Are you talking about actually cracking/shelling the nuts, or just getting the husk material off? Have seen folks use a small cement mixer with some rough rocks or chunks of bricks thrown in - and multiple water changes, to clean the husk material off the nuts. Also knew one fellow who used an old clothes dryer, sans heating unit, in a similar manner - but I'll bet you'd need to wear some earplugs with those nuts and chunks of bricks rolling around in there. But, if it's an automated cracker you want, have a look at the Mohabi cracker, here: Here is a link that might be useful: NNGA Marketplace

I can give you some better answers than the above. This is for my area of North Alabama where I have 160+ trees planted. tree farm The best varieties I've had so far are the original Thomas and Neel #1. These two varieties need a protandrous pollinator which can be Cranz. I'm watching Pounds #2 very closely and may add it to my recommended list. I need another 2 years of production data to say for sure. If I were planting trees today, I would put in 3 Thomas, 3 Neel #1, and 1 Cranz and maintain that ratio for as many trees as I wanted to plant. For more northern climates, the best I have seen are Sparrow, S127, Mcginnis, and Mintle. Emma K is mentioned quite a bit above. It is a heavy producer and in some climates might be exceptional, but it has one overwhelming flaw. The husk adheres so tightly to the shell that it is nearly impossible to remove. Also, if you have a mechanical de-husker, the shell is thin enough to be easily damaged. For these reasons, I do not recommend Emma K. A lot has been made over the years of having a thin shell or a very high percentage kernel. In my opinion, this is seriously misguided. The first and foremost objective should be to grow walnuts that produce the maximum amount of high quality kernel per volume of land planted. This has to be measured over a period of years and calculated based on square inches of tree trunk for the amount of land and weight of harvested kernel. None of the black walnut varieties available today fully measure up, but there are some that come close. 1. Neel #1 - A very good oval nut with a unique shape. Good anthracnose tolerance, good production, excellent growth with a distinctive central leader and spreading branches. The flavor of this nut is comparable to and maybe slightly better than Thomas. Appears to be one of the best adapted trees in the Southeast. The only flaw I have found with this tree is that it does not like to be crowded, but that is generally true for all black walnuts. 2. Thomas � A medium to large nut with excellent flavor and good crackability. It is slightly susceptible to anthracnose but if controlled with a spray program would be an excellent production tree. My scionwood source is a 40 year old tree in Alabama that produces very well. There is a lot of virus contaminated graft wood of this variety so be very careful of your source! This variety has the lateral branching trait which results in a very high fruiting potential. 3. Hay #1 � aka Thomas Myers. Very large nut with huge kernel pieces and good disease tolerance. Does well here in the SouthEast. Needs good soil and moisture conditions and full sunlight. After 10 years of evaluation, I am of the opinion this variety is not productive enough and kernel quality is not high enough. 4. Surprise - an excellent quality, precocious, productive, rounded nut cracking out about 35% kernel. This tree tends to grow fast with somewhat prostrate form making it a poor timber producer except when staked and carefully trained. It is a rapid grower under good conditions and can reach early production within 5 years. One flaw I noted, some years 20% or more of the nuts are blanks. 5. Kwik Krop - an excellent quality flattened oval shaped nut. Nut is oval, oblate, dented with a unique shape. The only complaints are that the kernel percentage is a bit low and that the production consistency is not as good as could be asked for. Kernel color is white to tan, occasionally amber, excellent flavor, and cracks relatively easy. 6. Mcginnis - This is a small to medium sized nut with excellent kernel color and about 35% yield. It has two flaws in that kernel extraction can be relatively difficult and it has a distinctive buttery taste. The ortet originated in Nebraska so hardiness is excellent. It has very high anthracnose tolerance. 7. Ogden � a tree with heavy production. Grows well in this area. Production has been heavy but nut quality is relatively low. 8. Sauber #1 � Lane scionwood. Medium sized good quality nut. Production is relatively poor. Nut size is a non-starter for me, but this might be acceptable further north. 9. Sparrow � small nut but heavy producer. This is the best early pollinator I have found so far. Its production consistency is the best yet seen with a yearly crop 5 years out of 6. Kernels tend to be darker than I like. Harvest and clean these early to prevent darkening. 10. S127 � another small nut but excellent quality. Seems to do well here though originally from Iowa. This has been one of the better quality small to medium sized nuts I've grown. 11. Football II � very heavy production to the point of overloading. Would need a spray program to control disease. Kernel tends to darken rapidly. Crackability is not as high as I would like. 12. Pounds #2 � A Thomas seedling that is better quality and more disease tolerant. The nuts are shaped pretty much like Thomas but are just a bit harder to crack out. I consider this to be one of the best new varieties. 13. Farrington - A large nut with fair production and good leaf disease tolerance. Deserves to be propagated more than it has. Kernels darken rapidly so early harvest is advised. 14. Stoker � source Paul Cotner. This tree originated on the Kentucky/Indiana border. It is one of the best cracking nuts I've tried yet though kernel percentage is in the 25% range. The pellicle is white to cream colored which is very rare. Flavor is as good as Thomas, almost as good as Neel #1. 15. Cranz � aka Crantz? Good production and flavor, lots of things to recommend this tree. This is a protandrous variety that works very well as an early pollinator. 16. S129 - This one is a good overall nut and a rapidly growing tree. Production can be decent but is not high enough for commercial use. 17. S147 - The nut shape is elongated and tends to form a long spur on the stem end of the nut. This spur interferes with cracking so much that I don't recommend the variety. 18. Tomboy - Small nut, moderate quality. I don't consider this one to be adapted to my area though it might be a good choice further north. 19. Ridgeway - Erratic production, relatively low kernel quality, large nuts. Enough said. 20. Eldora - This is a small nut that might do better further north. I don't consider it to be viable in my zone. 21. Ozark King - nice nut when harvested promptly, but the trees are not productive enough to justify growing. 22. Bowser - Very high quality nut, but the trees are extremely unproductive. 23. Schreiber - Exceptionally easy to bud, nice size nut, but unproductive. 24. Daniels - There are two varieties going by this name. I have both, but neither has been good enough to get excited about. 25. Davidson - Good production, but very dark kernels. Not adapted here. 26. Emma K - Very high production, thin shell, has a serious flaw that the husk adheres tightly to the shell and the shell is thin enough to be easily damaged by mechanical dehuskers. DarJones

