Butternut tree

[jackal_man]

I was hoping someone could tell me what are the best ways to get it to grow well at its early age, and also tell me the chances of it having its tree trunks going 10 feet over to where a potatoe field is

[opabinia51]

Are you asking if the tree trunk will grow to be 10 feet in diameter?

[jackal_man]

I am basically asking how far the average tree trunk of that type of tree grows, if I remember right the roots of this type of tree have something that is poisonous to various types of plants?

[opabinia51]

From a bit of research that I have done it would seem that the trunk itself on average gets to be about 30-60 cm in diameter so, the trunk itself would not get out to ten feet. The trees live to be 60 to 70 years old reaching heights of 13 to 20 meters. As far as diameter of the tree itself, I could not find any direct references but, they have thick twigs with uneven branching and from the look of the photos that I have seen, can reach up 5 or 6 feet at the base of the tree and less distance as you ascend the tree.

Butternut are related to Walnut and therefore will secreat Juglone into the soil that will inhibit the growth of most plants. Take a look in the Wildlife Forum for the permaculture thread for a list of plants that can be grown around the Juglandaceae. This tree may inhibit the growth of potatoes but, I'm not sure of that. If Juglone does inhibit the growth of potatoes you should plant some buffert plants around the tree.