4-5ft Juglans Regia | Common Walnut Seedling | 9L Pot

4-5ft Juglans Regia | Common Walnut Seedling | 9L Pot

Walnut trees make a magnificent feature for the larger garden and are a traditional staple of the English countryside. Unripe nuts are fantastic for pickling and for the more adventurous you can grind the hard shells of ripe nuts and use as a stuffing in the traditional Italian pasta dish ‘Agnolotti’ It is often said that Walnut trees will inhibit the growth of other plants in the garden so care should be taken as they release juglone (a kind of poison that inhibits plant growth) from their roots and also from their leaves. The rule of thumb is avoid planting anything under or within a few feet of the canopy or eventual canopy of the tree (the roots underneath can be estimated to spread as far as the tree on top) and make sure you clear up and burn the fallen leaves – certainly don’t compost them!

A: Not As Much As You Might Think…

One stand out specification that customers often use to judge the value of a tree is the height. So should height directly correlate with the price of a tree? No, not necessarily.
To an extent the height of a tree can give you a good indication of its maturity but you must not forget: To grow a productive, well shaped, healthy tree you must prune it back regularly, especially when young.
Our trees often grow up to 2m in the fields before we prune them back and package them ready to send out. This pruning encourages the tree to grow more, stronger branches and ensures there is a good balance between the root size and top growth. This ensures that your tree puts energy into establishing a healthy root base instead of supporting top growth, providing a better foundation for your tree in the future.
So, in summary: Don’t let the extra 10/20cm you may find elsewhere sway you. You are likely to be paying extra for the delivery costs and, if you want a healthy tree in the long run, you’re going to have to chop it off anyway!