Tennis Ball Size Black Walnuts

[Cobleskill]

I have been looking my walnut trees over waiting for the nuts to fall. I found one tree that has nuts almost the size of tennis balls. Never seen one near as big. Of course, after you take the husk off they are a fraction, but the nut is huge also. I only had one person who said they have seen them that size. I did some research and found out in the Midwest there are companies who will buy the walnuts and husk them. You get paid by weight after they are husked. I need to figure out a good way to husk. One guy told me his Dad used to jack up one wheel on his car and put a tire chain on it. Somehow he fed them under the spinning tire and they shot out the other side husked. Sounds a bit hazardous.

 

[squisher]

Yah I dunno about that method. SteveH will know what to do.

 

[PCTREE]

Doubt it would be too hazardous if you used a catchers mit......

 

[stig]

The Danish forestry seed department, or something like that ( it doesn't really translate well!) did a walnut survey about 5 years back.
They asked people who had walnut trees that gave: extremely large nuts, nuts that were resistent to mold and nuts that didn't open in the side of the shell ( a lot of them do, and it dries the kernel out) to send nuts in for a seed program.
Now they'll try to x-pollinate them, and create the perfect, wild walnut.
We are right at the upper end of the natural range for walnut, so they have never been grown commercially here.

I won't be around to reap the nuts from their project, but i think it is a great thing to do.

 

[Al Smith]

I've got a black walnut about 95 feet tall that drops nuts large enough to crack your noggin .They aren't a large as a tennis ball but the biggest I've ever seen .

When I was a youngster my dad just layed the nuts in the driveway and drove on them for a few weeks .The hulls came right off .Another method is an old timey hand corn sheller if you can find one .

 

[Cobleskill]

I was dodging the dropping nuts in the wind yesterday. The squirrels are waiting for them to hit the ground too.