In researching some of the chestnut cultivars in the UMCA “Descriptions of Chestnut Cultivars for Nut Production in the Eastern and Midwestern United States”, I saw that someone named ‘E.A. Riehl’ was listed in these. Imagine my surprise that his farm was in Godfrey, Illinois, just up the bluff from Piasa Harbor. Our family had … Read more
As we continue planning our black walnut operation — with half an acre dedicated to nut production and half an acre set aside for timber — the timber side is likely going to be Purdue HTIRC Timber Select seedlings and Purdue #1 seedlings, but which cultivar should we plant on the nut production side? After … Read more
We have black walnut trees all over our property. Big ones, productive ones, trees that drop hundreds of nuts every fall. So why did I spend $35 on 25 black walnut seeds from Indiana and dedicate half my winter to babysitting them in the refrigerator? The wild trees on the property? They’re a mixed bag … Read more
About ten years ago, we planted two grafted pecan trees on our Missouri farm. This is the story of this initial pecan tree planting, why we chose them, and what ten years of growth looks like for us. The Starting Point We started with a copy of the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry … Read more
If you’ve spent any time researching black walnut, you’ve probably heard the idea: plant trees that produce premium timber worth $$$thousands per tree AND annual nut harvests. Double income from the same trees. Why wouldn’t you go for both? Here’s why: because even though you could set up a planting to achieve both goals, the … Read more