EPISODE 900 THOUSANDS OF BLACK WALNUTS — ARE THEY POISONOUS?
EPISODE 900 THOUSANDS OF BLACK WALNUTS — ARE THEY POISONOUS?
alan skeoch
Nov 1, 2023
Our original Black Walnut tree which was planted by me (as the legend goes) around 1944 or 1946.
The tree is now, like me, in its 80’s. Perhaps 80 to 100 feet high. Dominating all living things
nearby with a poison chemiical called JUGLONE
I must ask my chemist friend Rooter…Robert Root…about that poison. SEEMS TO KILL
LIVING THINGS
IS THIS CAUTION TRUE, ROOTER? (ASKING BOB ROOT) ???
The effects of juglone
The fruit husks contain the highest concentrations of juglone. (Photo by Franklin Bonner, USFS, ret., Bugwood.org)
Some people and animals are susceptible to juglone damage. Consuming too many leaves or using walnut sawdust for bedding can cause a number of problems with animals. Some people are especially sensitive to juglone, and even sawdust from cutting walnut lumber can coat skin and produce a red welt where it lands. Juglone is a strong respiratory toxin and small amounts will damage other living creatures.
In the soil, juglone will damage many living things, including plant roots. Once it’s released into the soil, small amounts can damage and kill the roots of neighboring plants. Beneath the tree, this walnut chemical severely damages annual plants, garden vegetables, fruit trees and some broadleaf perennials. Most grasses seem immune. If it leaks back onto a walnut root, however, it is quickly made nontoxic again and stored. Wherever walnut roots travel, they change the soil they move through by adding juglone.
GRANDMA LOUISIA FREEMAN SAID I PLANTED THE WALMUT TREE
(She may have told cousin Ted Freeman the same thing we were about the same age)
“Alan, you planted the walnut tree beside the back house.”
I do not remember doing so but I was just a little boy at the time. If I did then I
sure knew the right spot. The outhouse. Lots of fertilizer, the real stuff must have seeped into the ground on
that spot. The Black walnut loves good land.
And lots of walnuts began to drop each fall as the tree thrived and now
towers over the farm house. 2023.. A bumper crop. A thousand walnuts from one tree. So many walnuts
that we need a Bobcat to move them.
“Alan, do not go under the walnut tree…you will get boinked.”
“A thousand hard balls falling.”
“Too many. I hate that tree.” (Marjorie’s opinion)
“Grandma loved it and so do I…part of our heritage. When I was a teen ager
I would gather a basket of walnuts and hurl the into roadside ditches from
our old 1953 Meteor. Some big trees on the fifth line were planted that way…like
Johnny Appleseed.”
“They are poison, Alan. Their roots kill any other tree that thinks it can
move into walnut territory. That walnut tree killed the hickory tree. Scares me.”
“Are black walnuts edible?””
“They are. But they can also hurt people who are allergic to them. I think Bill
Doyle’s brother was killed by a walnut allergy”
“Wow! And you eat them?”
“Never knew better as a kid.. thankfully it was Difficult to get at the walnut core. “ (We are talking about Black Walnuts. Not the
domesticated English walnuts tucked in an ice cream cone or brownies.)
“Black Walnuts?”
“They like good soil. In distant times..pioneer days….settlers searched for
walnut groves because they knew the land of the Black Walnut would be superb.”
“”Can I taste a Black Walnut?”
“You can but it may nto be worth the effort.”
“Why?”
“You will need a sledge hammer to break the shell…needs a good
smash and all you will get are little bits of nut. If ,by error, you
bite on a piece of walnut shell you will need a dentist . Black
Walnuts break teeth.”
“Alan, get serious, have you ever eaten a black walnut?”
“I have tasted the nut long ago.”
“And you are still alive…or seem so.”
“Then Black Walnuts are edible.”
“Seems so.”
“This year we have a bumper crop…perhaps a thousand pounds of walnuts…so
many that we need a fork lift to move them.”
“Hold on. Can I eat a Black Walnut…just one?”
“You can but that is another story…..another episode.”
“Why make it so difficult?”
“Because Black Walnut trees want to be sure to create more black walnut trees
and to discourage enemies like you or, particularly, those red squirrels who just love
the nuts and have teeth that can chew through the hard nut casing.”
“What’s wrong with my teeth?”
“Your teeth wold be shattered by the nut casing.”
“What about the poison?”
HOW TO PREPARE BLACK WALNUTS FOR A GOURMET FEAST… NEXT EPISODE
