I live in the Creston Valley of B.C. I have a walnut tree in my yard and would like to know when you are supposed to harvest the walnuts and how you can tell when they are ready. I heard something about them turning black and also something about letting them dry out. Also can you grow other nuts in the valley. I heard you can grow hazelnuts. Are there any others you can grow? Has anyone ever tried Almonds? Thanks for any info you can provide. Leona
For walnuts, we just pick them up off the ground in the fall. Then, throw them into the driveway (Gravel driveway) to be driven over. After about a week or two of driving over them as we come and go, the husks are cleaned off. Afterwards, we collect the nuts in 5 gallon buckets and put them in the workshop outside. They're good eating. You want to keep them in dry place to avoid fungus. I've heard that if you can crack them just a little, then let them sit in a cool dry place for 2 to 3 days to dry out, the "meat" of the nut is much easier to get out.
That info works better for Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), which has tough nut shells. If yours is a Persian Walnut (J. regia; more likely to be planted in your area at a guess), that has thin shells and the nuts would be crushed Hazelnuts should do very well, but you're probably too cold in winter for Almonds. Chestnuts should be OK. Shagbark Hickory would be worth a try (though they're tough nuts to crack). Northern-selected Pecan cultivars might also be worth trying
Re: A few Hazelnut & Nut Tree links I was wondering when this thread would get going. Below are a few links that may help. BC Farm Products A-Z - Hazelnuts (Filberts) Hazelnuts -- Pest Management -- Fruit & Nut Orchard Network for Commercial Growers -- Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon Nut trees that grow in Ontario, including heartnuts, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and butternuts Almond trees for North Regions NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION Jim
Yep, that info is for black walnuts. It didn't even cross my mind that he could have another kind of walnut. Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks for all the information. This is so cool. The tree in my yard is a black walnut tree. I would never have thought of the idea of driving over them to get the casing (that's what I'm going to call it) off of them. Also thank you Jim for the websites. I'll be looking into those sites for sure. Leona.
