I have access to some 500 butternuts that a friend and I harvested last fall. We would like to learn how to sprout the nuts properly in order to plant small orchards of them in suitable locations around the interior of B.C.. The tree we got the nuts from was planted sometime in the 1940s, so we know they will survive here if watered properly. Our goal is to try to create isolated groups of these trees in order to help preserve the species. Any advice anyone can give on this topic will be greatly appreciated. We have already planted an additional 4-500 nuts on the farm, but aren't certain they will sprout. Thank you, Chris Green.
Very easy: plant them immediately (either in a seedling row--properly protected from squirrels,etc.), or in individual pots. The viable ones will sprout in the spring, and usually germinate at a very high rate. All of this presumes that you've stored them properly since the harvest (not let them dry out)....
Thanks: the already-planted ones should do okay, I think, with a sprout ratio of perhaps 30% if I read this manual properly: http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/htirc/pdf/publications/njfbnut.pdf If this works out, we can go back to the mother tree next year and gather more of the nuts.
You could go back to the mother tree this spring too, and see if any nuts escaped being eaten under dead leaves and vegetation. Nuts that didn't dry out are still good in the spring. They have to be pretty exposed, no dead leaves, no snow, to dry out enough to die. If you plant some in 2l plastic milk jugs, with the top opening made a little bigger, you will have handles to carry them into the woods for planting. Bring a pocket knife to cut the side of the milk jug.