. Infected nuts fall off. The method of struggle is pheromone traps that attract males. Reproduction is reduced, caterpillars become smaller. They are treated with viral preparations that cause caterpillar disease and their death. Use and mechanical method: collection of caterpillars and affected fruits by hand.
• Aphid settles on young shoots and buds, forms colonies on the inner leaf surface. Chemicals are used for destruction.
• sapwood- a beetle that settles under the bark, so it is difficult to detect it. Gnawing the bark on a tree, it leaves behind curved channels. Beetles settle on weak plants, cause an abundant flow of juice. During the summer, 2 generations are formed. Control measures: spraying with insecticides. Prevention - sanitary felling of damaged branches.

A tree can also become ill for physiological reasons: poor soil, lack of light, excess moisture, spring frosts, poor care.

Most often, the walnut is struck, bacterial burn, bacteriosis, root cancer.

How to cover a walnut for the winter?

We received winter-hardy varieties, but winters are not snowy and cold, and the tree needs shelter.

Even before frost, you need to wrap the root collar, trunk and skeletal branches with covering material. You can insulate with agrofibre, burlap, roofing felt, linoleum. The base can be covered with spruce branches and coniferous branches. This will protect the tree from severe frosts and winds. In spring, the tree will be healthy and ready to bear fruit.

It is important! When the snow falls, they need to throw a walnut up to the skeletal branches, covering the entire trunk. Throw spruce branches on top. So the tree will better endure the winter. Besides, root system won't get hurt.

Beneficial features

Useful properties are obvious, since the fruit contains:

• Vitamin E"solves problems" of the cardiovascular system, lowers blood pressure;
• Antioxidants rejuvenate, reduce the risk of cancer;
• Potassium important in metabolic processes;
• Cellulose plays a role in intestinal peristalsis, weight loss, obesity prevention.
• cobalt, iron, zinc increase hemoglobin levels, preventing anemia.

In addition, walnut increases potency in men, has a general tonic effect, and has a positive effect on brain function due to its high protein content. The calorie content of the fetus is 653 kcal / 100 g.

Attention! The product is high in calories, consume it in moderation. To maintain health and well-being, it is enough to eat 7 nut kernels per day.

Harvesting

Green (unripe) nuts have a soft core and skin. The collection of such fruits is carried out in May. They are pierced with a needle and, if juice flows out of the hole, collection can begin. The fact is that unripe fruits are very useful, they are rich in many substances and are widely used in folk medicine. In cooking, compotes, marinades, jams are prepared from them.

Video about planting a walnut and caring for it

Now, with the advent of frost-resistant varieties of walnuts, every gardener can grow this very useful and tasty nut on his plot. Use the information from our article and you will succeed!

AT last years some previously considered purely southern cultures moved far north. Among them are persimmon, apricot, cherry and. Attempts to expand the area of ​​growth of the latter were made in different time both scientists and gardeners-enthusiasts.

Professor A.K. Skvortsov devoted almost 30 years to experiments with walnuts. In 1977, he laid the first experimental plantation, which was based on seedlings grown from the fruits of trees that grew on the territory of the Moscow enterprise NIUF Experimental Plant. Later, seedlings from other places were added to them.

For many years, the landings were closely monitored, but the final conclusion, which A.K. Skvortsov announced in 2005, was disappointing.

In one of his articles, he wrote: “In relation to the Moscow climate, no significant features have been found that would distinguish plants grown from different batches of seeds ...

With regard to stability, they apparently depend more on the situation and on the combination of circumstances in the course of the life of each tree than on its genotype. This was to be expected, since the genetic potential of the species' adaptability to more severe climatic conditions has long been practically exhausted.

This is especially evident in our reproduction plants: they have not shown themselves to be more resilient than their parents.”

A significant number of walnut trees can be found in the metropolitan area. One of them grows very close to Moscow, in Shcherbinka. It was grown about 22 years ago from a walnut brought from the Donetsk region. A tree sheltered from the winds by the wall of the house and receiving from it additional heat, does not freeze and gives, although small, but tasty and thin-skinned fruits (photo 1).

