ken: I've been doing tons of research on this subject for weeks now. I know there are lots of issues to keep in mind for potted trees -- nutrition, frequent watering, protecting them from root freeze during the winter and using special pots for the walnuts so that the taproot doesn't get all curled up in the pot, etc. I know all about how apples don't breed true and will need to be grated to get good apples. I know that seed-grown trees will be huge at full size. When my husband and I move to our rural paradise in a few years, I want to plant these trees and have them grow into enormous giants that our children and their children can enjoy all their lives. Dwarf trees are cute, but I want majestic towering beauties. I want to grow from seed to get the full experience from start to finish in caring for trees. It all looks like a really fun process to me which is why I'm doing it the slow way. There's something really exciting about throwing a bunch of seeds in pots and just being surprised with what grows. I know I could get predictable results from nursery raising seedling in less time, but there's less adventure and discovery in that process. canadianplant: There are indeed named cultivars for black walnuts which were selected for superior nut production -- size, taste, meatiness and thinner shells. I might keep a couple of wild ones, but I want to practice grafting too. There are named cultivars that were selected for superior timber production too.

achang, I realize it's not 20 years old, but when it gets to be 20 years old it will be a grand tree, gardens come and go, have about a 3-5 month shelf life per year and then thats it. But you asked, sounds more to me that you already knew you want to cut it down, but just want others to back your decision. Unless you have trees on all sides of your garden, the sunlight difference will be indifferent to actual garden growth with the walnut tree growing. I have giant trees about 10 ft from my garden, they get the needed sun the rest of the day and grow perfectly.

You did dig and transplant while they were still dormant, right? I've rarely had problems with transplanting dormant bareroot 1-yr seedling nut trees, even when I've provided them with no appreciable aftercare beyond their initial watering-in, but they certainly benefit from mulching and supplemental watering, as needed, during the first year. I wouldn't be surprised with a 10-20% failure rate, but 70% is awfully high. As Resin indicated, try to preserve as much taproot and lateral roots as possible - they're reserve energy storage receptacles, providing the 'food' these seedlings need to re-establish root mass lost in transplanting and pushing new growth in the ensuing growing season. Generally, I recommend against any amendments in the planting hole - just crumble and replace the native soil that you initially removed; your seedlings' roots eventually have to grow in that native soil, so they'd just as well get on with it from the outset.

I plan to prune the centerpiece American persimmon at least a bit, while keeping it's natural shape. It'll also provide shade against the sun. The house faces almost due west with no shade on that side of the house. The persimmon tree will have some room to grow, while the other fruit trees in the front garden need some height restrictions placed on them through the open pruning techniques we're using. I hae considered pruning the persimmon into a semi-vase or partially open shape of some sort, which should keep the mature height somewhere well under 60 ft. Providing I live long enough to keep it pruned up at the proper intervals. LOL. Mulberry Knob, we are also looking for two paw-paws. If you happen to learn of the whereabouts of any small ones,lemme know. Chances are, it'll be better to go ahead and just buy them in order to get the size I want. Those are on the planting diagram for the front garden. They go in the northeast corner of the front garden, closer to the house. A bed is already prepared for them. I'll prune those the same way we're doing the rest of the fruit trees - a combination of open/vase and espalier techniques. Believe it or not, two spice bushes are on our planting diagram for the front garden, for exactly the reasons you've listed. They'll be planted on either side of the walkway on the north side of the garden, next to the long bed. Yeah, I'm after some of the oddball stuff that provides different nutrients while adding to the variety of flavors, colors and textures we'll have in the garden. All of those bushes and trees will also offer some noise mitigation for the day time trafic around here. It's wuiet at night and on the weekends, but during business hours, it can be hard to hear someone standing just a few feet away. That, or I'm gettin' old. One of the two. We still have the driveway bed to play with, too. The only thing we've planned for it are two fig trees. The rest of that bed is only three feet wide, but would work for espaliered trees, bushes, vines and such. The soil in that bed has already been amended enough for those types of plants. Most of the sassafras trees would go along our back fence somewhere. ...mebbe. That, or in the driveway bed. They're really an understory tree, if I remember my youthful woodland wanderings. They weren't really on the list, but then again, we haven't really planned anything for the back yard, either. Not even a bubble diagram. Jusrt, "Something, something' for fence beds and 'something, something' for the center of the yard" is as far as we've gotten. I sent you an email through your profile. Lemme know if you've recieved it, please.