Growing Nuts from Seed

Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:22 pm

Well its all fun and experiment

Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:21 am

How much time and how much room do you have?! I have a couple of pecans, and they may have been volunteer, and many walnuts around. I have picked pecans off the ground a couple of times, usually not much or squirrels are at the buffet line first. Squirrels also bury aka plant nuts in the yard, garden, pots, anywhere and they are the dickens to get out.

Pecans are a messy tree, with lots of dropped stuff. Walnuts not real pretty

Also, you have nut trees, you have squirrels, means bye-bye tomatoes.

I am in a cheery mood!!

Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:44 am

Haha I was laughing as I read that, but I have no Squirells, Only Ducks but they wont eat em, they may peck at them but leave them, also I have all the time of the world im just 21 so Im still on the Younger Side(I hope) and Volunteer nuts would be awesome cuz you can forget them and in a couple of years you have some trees, I Have alot of space the only problem is I might have to move this year, but I can keep it in a container, I actually forgot to go to the store and buy some nuts I might have to pick up on any nut i see but not walnuts.

Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:15 pm

Oroz hickory and juglans family trees are incerdibly tap-root dominant. You can keep them in pots for a couple years, maybe.

Better you do a Johnny Chapman and plant nut trees and leave them behind you.

Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:02 pm

if you have that mindset, go buy some monkey puzzle tree seeds. VERY nutritious nut, very high yielding. BUT@!!!! it wont fruit for like over 50 years. so maybe when your 70 youll get to eat one. this country used to be covered in monkey puzzle trees until people cut them down for little tiny pieces of wood on and in violins.

Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:41 pm

Wow that is Horrible, It would be awesome to have such a nut, and its sad how people will take good plants trees of its own habitat just to make fast money

Fri Feb 03, 2012 3:35 am

I grabbed a bunch of nuts in December to try and grow them.

Out of all the seeds I tried to grow, I got one Almond growing, two Chestnuts growing, and one Hazelnut. They were all bought from the food section at Walmart. lol.

Fri Feb 03, 2012 3:44 am

Nice, You should Keep em all and Let the waiting Give you a Reward of Nuts. =D

Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:57 pm

Here's what my Almond looks like at the moment.

Here's one of my Chestnuts.

Here's my other Chestnut.. I guess I planted him upside down, because he's actually lifted himself out of the dirt, and has almost flipped himself completely over.

My Hazelnut shows roots going down the side of the cup, but nothing has come to the surface yet. Maybe it's upside down as well, and isn't strong enough to flip itself?

Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:30 pm

Those look amazing specially the chestnut, and its crazy how the walnut just turned over, maybe you should help out the hazelnut lol

Fri Feb 03, 2012 8:51 pm

Thanks, it's not a Walnut though.. it's another Chestnut.

Have you started any nuts yet?

Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:16 pm

Oh yea chestnut, well ive been procrastinating on getting it, but im sure ill get it today, i have to go and buy some, but i have no vehicle but today im going all over so im going to get a hold of some today

Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:06 am

Just got a Hazelnut, Almon and what looks like a huge hazelnut, n the store said Chestnut but doesn't look like yours.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:11 am

Mine was a dark red color, I peeled the skin off of it the best I could.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:20 am

....and I had to crack the hazelnut open with a hammer.

I held it with vicegrips, and tapped it lightly on the ground. Then I kept tapping harder each time, until I heard a crack or pop. Then I took it in my hands and looked for the crack, then peeled it open with my fingertips.

The Almond was a lot harder for me to access. I remember taking small clippers to cut around the sides, until I could eventually pull it apart with my fingers.

If you have a nut-cracker, it might help.. but I was afraid of breaking the seed inside.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:22 am

My next question was to see if you left them over water at night but i guess you just cracked the nut open, Seems risky but ill give it a try then.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:29 am

The Hazelnut I just put in a glass of water on the counter, and cleaning the water out several times a week. I had a handful of Hazelnuts in there, and only one of them spread open and turned a light green.. so I threw the other ones in the trash.

The Almond I put in the fridge, inside a ziplock bad between two moist coffee filters. If you don't have coffee filters, just use paper towels. Keep it moist, but not dripping wet. I noticed the flat end was getting larger and showing more white, so I was unsure if it was a root or stalk, so I planted it in the dirt on it's thin side... so that both fat ends could grow either way. What I did not know was that they grow from the top... that is why my plant is pushed to the side of the cup. lol.

And the Chestnuts also spent a month in the fridge, but being so large, I did not think the ziplock bag and filters would work.. so I put hamster bedding in there(wood chips). I'm sure you could probably use seed starter or something.. maybe even dirt. But should be loose enough so you can take it out to keep checking on it. Once the stalk started to come out, I came to this forum to learn how to plant it. Here is a link to that post:
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=237948#237948

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:32 am

Sure, I would soak them over night as well.

I think I did that was the Almonds too before moving them into the ziplock bags.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:38 am

Oh that sounds good, so soak them and put them im moist paper towel and or just warm soil will work right? now that i have a heatmat i think i should start putting it to good use

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:47 am

Here's two videos I watched to get an idea how to crack the seeds open, the first one looked too dangerous, so I cracked them with a hammer like I mentioned in my previous post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4FN9rEjnxk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS8jQoWSqaU

I did not plant them in anything warm right away, only after they germinated. Apparently, they have to go through a short winter spell in the fridge.. but mine started to sprout after 2 or 3 weeks in the fridge, THEN I took them out and planted them in a warm location.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:07 am

Oh ok then i shall put them in the fridge Thanks

Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:11 pm

It's only been a couple of days, but my Chestnut has grown pretty quick.