Another of the walnut trees, brought as a seedling from Rostov-on-Don, grows in a holiday village near Khimki. From the north, it is reliably protected by a house and a large oak tree. Every year the owner collects a bucket of nuts from a tree.

And for A. Bukin, a gardener near Moscow, growing walnuts has long become the most common activity. He repeatedly demonstrated his seedlings from the Leninsky district at various specialized exhibitions.

There are separate fruiting walnut specimens in Kratovo, Kolomna, Ruza and other settlements of the Moscow region.

In addition, I am aware of two trees obtained from Baltic nuts and growing in the Aptekarsky Garden (Botanical Garden of Moscow State University, Moscow), as well as one specimen in the Novogireevo region (in the east of Moscow).

Probably the northernmost walnut plantation was founded in the stronghold of the Leningrad Botanical Garden, located 100 km north of the city, on the Karelian Isthmus, in the village. Otradnoe. There, the botanist I.N. Konovalov was engaged in the introduction of this plant from the beginning of the 50s.

Big science is silent about the results of those experiments, but in botanical garden Petersburg, trees grown from the fruits of the Konovalov selection of walnuts grow and live. True, in unfavorable years, due to a lack of heat, the fruits do not ripen on them.

There are at least two more walnut trees in the city on the Neva. One of them is on the street. Yesenin, grows in a strong thickening and looks oppressed, although at the same time it bears little fruit.

But the second one - on the Sea Embankment - feels very good (photo 2). It was planted more than 20 years ago by amateur gardener Valery Yevtushenko with a seedling brought from Rostov.

For the second decade, the tree has been producing bountiful harvests. As the owner himself notes, sometimes there are more than two hundred nuts per season.

So far, we have been talking about ordinary nuts, which begin to bear fruit ten years after planting. But our colleague Valery Goryachev from the city of Krasnoarmeyets, Moscow Region, managed to grow a fast-growing dwarf hybrid nut of I. Levin's selection. This nut gave the first harvest after 4 years (photo 3)

At the same time, the gardener does not cover his seedling in any way.

As you can see, the walnut is not so rare in the middle lane, although it is not very stable - it often freezes and remains without a crop.

Nevertheless, growing it is within the power of most gardeners. The main thing is to create a nut favorable conditions– provide a sunny location, protected from strong cold winds.

Most of the plants I've seen are in just such conditions, under the cover of trees, fences or buildings.

And although Professor A.K. Skvortsov argued that walnut plants from different regions differ little from each other in terms of resistance, it seems to me important where the planting material came from.

For example, I have a seedling grown from a Crimean nut, even under snow, it freezes almost to the ground every year, and seedlings obtained from plants near Moscow and Kharkov, for the most part last winter like they didn't notice at all.

So, in my opinion, walnuts, albeit with some reservations, can be grown in regions with absolutely no southern climate.

The experience will be crowned with a big nut!

Just yesterday, no one could even think of growing a heat-loving walnut in middle lane Russia. Today, thanks to domestic breeders, this becomes possible. But still, adapting culture to local conditions is not an easy task.

What are the best walnut seedlings?

The boundaries of the natural distribution of the walnut - Krasnodar region and the North Caucasus. In the Central Russian latitudes, southern seedlings freeze hard in winter, and in spring their shoots die from night cooling. As a result, the culture turns into a stunted, undersized tree that does not yield a crop. Therefore, experiments with walnut seedlings brought from areas with a warm climate do not give positive results. How to be?

Breeders have found the most frost-resistant forms among all varieties of walnut. They took seedlings from the highlands of the Caucasus and Central Asia, where the temperature in winter sometimes drops to 40 °.

There, in the walnut forests, plants are represented in the wild. Cultivated winter-hardy varieties were found among gardeners in the Belgorod, Voronezh, Bryansk, Kursk regions of Russia, as well as in the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine in the Kharkov region. When growing seedlings in these latitudes, the Kamensky, Voronezhsky, Krepysh and Shevgenya varieties performed best.

Another way is selection. Gardeners took the fruits of nuts collected in the mountainous regions of Dagestan and Ukraine. Planted them in the gardens of the Moscow region. And then from the seedlings obtained, already slightly adapted to local conditions, the most frost-resistant seedlings were selected. These seedlings were able to develop into trees of normal size and bear fruit. Breeders who grew up in a harsh climate sowed nuts and got even more winter-hardy plants. From their fruits, seedlings of the third generation came out even more adapted to the conditions of Central Russia.

