The taste and useful properties of these wonderful fruits are probably known to all our readers. Do you know which varieties of walnuts are characterized by winter hardiness, high productivity, resistance to pests and diseases, and excellent fruit quality? We will tell you about this in this article.
Walnut Description
Many have seen this powerful deciduous tree. It has a developed root system. The fruits of this tree are dry drupes, with fleshy inedible pluses. They dry out and crack when ripe. By size, the fruits are small, large or medium. Their shape depends on the type of tree - round, oval, oval-oblong, oblong-squeezed laterally, ovoid, etc.
The shell has an almost smooth, finely and coarsely wrinkled, sometimes tuberous surface with numerous cells. All varieties of walnuts are both moisture- and heat-loving crops that can develop and yield crops only in the warm, southern regions, prefer moistened lands. A nut grows well and develops where the average annual air temperature is at least + 10 ° , and in the warmest month the air warms up to +25 ° . That is why in the middle lane most of the walnut fruits do not have time to ripen.
To date, there are many varieties and varieties of this tree, characterized by resistance to small frosts and diseases and pleasant taste. Many of them give a wonderful harvest.
How to plant a tree?
A description of walnut varieties can be found today in all gardening publications, so each summer resident can try to grow this tree on his plot. Any soil is suitable for him. It is important to dig a hole with a depth of at least a meter and a diameter of about fifty centimeters. Before transferring the seedlings to the pit, place them in water for two days. If you do everything right, in three or four years the tree will please you with the first harvest.
Popular varieties
Gardeners of our country note several varieties that are in high demand and are considered the best. They are selected according to several criteria. Of particular value are nuts with a thin shell, a large round shape.
Today, 21 varieties of walnuts are cultivated in our country. However, some of them are grown more often than others. They primarily include such varieties as the "ideal" and "giant." We will tell you more about them below. In regions of Russia where winter is not too harsh, early forms are planted, which were received by breeders from the Tashkent region.
Walnut: ideal grade
In the fifties of the last century, S. S. Kalmykov, a breeder from Ferghana, bred a new variety of early walnut. He begins to bear fruit in the fifth year. Walnut (cultivar “ideal”) has inflorescences that form a brush on which several nuts appear at once. The main feature of this variety is the possibility of a second flowering with many ovaries of nuts.
By the time this variety was produced, a series of articles on early nuts bred in Ferghana appeared in the magazines. Many varieties of S. S. Kalmykov began to bear fruit already at the age of two. They were stunted (no more than 2 m), while 10-18 fruits were tied in a brush. These articles created a furor among gardeners. Letters from all over the Soviet Union began to come to the famous breeder.
The rather large walnut of the “ideal” variety has won recognition among Russian gardeners for its high frost resistance. It withstands freezing up to -35 degrees. Seeds are planted in the fall in the ground to a depth of 10 centimeters. At the end of June (next year), the first shoots appear, and by autumn the seedling grows to fifty centimeters. It is important that there is no need to cover young trees for the winter.
The “ideal” needs plenty of sunlight, it does not tolerate shading. A tree develops and grows well on loamy carbonate soils, moderately moist. The tree has a powerful, wide root system, so the nut should be planted away from various buildings. Flowering begins in May, the fruits can be harvested at the end of September. Flowers gather in inflorescences, from which clusters of nuts are formed.
Three years later, the nut begins to bear fruit. Growing, the tree increases productivity. It grows on average up to five meters. It has a good harvest (120 kg). These numbers refer to an adult plant (12 years old). The mass of nuclei is an average of 10-12 grams.
"Dessert"
Varieties of walnuts, which are in demand today in our country, are worthy of the early ripe “dessert”. This tree is medium in size (3 meters in height), with a spreading crown.
The variety is resistant to droughts, the tree brings sweet-tasting fruits in a powerful shell. This variety is intended for cultivation in the south of our country, because in severe frosts, flower buds and wood of the tree are affected. In the fourth year after planting, the tree begins to bear fruit. This variety is stable and plentiful and yields. The fruits ripen in mid-September. On average, up to 25 kg of nuts are removed from one tree. The mass of the cores is up to 15 grams. This variety can be attributed to large-fruited.
Black walnut
This is a windy pollinated monoecious plant. The height of the tree reaches fifty meters. The length of cirrus leaves reaches forty centimeters with a width of twenty centimeters. They have a pronounced balsamic odor. Fruits such a tree in the tenth year.
The fruits of black walnut are covered with a thick sturdy peel. They are larger than traditional ones, and their core is much darker, has numerous furrows. The peel of a black walnut is rich in vitamins (especially vitamin C).
The black walnut kernel contains proteins, carbohydrates and oils. The leaves of this tree and pericarp are used in the manufacture of certain medications (in particular for dietary supplements).