It even has another part growing near the bottom.

The other Chestnut has also been moved to a large planter... the seed flipped over and was pushing so hard it was bending the top of the cup.. now it's got room to do what it's trying to do. lol.

I moved the Almond to a bigger planter as well.

Gonna keep the Almond inside till it gets a little bigger and stronger.

Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:12 pm

That chestnut looks terrific, i must say its one of the most beautiful plants ive seen, idk why but i also love how an apple seedling looks, well i hope this nuts don't take too long to sprout in the fridge, but i have enough time.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:56 am

I remember checking on mine every couple of days in the fridge, finally I cleared out the drawer in the bottom and put the ziplock bag with the chestnuts in there.

Since I no longer seen the ziplock bag when I opened the fridge, I forgot about it.. then 2 or 3 weeks later, I remembered I had them in there and went to check.. that's when I discovered the root stem coming out of both chestnuts.

Speaking of apple seedling, I got a few of those growing as well. I live in Florida, so I'm not sure how well they're going to grow, but I'm going to try.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:42 am

I got a crabapple tree growing at the moment its doing fine actually great I'm in california so its farely warm even at nights

Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:52 am

So far this year I am growing 2 Avocado, 8 Lemon plants, 8 Meyer Lemons, 4 Key Limes, 8 Grapefruit, 8 Orange, 4 Green Apple, 4 Washington Apple, 6 Pear, 12 Tomato, 1 Hazelnut, 1 Almond, 2 Chestnuts, and a couple shade trees like Sycamore and Elm. All from seeds.

Already grown are two Patchouli plants that are about 4 years old, an Earpod tree that is 3 years old and 8 foot tall, and an Italian Stone Pine that is almost 2 years old.

Then I have some plants that were given to me, like a Japanese Plum tree.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:39 am

Wow that is a hell of a lot of trees, I'm soon to be like that or even more, the main one and the ones I pamper the most is red maple tree, crabapple, super hots peppers like ghost peppers scorpion butch and many others, well I have to many plants, almost no. Trees but my 4 faves are four little papaya trees

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:20 am

I'll make a post with pictures in another section of the forum, maybe in the What Doesn't Fit Elsewhere section of the forum. I would love to see a picture of your Red Maple.

I've bought seeds for that tree one two different occasions, and have never been able to get any to germinate, no matter what I tried. I even have some still trying to germinate.. but it's not looking promising.

But I don't want to continue hijacking this post, so i'll get a new one up in the What Doesn't Fit Elsewhere tomorrow with some more pictures.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:34 pm

Ok ill be taking pics too even thought the red maple hasn't germinated yet

Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:50 pm

I made a new post. http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=240404

Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:06 am

Did what you said and here is my chestnut

Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:27 pm

Hey,

That looks great!

It appears to have been planted right side up and everything.

Did you move it to another planter? That trunk is going to get thick and it needs the room to expand.

It looks like you left the fuzzy skin on there, but it seemed to be ok as it's sprouted. I peeled it all off, and I was left with a light peach colored wrinkled seed.

I'll post a recent picture of mine today. The large one is doing great, the one that was planted upside down is still off to a slow start. Infact, one of the trunks died back.

Both of mine have(had) two trunks, I don't think they're supposed to.. might not be good for the tree when it gets larger.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:04 pm

I did move it to another pot its doing much better, on the process of changing it, the seed broke apart, it didnt have a negative effect on the plant but I placed it back it the soil for looks, I try to remove some of the skin of the seed but it wouldn't come off, I'm sorry the trunk died off but I'm sure it was just robbing energy from the main one, I can't wait to see pictures from your plants.
Here is a pic of mine as of right now

Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:41 pm

Looks good man. Keep doing what you are doing and gradually up pot the tree when it needs it. After reaching several feet tall you can probably put it in the ground. Make sure to find a good spot for it.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:58 pm

Here is mine next to one of my Lemon trees.

It gives you an idea on how big it is.

It's got all kinds of new growth coming through since it was moved to the big planter.

And here's what I am talking about with the two trunks, not sure what I should do, if anything, about it.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:04 pm

I think those extra trunks should be cut off. Remove some of the dirt to see if it looks like it connects to the main trunk sorta like a branch. If not it is probably one of those root trunks. With the few trees I've grown I was told to cut them off cause they are not part of the main tree really and only take away energy from the tree.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:13 pm

Thanks and Yea i will take care of it and re-pot it just to see if it needs it soon, Your two plants look amazing and its huge, the lemon one is small but nice, also the new grow looks terrific, and If it was my Tree i would leave the second trunk, I wouldn't mind letting them grow a bit slow but it would look pretty cool as it gets older.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:24 pm

Yeah my Lemon trees all have these long thorns on them too.

Not sure how I can cut one of the trunks, wouldn't it just grow back?

Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:21 pm

Well my goji tree grows stems like that too. But they come from the roots and not part of the main plant so they just suck energy. So I cut them but they come back. Eventually I might win and they won't grow back. I mulch over it so hopefully that will help. Also I hear it is better to deep water than sprinkle cause that encourages those root stems.

But I am not sure this is the case with your tree. You'd have to wipe away some dirt and see where the stem is coming from. If it is part of the main trunk I think you are ok, but if it is growing from the roots it might be best to cut it. You may wanna get some other opinions though.

Tue May 01, 2012 11:54 pm

Cant you guys just separate/split them that way you get 2 plants with roots?