Worth the risk?

Gardeners also used the method of crossing plants of different species - the so-called interspecific hybridization. They took the seedlings Manchurian walnut(a frost-resistant relative of the walnut, but with more poor quality fruits - with a thick shell and a small core) and pollinated its flowers with walnut pollen. From the fruits grown after this, the breeders selected those that most resemble walnuts in appearance and taste. They planted seeds, and when the seedlings grew up, they selected trees from them that looked like walnuts and gave corresponding fruits. True, from these fruits, which are identical in appearance to walnuts, Manchurian walnut seedlings still grow.

Certain difficulties arose due to the fact that walnut trees, accustomed to a long growing season in the south, suffer greatly from spring and autumn frosts. Gardeners succeed in making them bloom later in the spring by collecting snowdrifts around the boles and covering the snow with boards from rapid melting. Then, on cold nights, non-woven material is thrown over the trees. And in the fall (at the end of August - in the first days of September), the ends of non-lignified branches are pinched from the seedlings, and phosphorus-but-potassium top dressing is applied under them. For trees, this is a signal for the end of shoot growth and preparation for winter.

So far, work on the adaptation of walnut for the central regions of Russia has not yet been completed. But there are already separate experimental landings in the Moscow region, Leningrad region where the trees grow well and bear fruit. The first varieties with all the necessary qualities have been obtained: high winter hardiness, early maturity, late flowering, with large and tasty fruits, thin shells. These are Osipov, Ideal, Old Man Makhno, V Elite.

You can already find and purchase seedlings of these varieties in many nurseries, so do not be afraid to experiment, for sure the experience will be crowned with a large nut!

Natalia Starovoitova, Moscow region

Walnut: food for thought

In the middle lane, it is best to plant walnut seedlings in the spring, after the ground has thawed and the danger has passed. return frosts. In the spring, grafted seedlings are also planted, and seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place.

Grafted plants are planted only in spring to protect them from winter damage. best time in our latitudes - from mid to late April. Seedlings grown from seeds, as more winter-hardy, you can try to plant in a permanent place in the fall.

Where to plant a walnut

Walnut prefers flat terrain. Feels good also on medium and upper parts small slopes, southern and western. Planting a walnut in the lowlands is unacceptable: in the off-season, in spring and autumn, rain and melt water accumulates there, cold air stagnates. The best option when growing walnuts in our latitudes - planting on the south and south-west sides of buildings, near the walls. This will increase the amount of active summer temperatures by several degrees, and the buildings will also protect the plants from the wind. But plants planted too close to the house, growing, with their powerful roots, can damage the foundation of buildings.

Neighbors are unwanted

Under the branches walnut tree hardly anything will grow. Firstly, the extensive and deep root system of the plant takes all the nutrients from the ground, leaving nothing to the neighboring plants. In addition, walnut leaves contain juglone, an element toxic to other plants.

Some vigorous varieties of walnut at the age of 25-30 years have a crown diameter of 8-12 meters. Not far from the walnut only feel good berry bushes. They manage to give good harvest for a five-year-decade, and when the tree grows, they can be uprooted.

Digging a hole for a walnut in autumn

It is recommended to prepare a landing pit for a walnut in the fall. Most of The root system of the walnut is located in the projection area of ​​the tree crown. In an annual seedling, the roots penetrate into the thickness of the earth to a depth of up to two meters, and in an adult plant - tens of meters deep. So mature tree can adapt to different soils by extracting the missing elements from different layers. But while the plant is young, it is very important for its proper development that the soil around (about a meter across) is suitable for it.

If the landing pit is properly prepared, it can provide young plant the nutrients it needs for the first five years, until the root system gets stronger and the plant adapts to growth conditions. The size of the planting hole varies from 60 cm in diameter and 60 cm deep to a meter in diameter and a meter deep. If the humus layer (on fertile soils)

The skeletal roots of the walnut should be located at a depth of about 60 cm. This allows the plant to suffer less from cold in winter and drought in summer. If the pit is not deep enough, the walnut root system will be too close to the soil surface and injured, the plant will experience a lack of nutrients is 25-30 cm, the pit can be smaller if the soils are not so fertile - a larger planting pit is needed size.

