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The heartnut is a native of Japan that is well suited to the Great
Lakes fruit growing regions (zone 6), a region similar to its native
regions in Japan. The nut is named after the shape of the nut, as
the illustration shows. It is considered a seed sport of the Japanese
walnut and not a different species. The Japanese walnut is an oval
nut, unlike the heart shaped form of the heartnut. The Japanese walnut
usually cracks out very poorly, making it unsuitable for commercial
production. There are no selected common Japanese walnuts in propagation.
They tend to be hardier than the heartnut form of the nut and so efforts
should be made to find improved cracking Japanese walnut selections
for colder regions. When heartnut seeds are planted, a wide variety
of nut shapes and sizes can be produced by the offspring, from good
and poor cracking types to oval, very poor cracking, typical Japanese
nuts. For this reason, commercial orchards are not advised to plant
seedling heartnut trees, but should plant only grafted trees. Though
the heartnut tree will grow in colder regions than zone 6, it can
be affected by late frosts. Since the tree is terminal bearing, the
nut flowers are housed in the tip buds of the trees. These buds are
the first to open in the spring and are sensitive to cold spells in
April and May. Frost injured flowers will abort and so reduce the
crop. We only recommend commercial orchards for zone 6. Graft survival
is also best in zone 6 to 7.
11-year-old heartnut The heartnut tree is best suited to well drained
fertile sand and clay loam soils with a pH of 6 to 7. They are suited
to soils where black walnut and butternut grow wild. They are vigorous
trees, growing 50 to 100 cm or more in a year reaching a height of
15 m and a spread of 20 to 30 m. The large lush compound leaves are
largely unaffected by most insect pests. Grafted trees will begin
to bear in 1-3 years, with commercial production expected in 6-8 years.
The trees are long lived with annual production estimated at 1-3 tons
per acre. These include: 1. Cracking Quality The nut must crack reliably
on the suture (the seam that holds the shell together) and release
the kernel (nut meat) in one or two pieces. The kernel should fall
out easily with no pieces bound in the shell. Normal shaking and dropping
should allow the kernel to fall free as would occur in a cracking
machine. This cracking characteristic must be consistent from year
to year. Campbell CWW - Doug Campbell planted this Etter seedling. It also is similar to CW 1 in nut size, production and nut quality. It ripens about the same time as CW 3. Nuts drop out in halves. Fodermaier - This is an older heartnut selection
from Dover Plains NY. It is rated high for cracking quality and production.
It produces a large nut of with good quality. Nuts drop out in halves.
It ripens mid October and being a later nut, it is recommended for
long frost free season areas like the Niagara area. Heartnut trees
are only partially self pollinating. This means that two or more seedlings
or different grafted selections should be planted. For commercial
plantings a planting plan like the one shown below will help growers
to establish trees with permanent pollinators in place. It is advisable
to consider field drainage tiles between the rows and irrigation for
prolonged dry spells of 6 weeks or more during the growing season.
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