Nut Notes from New Hampshire

MATTHEW LAHTI

Not being able to attend the annual convention I thought possibly some of the members might be interested in the following random notes of an amateur nut grower.

My place is in Wolfeboro, N. H., which is situated in the eastern end of Lake Winnepesaukee, 43 degrees, 35 minutes north latitude; elevation above sea level, 687'. The elevation of the lake is 504'. Wolfeboro is just about at the northern fringe of the climate where peaches will ripen, that is during favorable years in favored locations. Improved varieties of field corn will ripen during favorable seasons. It also happens to be the northern fringe of the American chestnut, in favored location. I have discovered a number of saplings that are still alive. As a matter of fact, three or four years ago I was fortunate in finding some ripened nuts, but the trees that bore those nuts have since died of the blight. While a certain variety of old fashioned sweet cherry will live and bear fruit, some of the recent improved varieties will not live. Every one that I have planted was winter-killed. The Montmorency cherry, however, does well. It is also the northern limit of the pignut. Butternuts do very well.

DDT Dust versus Butternut Curculio

I was prompted to write this note by reading Mr. S. H. Graham's article entitled "An Experiment with DDT" appearing on page 101 of the 1945 annual report, in which he states that the butternut curculio did not survive DDT powder.

In the past four or five years the butternut curculio (identified as such by Prof. Conklin of the University of N. H.) has all but ruined my Crath Persian walnuts and heartnuts, so, acting on the basis of Mr. Graham's experiment, I had my trees dusted early in the morning when the dew was on the leaves, using a 10% DDT powder, the first time about May 30 and again two weeks later, and I am happy to say that this dusting has been very effective. I have been unable to find any sign of curculio injury this year, although I have seen it nearby on some native butternut trees.

My Gellatly heartnut was riddled by the curculio last year. This year, when the dusting was done, this tree was overlooked, so I undertook to dust it myself, and not realizing that the Niagara duster which I used was set in the closed position, I dusted the tree with considerable effort. In spite of the small amount of dust that came out, it proved sufficient to keep the curculios away or else to kill them so that there is no sign of any damage at this writing.

Persian Walnuts

In the spring of 1938 I planted a number of Crath Persian walnut seedlings. Out of possibly eight or ten, only two survive. (I gave each one about three years, and if it showed serious winter injury, I pulled it up.) I was pleasantly surprised the other day to discover that one of them has borne a single nut this year. This particular tree is at least 300' from any other Persian walnut, so it looks as if it were self-fertile. It now remains to be seen whether or not the nut will ripen.

In the spring of 1940, I planted a Broadview Persian walnut graft on black walnut stock, and this tree is bearing for the first time with eighteen nuts showing. Three or four years ago this Broadview suffered some winter damage by a split trunk and split lower branch. I painted over the cracks with gasket cement, and they are now healed. The Broadview has also shown some winter-kill of terminal twigs, but not enough to affect its bearing this year. There has been no splitting of the trunks or branches of the two surviving Crath Persian walnut trees and no winter injury to terminal twigs. The Crath walnut trees are now 18" in circumference a foot from the ground and about 12 to 15' tall. The Broadview on the black walnut stock has a circumference of 16" above the graft and 15¼" below the graft, tending to show that the Broadview grows faster than the black walnut.

It is interesting to note that the Broadview blooms a week or ten days later than the Crath Persian walnut, and at the same time as the native butternut.

Black Walnuts

I have planted a few Thomas black walnut seedlings, two grafts, and a Tasterite black walnut graft. A Thomas black walnut graft has borne nuts in three different years, including this year. The graft was sent out in the spring of 1939, and the seedlings were set out in the spring of 1940. The seedlings have not yet borne. The Thomas black walnut graft last bore three years ago, when the nuts on the whole ripened and were well filled. We had a very cold spring in 1945, so much so that apples were almost a total failure.

I also planted a Tasterite black walnut in the spring of 1939, and this is the first year that it has borne any nuts. It remains to be seen whether they will be filled out or not. There is, however, an important difference between the Thomas and the Tasterite, which are growing only 50' apart, namely that the Thomas suffers from winter injury to the terminal twigs each year, whereas there has not been any sign of such injury to the Tasterite.

Hickories

I have planted possibly two dozen of a number of varieties of hickories, of which only nine survive to date, the cause being not winter injury but what appears to me to have been improper circulation through the graft union. They would struggle along for three or four years (producing suckers from the root stock which I broke off), and then die. None of these has borne any nuts yet except the Weschcke, which was planted in the fall of 1941, and which is now bearing one nut. This nut is a mystery to me because the tree bore no catkins. There are no hickory trees within thirty miles of the vicinity to my knowledge, and the nearest pignut tree is perhaps three-quarters of a mile distant, in a direction against the prevailing winds, the intervening space being forest. Could it be possible that the Weschcke hickory was pollinated by a butternut or the Broadview Persian walnut? A big butternut tree stands within 60' and the Broadview is situated about 150' distant.

Heartnuts

I have tried a number of heartnuts, including the Gellatly and the Wright. Only a single Gellatly survives. Here again the cause was not winter injury so much as either the butternut curculio or other causes. The Gellatly, while suffering some terminal twig winter injury and deer damage by rubbing of horns, has borne and ripened nuts.

Filberts and Hazelnuts

I planted a number of Winkler hazels in the fall of 1940, and this is the second year of bearing. The nuts hardly have time to ripen in our climate and a good many of the catkins get winter-killed.

In the spring of 1939 I planted a number of filbert seeds received from Mr. Slate such as No. 128 Rush Barcelona; Medium Long; and Red Lambert. These are bearing for the first time this year, and judging from the size of the nuts now, it looks as if they will mature. Many of the catkins were winter-killed.

Bixby and Buchanan planted in the spring of 1939: While the plants did very well, most of the catkins invariably were winter-killed, so I was obliged to pull them up.

I have a feeling that filberts would do better here if it were not for the very cold winds that blow off the lake in winter, killing most of the catkins.

I discovered a wild hazel in Lexington, Mass., (which town is located in a so-called cold air pocket) the nuts of which are almost equal to the Winkler. I have transplanted some of these to Wolfeboro and shall know more about them later. I also discovered some wild hazels in northeastern Maine, between Lincoln and Vanceboro on the border of New Brunswick, Canada, which two weeks ago had good sized, well filled nuts on them. I have also transplanted some of these to Wolfeboro.

In closing I should like to thank all officers, committee members, and others who are responsible for the annual report. To those of us who do not get to the conventions very often, the report is the Northern Nut Growers Association, and a source of very valuable and interesting information, especially to an amateur like myself.