Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943
Science
Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943
Northern Nut Growers Association -- Periodicals; Nut trees -- Periodicals; Nuts -- Periodicals
Oscar E. Swan, Jr., Tulsa, Okla., reports an enviable situation. He
says: "My nut trees are growing on a farm where more than 30 years of
cultivation have failed to kill the native pecan sprouts. They come up
year after year from the top roots. Since acquiring the place in 1936, I
have allowed the pecan sprouts and the few native walnuts to grow
unchecked except where necessary to cut them out to avoid crowding. The
growth of these sprouts is quite vigorous, and they are ideal for
top-working. I have top-worked a few trees every spring and now have
about 300 grafted trees all the way from 6 to 30 feet tall. Many are too
close together for full grown trees and I plan to thin them. My
problems, so far, are the mechanical ones of top-working. I have settled
upon a modification of the Biederman bark graft, which gives very good
results. After the grafts are well established, the trees get very
little attention except for cutting out the crowding trees. They are
literally growing 'wild', yet the growth has been better than
transplanted trees would have made with the best of care, because the
root systems are well established in a situation which suits them.
"This system of neglect probably explains why I have failed with some
species and varieties such as the butternut and some of the hickories.
Occasionally I am pleasantly surprised, as in the case of some seedling
Carpathian walnuts which, grafted upon some established black walnut
sprouts, came through the severe 1943 drouth in fine shape without
benefit of mulch, cultivation, fertilizer, or watering. The same applies
to the Helmick hybrid. (A two year old tree, a hybrid walnut, grafted
and growing well on black walnut stock, and which Mr. Swan says will
bloom next year.) I have pampered my Chinese chestnut trees with
cultivation, mulch and manure, as they are located in poorer, drier
soil. They were badly hit by the drouth. Some died in spite of the
attention.
"As to varieties, I am far enough south to grow all the standard
southern pecan varieties, although several do not have a long enough
season to mature their nuts. I am trying the northern varieties and, so
far, am well pleased with their growth as compared with the southern
kinds. It will be a few years before I can report on the size and
quality of their nuts."
J. C. McDaniel again: "Source and variety of seed in Chinese chestnuts
have a great influence on the performance of seedlings. Numerous
seedlings from the original Hobson tree began fruiting in their second
season of growth, and half of the ones I have are fruiting during their
fourth season. On the other hand, I have a tree from imported seed which
grew nine seasons before setting and ripening its first burr. The above
data refer to my planting near Hartselle, Morgan County, Ala., and that
vicinity. I have several black walnut trees under observation, native
trees, on which data are not yet complete enough for evaluation."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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