Walnut, Northern (Persian)
The northern walnut (Juglans regia) is known by many names including Persian walnut, English walnut, and Carpathian walnut to recognize its place of origin. It is the common walnut of commerce grown in many countries around the world. We prefer to call our trees 'Northern Walnut' to identify them as the hardiest found anywhere. Our seedlings are grown from the best selections in our orchard. Our grafted trees are high quality selections from our orchard that have proven to be the most productive, hardiest, most blight resistant, and drought tolerant trees. The trees listed below are our best for these qualities. We use Northern walnut rootstocks for our grafted trees unless it is otherwise mentioned as "on black walnut".
Best production occurs by matching early (protandrous) with late (protogynous) pollinizers in our grafted selections. Protandrous trees produce male catkins before female bloom, while protogynous trees are the opposite.
Suitable for zones 6a to 8, protect in 6a. Grafts are best suited to zone 6b-8. Winter protect graft area in zone 6a for 2-3 years. Tree size can range from 10-15 m (40 ft) in height and spread.
We grow our seedlings from our best parent orchard trees. Since these are grown from nuts, there will be some variation from tree ot tree but most are good producing trees. All trees in our orchard are grafted selections from around the world. Chances are good that the seedlings produced from our parent trees will have the characteristics of two outstanding parents. Suited for climate zones 6a-8.
Ken Dooley from Marion, Indiana grew several hundred of these hybrids and found 2 that were productive with thin shells. These seedlings are from the best one. Suited for climate zones 5b-8.
'Ames' (originally ISU 73-H-24) was from the Iowa State University field trials at Ames, Iowa introduced by Dr. Allan Beck. This selection has been performing well in Niagara. It is productive, hardy, drought tolerant and has good blight resistance. It is mid-season ripening and holds its leaves well until after harvest. The nut is oval, large size and easy cracking. It is protandrous so for best production, pair this one with 'Burtner', 'Broadview' or 'Sejnovo'. Suited for climate zones 6a-8, commercially 6b-8.
'Ames' is grafted on black walnut for commercial growers. Black walnut has a strong root system producing good anchorage and production.
'Bauer' formerly 'Bauer 2' originates near Mitchell, Ontario. The tree is productive and hardy with good blight resistance. The nut is large, oval, well filled and easy cracking. Pair with 'Burton', 'Broadview' or 'Sejnovo' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6a-8.
'Broadview' was introduced by Jack Gellatly from Kelowna, BC. It is one of our hardiest selections. It is productive and has good blight resistance. The nut is large, oval and good cracking. It is one of our latest to vegetate in the spring but one that will drop leaves earlier than most. The nut is large, oval and good cracking. It is a protogynous cultivar and a main pollinizer for most of our selections. Suited for climate zones 6a-8.
'Burtner' is a good pollinizer selection to add to our list of polinizers. It was selected in Southern Pennsylvania from the Pennsylvania Dutch so the seed source was likely Germany. Like 'Broadview', it is a late leafing cultivar so it may avoid late spring frost damage. It has been a good producer of oval shaped well filled nuts at 47% kernel.
'Coble 2', introduced by Garnet Coble from Pennsylvania, is a very large moderately well filled sweet nut even when taken fresh off of the tree. It is thin shelled and cracks easily. It is the best of the novel walnuts that we have found. It is very productive but does have problems with walnut blight and nut fill in some years. Pair it with 'Broadview', 'Burton' or 'Sejnovo' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6b-8.
'Combe' is a hardy tree introduced from Utah by walnut enthusiast, Clifford Dabb. It is an annual, very productive tree with high walnut blight resistance and drought tolerance. The leaves drop well after all of the nuts are down. The nut is medium size and oval with good cracking characteristics. It is one of our most consistent cultivars. It is protadrous so paired with 'Broadview' 'Burtner' or 'Sejnovo' will provide best production. Suited for zones 6a-8, commercially 6b-8.
'Combe' northern walnut is grafted on black walnut for commercial growers.
'Julien' northern walnut is a selection from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, zone 5b on the property of Richard Julien. He has had this strain of walnut for decades on his farm.This selection bears well and yields over 53% kernel. This is a new selection for us, so it is still under test.
'North Platte' was introduced from North Platte, Nebraska, a zone 5a area of relatively harsh dry climate conditions. It is a good producer of large size oval nuts that are easy cracking. It has good walnut blight resistance and is drought tolerant. It holds its leaves well until harvest is over. It is a protandrous cultivar and so it should be paired with 'Sejnovo', 'Broadview' or 'Burtner' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6a-8, commercially in 6b-8.
'North Platte' was introduced from North Platte, Nebraska, a zone 5a area of relatively harsh dry climate conditions. It is a good producer of large size oval nuts that are easy cracking. It has good walnut blight resistance and is drought tolerant. It holds its leaves well until harvest is over. It is a protandrous cultivar and so it should be paired with 'Sejnovo', 'Broadview' or 'Burtner' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6a-8, commercially in 6b-8.
'Sejnovo' is a productive selection from Bulgaria for its walnut blight resistance. The nuts are large, oval and easy cracking. It is drought tolerant and holds its leaves until end of harvest. The nuts are large, oval and easy cracking. It is a protogynous cultivar, and along with 'Broadview' and 'Burton' is a main pollinizer for all of the other cultivars listed. Suited for climate zones 6b-8.
'Sejnovo' northern walnut is grafted on black walnut for commercial growers. Black walnut rootstock is recommended for the coldest recommended zone. Suited for zones 6b-8.
'Sigler' is a hardy annually productive tree with good walnut blight resistance. The nut is extra large, oval in shape, well-filled and easy cracking. Pair with 'Broadview', 'Burton'or 'Sejnovo' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6b-8.
'Young’s B1' was selected by Earl Young from Lyons, NY. This cultivar is an annually productive 'Broadview' seedling selection. The nut is very attractive, very well filled, large, and round in shape. The tree is healthy, hardy and vigorous growing. It has good walnut blight resistance and drought tolerance. It is mid-season ripening and holds its leaves well at harvest. Pair it with 'Broadview', 'Burtner' or 'Sejnovo' for good production. Suited for climate zones 6a-8.
'Young's B1' northern walnut is well suited for commercial orcharding, especially for the colder climate zones. Suited for zone 6b-8.
'Dooley Hybrid' is a rare walnut cultivar introduced by Ken Dooley from Marion Indiana. Unlike most hybrids with eastern black walnut, it has a thin, paper shell that can be cracked with fingers. The tree is very productive, vigorous and leans toward the northern walnut in most of its characteristics. It exhibits the best walnut blight resistance in the orchard. It is drought tolerant and holds its leaves until harvest is over. The nuts are early to mid-season ripening. The nut is medium size, round and very well-filled. A small number of the nuts are not well sealed at the tip. It is a protandrous cultivar and so should be paired with 'Sejnovo', 'Broadview' or 'Burtner' for best production. Suited for climate zones 6a-8.
'Dooley' Hybrid Persian walnut is grafted on black walnut for commercial growers.