As usual when planting fruit trees, when digging holes, the upper fertile layer and the lower, infertile layer are separated. It is necessary to fill the pit with a substrate consisting of the top fertile layer of soil, peat and humus, taken in equal proportions.

When planting walnut seedlings, fresh organic matter should not be brought into the planting pit. Not decomposed will damage the roots of the seedling, and this will prevent the penetration of the root system of the plant into the deeper layers of the soil.

When preparing landing pits, it is necessary to make mineral fertilizers. For one plant - about 3 kg of superphosphate, up to 800 g of potassium chloride, from 500 g to 1 kg of dolomite flour, 1.5-2 kg of ash, which will become a source of valuable microelements for the plant. You can replace these mineral fertilizers with 200-250 g of nitroammophoska for each planting hole.

Fertilizers should be evenly mixed with the substrate, and then fill the pit with the mixture to two-thirds of its volume. After filling the pit, it is watered (about 20 liters of water per pit), after which a support stake about one tore to two meters high is installed in its center. When the water is absorbed, a landing hill is poured in the center of the pit, 3-5 cm above ground level. When planting a walnut, the root neck of the seedling should be at ground level. After planting, the soil will settle, and the root neck may go underground. To avoid this, it is necessary to make sure that the planting mound is above the soil level.

In a walnut, the root neck is clearly distinguished: the central root is strongly thickened and the place of its transition into the trunk is clearly visible.

Preparing seedlings for planting

Before planting, seedlings must be inspected. Broken branches are removed, damaged roots are carefully cut. After that, the roots are dipped in a clay mash, its composition is decomposed dung (one part) and clay (three parts). You can add growth stimulants to the talker - Epin or Humat.

Landing is done in the same way as any other garden trees. The plant is placed in a hole on compacted soil (root neck 3-4 cm above ground level). The roots must be carefully spread over the entire diameter of the planting mound, cover the roots with a mixture of fertile soil with fertilizers, tamp and trample the earth, water for a better fit of the earth to the roots (from 3 to 6 buckets of water per plant) . After the water has been absorbed, trunk circle it is necessary to mulch with a thin layer of humus, chopped straw, peat, etc. From the infertile soil, which was taken from the bottom of the planting pit, you can make a hole around the tree. The seedling must be tied to a peg: the crown of a walnut has a large windage due to large leaves (up to 40-50 cm or more in length), and the wind can damage a fragile tree.

The question of when to harvest a walnut worries many novice summer residents, because its kernels are very useful for their content of vitamins, protein and essential fats. They are used in their pure form, and are also often used in cooking for desserts, salads and second courses. Walnuts have a pleasant specific taste and high nutritional value, therefore they are especially valued in dietary nutrition.

Walnut: when to harvest and how

Buying in-shell nuts in stores, you can buy a spoiled product, which will be discovered only after splitting. And refined grains are often stored in retail outlets for a long time and without observing the necessary conditions, so they can be dusty, moldy, and they can also absorb odors. Therefore, the best quality nuts can be obtained by harvesting and processing the crop yourself.

Walnut picking time

In Russia, walnut grows in the southern part of the country. Trees do not require special care, and the harvest ripens by the end of September. Collect nuts from the lower branches. The time for collection can be determined by the fall of the first fruits and, if they are immediately collected from the ground, then they are suitable for further use.

Maturity is determined by the hardness of the shell, removing the green shell. A freshly harvested crop has a high degree of moisture, so processing speed is very important to prevent spoilage.

On the plain for collecting crumbled nuts from the lawn there is a wonderful device:

Cleaning and drying

Nuts are completely freed from the green shell, and then dried either in the shell or without it. For drying in the shell, you can place the nuts in the oven and dry for 3 hours at a temperature of no more than 40 degrees, and then, heating to 70 degrees, dry for another 2 hours. Readiness can be determined by light brown shell, ease of splitting and taste.

