Storing Black Walnuts

[Empty Quiver]

Wife and neighbor are collecting walnuts. They have gotten different takes on how to go about shelling and keeping them.

Some are suggesting boiling them first. Others say just rinse off with hose and let dry then commence to cracking. My position is this is just to eliminate staining there hands and serves no other usful purpose, but I am wrong once in a while.

Share your wisdom with me .

[jvs]

The only useful purpose I ever heard of for Black Walnuts is to Dye Traps, it  actually slows down oxidation in exposed steel.  Other than that, most people don't want to put up with that mess and toss them.

Although hosing them off sounds like the cleanest way to do it and a piece of Black Walnut cake could be the bounty.

I have heard many times that almost nothing grows in the vicinity of a Black Walnut tree except grass.  Black Walnut trees have the ability of making the ground unbearable for almost everything else. 

...and the wood makes nice Stocks.

[Old Syko]

For a small amount we used to just dump them in a gravel drive and after a month or so they were hulled.  Now days I'll pick up a pickup load and haul them to the local feed mill where they have a machine that will hull them on the spot.  They'll keep some and I get some back.  Let them dry for a month or so and crack them and pick them out.  Store them in quart jars for use throughout the winter and following summer.  The mills will buy them by the ton but I don't know what they pay.  There doesn't seem to be a shortage of of people hauling them in. 

Hey my tumbling media has to come from someplace. and walnut hull is all I will use.

[Drilling Man]

I have heard many times that almost nothing grows in the vicinity of a Black Walnut tree except grass.  Black Walnut trees have the ability of making the ground unbearable for almost everything else. 

  I keep hearing that too...  BUT, the squirrels keep planting the nuts in my flowers, garden and every place else.  The tree's grow up, and all the other plants keep thriveing...

  It just hasn't proven to be true for me, but perhaps it's true in some other soil condition??

  DM

[CannonKrazy]

Storing the walnuts isn't a problem.Just put them in a dry container and freeze them.If you leave them out they will become strong (taste) as the oils in them begin to dry out.The hard part is shelling them.Over the years I have tried several different ways and smashed a few fingers as well.I finally decided that cracking the shell in a vice is the safest and most productive way.You can control the pressure with the vice and see what you are doing.

[Cornbelt]

Walnut trees give off juglone, a toxic chemical to most other trees. Not enough to kill 'em, but does stunt their growth. The hulls, leaves and roots give it off, so walnuts tend to grow in groves. Have some that are a foot accross and only 3-4 yrs older than white oaks that are only 3" or so, but away from the walnuts and their tainted soil, another white oak of the same age is as large as the walnuts. If you bag up the walnuts, the worms will accumulate and eat the hulls. Small critters and don't eat anything else. Wish they'd do that with my acorns.

[Swampman]

I use lots of the soft hulls to dye leather & cloth.  I wish I had access to more.  They don't really grow here.

[JBlk]

Husk them, the easy way is with a old hand corn sheller. Dry them in the sun for a week or so and then gather up what the squirrels haven't carried off, bag them and put them in a dry place.You can also jack up the rear wheel of a car and feed the walnuts under the tire to remove the husk.