I have lived in this country house for 5 years, I must admit, that as I am throwing the nuts out of my yard into the woods, slipping on them and ruining my lawnmower blades...I have wondered what I could do with all these black walnuts... My whole back yard consists of black walnut trees and now that I feel very good about how to harvest these nuts,thanks to you all, I am not into baking, so here is my question. I am told people would purchase these if I took the time to do it, but is it worth it and also, any idea how much I could get for these little beauties? Oh, and though I knew better, I didnt wear gloves and my hands are a mess.....lesson learned. Ã Thanks

The black walnus I have here are like the ones in the video also, not like Ann T's. They're a mess to deal with and more work than they are worth to get out of the shell, plus they are bitter. I don't like them, but Dad loved them. e also had a butternut tree, I liked those better. Both trees, however, give off juglone from their roots, making it impossible to grow most other things within a distance from their roots. I found that beans would grow, but rhubarb wouldn't, not even horseradish. I love trees but when I bought the farm I had them both cut down, they made a huge mess and when you hit a black walnut with a lawn mower they turn into a projectile, capable of breaking windows and messing up the mower blades. The butternut tree was older than me and apparently hollow, one night it just fell over and so I didn't have to deal with feeling guilty over cutting down Dad's butternut tree. We'd take 5 gallon buckets full of the black walnuts and dump them on the back of the property, I only wish we could have sold them. We can't give the darned things away and I still have black walnuts on the property. annie