Black walnut is a photophilous plant. Heat is not particularly demanding. This is a winter-hardy variety, however, in the first years after planting, the plant is sensitive to frost. Therefore, at this time it is recommended to cover it. Black walnut well tolerates excess moisture, flooding the soil withstands for 1.5 months.
The soil for this variety is preferably neutral or slightly alkaline. It should be mulched and loose. The tree needs protection from the wind.
"Elegant"
Walnut varieties, photos of which you can see in this article, ripen at different times. "Graceful" refers to mid-early, as it bears fruit in late September. The tree reaches a height of five meters, has a powerful structure and a dense, well-leafy crown.
The characteristic features of this species are drought tolerance and natural immunity to many diseases and pests. The plant moderately tolerates frosts: wood and flower buds are affected only with severe frosts.
The first crop appears in the fifth year. One tree produces more than twenty kilograms of fruit, with good taste. The weight of the core is 11 grams.
"Harvest"
This rather tall tree (up to 6 meters in height) has a wide oval crown. Fruiting usually begins in the fourth year. The variety belongs to mid-ripening, as nuts ripen in late September.
The variety is winter tolerant and slightly sensitive to brown spotting and other diseases. It has a good regular yield. About thirty kilograms of fruit are harvested from one tree. A kernel with excellent taste, weighing 9-11 grams.
Abundant
Some varieties of walnuts begin to bear fruit already in the fourth year. An example of this is "abundant." The tree has a maximum height of five meters. This variety does not tolerate negative temperatures, so it should not be planted in the northern regions of the country. It should be noted that it is resistant to a very common disease - brown spotting.
Nuts are formed in clusters of 3 fruits each. Sometimes a bunch of eight or more nuts. The tree has a high yield - up to 30 kilograms of nuts with a kernel weight of 12 grams. This variety is very loved by gardeners because of its excellent taste.
"Giant"
Walnut varieties "giant" is a bit similar to the "ideal", but the fruiting of this tree occurs in the sixth year. The tree grows surprisingly fast and reaches a height of five meters. It has a lush crown, rounded large fruits (10 grams). Crop gives regularly, mainly on the apical branches. About a hundred kilograms of fruit with a thin shell are harvested from a tree. The plant is resistant to many diseases that are characteristic of walnuts (for example, to brown spotting).
Walnut: large-fruited varieties
Such varieties are much smaller, which is probably why they are of particular interest to breeders. We have already told you about the varieties "ideal" and "dessert", which can be fully attributed to large-fruited.
Grades Giants
According to experts, one of the largest varieties is the variety "bomb" (Moldova). Its fruits weigh thirty grams. Thanks to the thick peel, such a fruit looks much more than its true weight - two nuts can hardly fit into a standard 250-gram glass.
Now scientists are working on his selection. Other interesting varieties were also developed — Rudakovsky, Carpathian, and Bukovinsky 2. There was even a variety that was called the "Bukovinian bomb." There is clearly a hint of the size of the Moldavian walnut.
The fruits of new varieties bred in Ukraine are smaller - their weight does not exceed twenty grams. It should be noted and good frost-resistant varieties "Stanislavsky", "Tula thin-skinned." They give nuts weighing more than fifteen grams.
Kalarashsky
Walnut varieties are becoming popular not only due to the size of the fruit. No less important are the taste of the product.
This is a tall tree, with a dense rounded crown. It blooms quite early. Has a proterandric type of flowering. This means that the staminate flowers bloom about seven days earlier than the pistillate. For this tree, the best pollinator is the Skinos cultivar.
The nuts are very large. The average weight of the fruit reaches nineteen grams. The shape is round, slightly ribbed, with a rounded top and a flat base. The shell is not very thin, dense. The core is large, when broken, the nut separates completely. The core film is yellow. The kernel is oily, with a pleasant taste.
"Memory of Minov"
Not all large-fruited varieties of walnuts are widespread in our country. For example, this is a wonderful medium-ripening variety. It belongs to the large-fruited variety of nuts.
The tree grows quickly, it is powerful, with a crown of medium density. Flowering homogamous. Fruits mainly ripen on the apical branches. Fruiting is regular, occurs in the sixth year after planting. The large-fruited walnut variety "memory of Minov" is very large, slightly flattened, slightly ribbed. The average mass of the core is 15.2 grams, the maximum is 18.5 grams. Walnut has a thin shell, its thickness is 1.0 mm. This variety belongs to the table species.
We presented you the best varieties of walnuts. Of course, this is not a complete list. Anyone who is interested in these plants and their fruits, we recommend that you look at the gardening publication, which regularly publishes descriptions of new Russian and foreign breeders.