Walnut
Juglans regia
Late summer is the only safe pruning window — and the squirrels reach the fallen nuts first.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 27 ft 5 in
- In-row spacing
- 27 ft 5 in
- Between rows
- 34 ft 5 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun, if the nut crop is the point.
- Watering
- Water while young; an established tree rarely asks for it.
- Feeding
- A compost mulch in spring; extra feeding is seldom needed.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Prune in late summer and at no other time — and not much then.
Through the year
- Mar–May Bud Break
- May–May Flowering
- May–Aug Fruit Set
- Aug–Oct Harvest
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
Companions
Comfrey, Clover
Pests & problems
- Codling moth Its caterpillars tunnel to the core of apples and pears, leaving frass-filled exit holes. Hang pheromone traps from late spring and pick up windfalls promptly.
- Squirrels Dig up newly planted bulbs and raid fruit and nuts. Lay wire mesh over pots and freshly planted bulb beds until shoots emerge.
- Blight Walnut blight
- Leaf spot Walnut leaf blotch
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Bats ChiropteraHunts Codling moth
A single bat takes hundreds of moths and mosquitoes in a night, and the moths are the parents of your cutworms, corn earworms and hornworms. Put up a bat box on a warm south wall, leave a night-scented corner unlit, and never spray after dark.
- Parasitic wasps Braconidae & TrichogrammaHunts Codling moth
Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com