Growing Butternut Tree Babies

For those Metis who've never eaten a butternut, I wish there were more trees around so everyone could try them. Their taste is similar to a black walnut but more buttery tasting (of course...). The fact is, many butternut trees are dying because of a fungus that sticks to the little feety of tiny insects and goes from tree to tree. Once a tree has this fungus, it takes the tree over, eventually killing it.

But there are groups of people trying to save the butternut tree population, and I am one of them. I've studied the anatomy of these nuts, what's the best way to get them to germinate, and how to get the nut to grow into a tree. If any other Metis want to try it, then here are some helpful ideas...

Butternuts are similar to walnuts, but to tell the difference between them, a walnut is more round, and a butternut is more oblong. Walnuts have a smoother outer shell than butternuts. The butternut shell is picky feeling and has larger grooves in it.

Butternuts



Walnuts



If you can find a supply of butternuts, they need to go into the frig all winter to stratify them (they need a long spell of cold in order to grow). I put them in the frig for over 200 days, starting as soon as they fall off the tree. If you are harvesting them yourself, don't pick them off the tree or they won't be ready. They need to fall on their own. Then you must get them before the little animals do. But as any good Metis knows, we never take all the nuts. we must leave some for the little animals, so they don't starve in the winter.

Then once they've been in the frig, it's time to plant. I've found out the best time to plant is in June when it gets really hot outside. If you try to plant them directly in the ground, chances are squirrels or chipmunks will steal them, so you're better off starting them in containers.

I've also found that if you crack the nuts just until you hear them snap, along their midline, then they will germinate faster. That's because sometimes it takes years before the shell cracks in nature. There are 2 midlines for these nuts, a pointy tip and a bottom.



The bottom is where the nut was attached to its stem. The pointy tip is where the new root will poke out of. When you plant them, it's best to lay them on their side. The root will come out of the top and dig down into the soil below.

Actually, in nature, only 1% of nuts become full grown trees. Seems like very little, but that's because of the following (which will probably help you grow them into trees better if you know what NOT to do...)

not cold enough and for long enough time (over 200 days)
cold then warm then cold etc
the nuts froze and died
not moist enough in the frig
too wet once planted
animals took them
not under enough soil
under too much soil
shell not open
not warm enough to germinate



The nuts need warmth and sunshine and an open shell to germinate, so I take them from the frig, in June on a very hot day, and put them in a plastic bag, which gets them pretty warm. The heat usually helps crack the shell, and if not, I put them in a vice to just snap them a hairline crack open. It doesn't hurt the root food supply inside.

Once they crack open, I put them into dirt in containers, planting them as deep as their width, and water them until they are saturated, then drained. Make sure your container has holes underneath or the contents of the nuts will rot or the seedlings will drown.



Once they got tall enough, and were no longer a food attraction to rodents, they went into the garden. And the butternut trees are thriving!