Trees, Wonderful Trees

It was Arbor Day at EarthNSky Farm. I planted 47 Paulownia elongata trees and 22 black walnuts trees in the front part of the front pasture-in about an acre. I'm looking at the walnuts as retirement income or furniture wood. A good sized walnut tree can bring 30K or more. Thankfully, it was not too hot, and it should rain for the next few days. Each tree is flagged to prevent mowing accidents. As they grow, I'll put the white rabbit guard protectors around the trunks. Right now, the Paulownias are only about 8 inches tall-they came in a plastic 10 pack-tissue cultured trees. One was dead, and two were wilted or broken to the point that I cut them back to 'resprout'. As long as there is a rootball, and there was, the trees can be coppiced, even seedling trees. I may plant one of these trees in my yard or give one as a gift. I haven't decided yet. The black walnuts, well, here's this:

How Not to Grow Black Walnuts at EarthNSky
In the Fall of the year, dig holes 1 foot deep and loosen soil. Plant several walnuts, husk and/or no husk, in each hole at a depth of 5-6 inches. Cover, water, and wait....and wait, and wait, and now it is May and nothing has broken ground. I can only assume they were eaten by squirrels.

How to Grow Black Walnut Trees at EarthNSky
Collect bags and bags of black walnuts, the more the better. I had several hundred pounds, enough to fill 3-4 55 gallon drums. Dump walnuts on gravel driveway near workshop under 200 year old oak tree and run over them multiple times to dehusk. (Two piles almost two feet tall and about 5-6 feet in diameter or more) You want them to dry a bit in the shell before you crack them open. Forget about walnuts as Autumn leaves cover the piles laying in the driveway. Instead of raking up walnuts at Christmas time and cracking them in the vise, continue to forget that walnuts and leaves are piled in the driveway. Procrastinate doing anything about it because it is too cold.(or you are too tired, the shop is not clean-can't find the vise, your hands have just now returned to their normal color, etc. etc.) Come February, watch from a distance as squirrels begin to raid the pile and carry off nuts. Notice all the 'pig snouts' in the yard and notice that the pile of nuts is basically gone. Voila!! As the trees leaf out in the Spring, notice that the former pile is a miniature forest of black walnut trees, now 1 foot tall! Carefully pull up trees and then transplant trees to preferred location. A week later, notice that even more trees have grown in the driveway. Take pictures.

As typical with my blog pictures, you can see them better if you click on them to enlarge them. The top image is that of part of my front pasture where the trees are to be planted. I have all the trees and tools in the cart and there are flags staked where the trees will go. The second image is of a Paulownia Elongata seedling. It doesn't look it, but they are about 8 inches tall. The third picture is from World Paulownia Institute,
http://www.worldpaulownia.com/
where we bought our trees, and it shows a tree plantation, which is what we will hopefully have. The last image is that of one of the former piles of black walnuts and you can see all of the new seedlings that have sprouted. I have already robbed this pile of over 15 taller plants, and then, with new rain, more germinate and grow.

Today I carried water down to the area in my 8 cu.ft. wheelbarrow and 5 gallon buckets. I suspect that I will be doing this frequently over the next few weeks. I read that if the trees don't reach 18' the first year, that you should coppice them to the ground and then choose the straightest shoot that emerges for the following year.