Juglans (cinerea)

John M. Englert USDA NRCS - Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center Bldg. 509, BARC - East, E. Beaver Dam Road Beltsville, Maryland 20705 (301) 504-8175 (301) 504-8741 (fax) john.englert@wdc.usda.gov http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/mdpmc/

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Family Scientific Name:	Juglandaceae
Family Common Name:	walnut family
Scientific Name:	Juglans cinerea L.
Common Name:	butternut
Species Code:	JUGCIN
Ecotype:	Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Shenandoah National Park.
General Distribution:	Rich, moist soil; New Brunswick to Minnesota, south to South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas. (Gleason and Cronquist, 1991)
Propagation Goal:	plants
Propagation Method:	seed
ProductType:	Bareroot (field grown)
Stock Type:	bareroot seedlings and specimen plants in 3-gallon containers
Time To Grow:	0
Target Specifications:	Time to grow: Dormant bareroot seedlings are harvested from outdoor nursery beds two years after seeds are sown. They are over-wintered in storage and most go out bareroot to the parks in early spring. Some bareroot materials are retained as specimens, potted up into 1-gallon containers in late spring and moved to a shade house where they are grown to 3-gallon size for an additional 3-4 years.<br><br>Target Specifications: Bareroot: Long roots are pruned at harvest.<br>Container: Firm root ball that fills a container treated with Spin Out, a copper hydroxide product that inhibits root girdling and helps keeps tap-rooted plants more branching.<br> Height: 2-0 bareroot seedlings are 6-60 inches. 2-2 plants in 3-gallon containers can be over 72".
Propagule Collection:	Mature nuts were collected in September in the Parks. Prompt collection is necessary to prevent loss to squirrels and other wildlife. (Brinkman, 1974)
Propagule Processing:	Nuts are collected into plastic bags to keep husks soft and moist. Husks were cleaned from seeds using a Dybvig separator. Storage: seeds are all planted the fall of collection. Germination/purity: Purity has been 100%; between 5% to 74% of seeds sown reached harvest size, depending on park, year and seed lot. Seeds per Kg: between 55 and 70 (62 is the average).
Pre-Planting Treatments:	Seeds have a hard seed coat and an embryo dormancy that can be broken by cold stratification. (Brinker, 1974) Seeds are sown outdoors in NPMC woody nursery beds to allow natural stratification to occur.
Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:	Propagation environment: bareroot seedlings are grown in outdoor woody nursery beds; container specimens are grown to finished size in a container nursery. Sowing date: mid-November to mid-December. Sowing/planting technique: Seeds are dusted with fungicide and hand-sown into rows. (Rows are 5-6 inches apart and seeds are sown touching, side by side, within each row). Ectomycorrhizae are sprinkled over the seed and the row is covered with about _ inch of soil. The beds are then mulched with aged sawdust, which is scraped back in the spring before seedling emergence. Screening against rodents may be necessary.
Establishment Phase:	Seedlings generally emerge during the spring following fall sowing. Newly emerged seedlings are monitored closely for irrigation needs.
Active Growth Phase:	Outdoor woody beds: Because NPMC soil is a nutrient poor, sandy loam, seedlings in the outdoor nursery beds are fertilized once weekly from mid-April through early June with a granular 10-10-10. From mid-June through late July, the 10-10-10 is alternated with a granular urea. Fertilization from late July through late August is bi-weekly with 10-10-10. Overhead irrigation is used after each fertilization. The rate of water applied is determined by soil moisture prior to irrigation. Container nursery: Containerized specimens are grown in a container nursery until reaching outplanting size at 2 or 3 gallons. Plants are either bumped up to the next container size in spring, or if not ready, are top dressed with 180 day slow release Nutricote after soil in the bottom of the container is replenished with fresh mix. NPMC uses a customized woody mix (3.8 cu. ft. bale Sunshine #1, 4 cu. ft. pine bark mulch and 4 cups 180 day controlled release Nutricote 18-6-8 with micros. A pack of ectomycorrhizae is added to each pot. Plant roots usually need a season or more after each bump-up for roots to fill the containers. Daily irrigation is adjusted depending on natural precipitation and pot size. 2 and 3-gallon containers are moved to drip irrigation in full sun. Dieback of the central leader, thought to be a disease process, has occurred in some of our containerized butternut. If the central leader dies back, suckering will occur from the base. Prune as needed early in the season using sterile shears..
Hardening Phase:	Outdoor woody nursery beds: During mid- to late summer, fertilization is cut back to twice monthly. Beginning in September, irrigation is only used in a severe droughty situation. <br>Container nursery: frequency and duration of irrigation is reduced as plants go dormant, depending on natural rainfall.
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping:	Bareroot: Dormant bareroot plants are harvested in early to mid-December. A bareroot seedling harvester is used to lift plants in the woody bed. Seedlings are then hand-sorted by size and tied in manageable bundles. Roots are pruned and kept moist until packing. Bundles are packed in plastic bins with drainage holes and roots are covered with moist sawdust. Bins are held in cold storage at 40F and watered as needed. Containers: dormant containerized stock is overwintered outdoors under a microfoam-insulating blanket. After leaves have fallen, the clean, well-watered containers are overlapped on their sides on weed barrier fabric and covered with microfoam. Rodenticide baits are placed at intervals under the microfoam blanket to discourage gnawing rodents. The microfoam is then secured.
Length of Storage:	3-5 months
References:	Brinker, Kenneth A. 1974. Juglans In: Seeds of Woody Plants in the United States. Forest Service, USDA. Agricultural Handbook 450. Washington, DC. 454-459. Brown, Russell G. and Melvin L. Brown. 1992. Woody Plants of Maryland. Port City Press, Baltimore, MD> Dirr, Michael A. and Charles W. Heuser, Jr. 1987. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Varsity Press, Inc., Athens GA. Gleason, Henry A. and Arthur Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. 2nd. Edition. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY. USDA-NRCS National Plant Materials Center. Woody bed and container nursery plant records. Unpublished.

Citation:

Davis, Kathy; King, Brandy; Kujawski, Jennifer. 2002. Propagation protocol for production of Bareroot (field grown) Juglans cinerea L. plants bareroot seedlings and specimen plants in 3-gallon containers; USDA NRCS - Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center Beltsville, Maryland. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/02). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.