Growing Filberts.

Please give information about growing filberts.

Filberts have been largely a disappointment in California and no product of any amount has ever been made.  Good nuts have been produced in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range.  Theoretically, the places where the wild hazel grows would best suit the filbert, and so far this seems to be justified by the little that has actually been done, but there is very little to say about it beyond that.  It requires much more experience to lift the nut out of the experimental state.

Early Bearing of Walnuts.

Please inform me if young walnut trees grafted on black walnut stock will produce fruit within 18 months after being planted.

It is true that the French varieties of English walnuts have produced fruit the second summer of their growth.  This does not mean, however, that you can count upon a crop the second year.  These are usually grafts in nursery rows, and one would have to wait longer, as a rule, for trees planted out in orchards with a chance to make a freer wood growth.  This is rather fortunate, because it is better to have a larger tree than to have the growth diverted into bearing a small amount of fruit while the tree is very young.  We do not know any advantage in getting nuts the second year except it be to see if you really have secured the variety you desire to produce later.

Handling Walnut Seedlings.

What is the best time to transplant seedlings of the black walnut?

Transplant during the dormant season (as shown by absence of leaves) when the soil is in good condition.  Handle them just as you would an apple tree, for instance.

How to Start English Walnuts.

In starting English walnuts, shall we get nursery stock grafted on California black, or shall we start our black walnut seedlings in nursery plats, or plant the nuts where the tree is wanted, and graft them at two or three years?  What is the advantage, if any, of the long stock from grafting high, over the grafted root?

If we had the money to invest and were sure of the soil conditions, etc., we should buy grafted trees of the variety we desired, just as we would of any other kind of fruit.  If we were shy of money and long on time, we would start seedlings in nursery, plant out seedlings, and graft later, because it is easier to graft when the seedling is two or three years in place.  We count the planting of nuts in place troublesome and of no compensating advantage.  The chief advantage known to us of grafting high and getting a black walnut trunk is the hardier bark of the black walnut.

Walnut Planting.

I am planning to plant walnuts on rather heavy soil.  I have been told to put the nut six inches below the surface, but think that too deep, as soil is rather heavy.

In a heavy soil we should not plant these nuts more than three inches below the surface, but should cover the surface with a mulch of rotten straw to prevent drying out.