By the way, dried fruits prick more easily, but peeled grains can be dried faster. To do this, they must be laid out on a baking sheet in one layer and dried at a temperature of 180 degrees for no more than 10 minutes.

Storage

Most important condition for the preservation of walnuts in any form - the minimum humidity. In-shell fruits are best stored in hanging nets to ensure ventilation and safety from moisture ingress and accumulation.

We do not recommend using polyethylene bags for storing refined grains, in which they can become rancid. Containers made of glass, wood or cardboard, well cleaned of pathogenic bacteria and thoroughly dried in advance, are perfect.

Shelf life depends on temperature environment. At room temperature is he equals a year, and in the refrigerator - up to 4 years. So grow the most useful walnut on your site (more details), and you already know when to harvest and how to store it.

Autumn is not only the time for apples and potatoes. Another well-known fruit is the walnut. Its mass collection falls on September-end of October. When and how to properly collect walnuts, as well as save the crop for the whole year, you can find out by reading this article.

Controversial question: green or brown?

Often there is a dilemma between when it is better to harvest walnuts:

• Pluck in green shells, at the end of August. And then store for two weeks in a cool room for ripening. Clean, dry and store?
• Collect fallen fruit or shake off trees after cracking the shells?

Having reviewed a lot of literature, we can safely say that nuts that have ripened on their own on a tree will be more useful. They are stored better and the supply of minerals and vitamins is greater. But, when there is no time to wait for cracking and falling off, then you can pick it in late August or early September while still in green shells. Thus, the number of collected nuts may be greater, because squirrels, woodpeckers and other hunters of this fruit will not be able to take some of the harvest for themselves.

It is important to consider: the drying process, for further storage, of unripe nuts will take longer, since the percentage of moisture in them is greater.

1. Time to collect nuts: timing and signs of ripening

Depending on the variety, there are three main groups:

• Early ripe: bloom in May, and ripen in late August.
• Mid-season: shell cracking occurs in September.
• Late-ripening: bloom in June and ripen in early October.

External signs of maturation:

• shell cracking;
• yellowing and friability of the outer shell;
• yellowing of foliage;

Focusing on varietal affiliation, and behind these signs, the harvest will not be missed.

1.1. How to properly collect

A few tips to help make the collection process easier:

• Protect hands with gloves to avoid permanent brown stains.
• Knocking down high-hanging nuts with a long stick is convenient, but bad for a tree. So you can damage a lot of branches that dry out in winter, and the next year's crop will decrease.
• It is safe to shake fruit off the tree. But the collection process itself can take several days.
• Thin-shelled fruits should be picked special device: on a long stick, a bag with a fixed hard top or a container, as for apples.
• Nuts that have fallen should be collected on the same day, having lain on the ground for more than a day, they may become moldy inside and will be unsuitable for further storage.

1.2. Actions after collection

After harvesting, you need to carry out a series of manipulations for further storage:

• Rinse nuts if too dirty;
• Free from the shell if it is badly behind;
• Dry in fresh air sunny days spreading in a thin layer.
• Carry out the final drying near a heat source or several hours in an oven at a temperature of 90°C. If the temperature is higher, then some of the nutrients will be lost.

1.3. Storing hard nuts

When everything is collected and dried, it's time to decide how and where to store the crop. There are two options:

1. Shelled and folded in vacuum bags or in carton boxes. In this state, in the refrigerator, at a temperature of about 2 ° C, they can be stored for up to a year. But you need to remember that the kernels must be well dried in order to avoid the formation of mold.
2. In the shell, whole and unharmed, well dried, folded in cardboard boxes, and preferably in nets. Place, or hang, in a dry, warm, ventilated area. An attic might be the best option.

People's advice: For better preservation of nuts in the shell, in order to avoid the formation of mold during storage, you need to soak them in salty cold water on the floor before drying.several hours, and then dry to the desired condition.

If you harvest as described in the article, then there is no doubt that walnuts will be stored for at least a year, and then two or three. The main thing is not to rush into warehousing in nets so that the entire crop dries well. Indeed, if the humidity exceeds 5-8%, such fruits will not lie for a long time. It is better to eat damaged nuts immediately or store only the core.