OT-----how to harvest walnuts.

TJ in KY

Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

I have a walnut tree (volunteer) that finally has some nuts on it. I just want to know how to harvest and use them. I know my late father in law used to gather them up after they fell from the tree and hull them, but then what do you do?? do you have to let them lay outside and dry after removing the hulls?? How long?? Another one has volunteered next to this one so maybe in a few more years i will have even more.

 

D

David G

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

A corn sheller works pretty good to get the husks off.

The squirrels will harvest the good ones if you lay them out to
dry. My dad made a cage for them with wire on both sides so
they could not get to them.

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

we use to just rake them into the driveway after a week or so they were hulled, you can eat them then or leave them dry for a while can get the meat out better after they dry for 6 months or so taste better too.

 

B

bill mart

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

ditto on the driveway, thats how we do it,watch for the squirrels though. Bill

 

I

IaGary

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

I picked up about 4 bushels 4 years ago. Hulls were black not green.

I spread them out on plywood across the top of the farrowing crates in the farrowing house. With the hulls still on them.

Just broke a few the other day and they are still good.

The main thing is get the nuts dry.


Gary

 

P

Paul from MI

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

Don't try to hull them with a corn sheller, they plug up the wheel terribly. Makes a real mess to clean up. Once hulled and dried they keep for years.

 

R

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

Scatter them in the driveway, after they"re driven over a few times, pick "em up in a 5gallon bucket. Wash them down with a high pressure washer, dry them on a flat surface in the sun,

 

O

old

Well-known Member

Location

Camdenton Missouri

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

As far as hulling them I have pans for a rig that was used back in the day when people knew how to do for them self. If you want the plans just drop me an e-mail. Takes a couple boards and a car or truck tire and a little bit of gas but with out seeing the plans you would not understand. It does take a special nut cracker to brake them open but hey I have at least 50 Walnut tress on the place so been around them for decades and years ago would sell them but getting to the point it hurts to much to pick up very many of them

 

N

NEKS

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

I dumped about 2 gallons in the driveway a few years ago and along came a 3 inch rain a few days later and my walnuts were all gone.

 

OP

OP

TJ in KY

Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

Thanks for all responses, kinda what I remember father in law doing as far as hulling on driveway just did not know how long to dry. Thanks again

 

H

huntingreen2day

Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

We laid them in the driveway when I was a kid. We still had to do some hulling by hand and have used a corn sheller also without any problems. We sold them as kids for spending money. I believe they brought about $ 5.00 per hundred pounds. I don't know what they bring today but there is a place here in town that buys them all. I crack them with a hammer. they are good for you.

 

W

Walt in Jaxn Tn.

Well-known Member

• Sep 14, 2011

• #1

There was a grocery store chain office over in Hickman Ky that would buy all sorts of things like coon skins, beaver pelts and walnut hulls. Wood stain is made from the hulls of walnuts.

 

N

northvale

Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

assume you are talking black walnuts? When we bought our place, we had 3 big English walnut trees. They de-hulled themselves on the ground in about 1 week and were easy to crack. Unfortunately, all the trees died off from something. If you want nuts, plant English. If you want wood, plant black walnuts.

 

D

Deere Scotty

Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

I saw a pound of walnuts for $5.29 at a supermarket last Friday. My parents have probably a thousand pounds (with shell still on) about to hit the ground. Dad filled a 27 gallon tub last year. I still have about a pound left over from it.

 

J

James Babcock

Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

I remember Dad used a thing like old is talking about. Jacked up one side of the car on the back so the wheel would spin and used some sort of wooden box to hull them. You can buy a fancy tool to crack them or just use a hammer if you're careful. For your question of how long to dry, you can tell on the first one you crack open if they're not ready. The meat will feel damp and not taste like a store-bought walnut. Seems like after about of month of good drying the flavor develops well, but there's too many variables for a one size fits all rule. Used to be around here, every wide spot in the road had a huller and would buy your walnuts but now I know of two within reasonable driving distance. If there is somebody close to you buying nuts, I bet they would hull yours for almost nothing or maybe take 10% off the top to do it for you. Then find a spot safe from squirrels and let them dry for a couple of weeks and crack a few to see how they're drying.

 

G

greygoat

Well-known Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

We laid out Walnuts and Butternuts to dry a few
years ago, and then realized that the squirrels
were into them. We lost about 1/3, but they hid
them, and forgot where, and now we have young
trees coming up around the acreage!

 

K

Keith Molden

Well-known Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

If you don't want your hands dyed a dark brown, better wear some gloves to handle the freshly fallen ones. The juice out of the hulls will stain them and it's pretty hard to get off. We, like the others usually just put them in the drive and they get hulled pretty good. hammer works for cracking but can be kinda nasty on fingers when you (one nut) miss the other nut LOL. Keith

 

1

1130Leo

Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

We use a cement mixer to hull them, it seems to work pretty well, you can also make some great walnut stain with the husks, as that is where it really comes from. If you get it on you, it will not come off until you wear it off, I have not found anything that easily washes it off at all.

 

O

okierob

Member

• Sep 15, 2011

• #1

I use an old cement mixer also. the paddles are missing and i just toss some rocks in with the walnuts. I add a little water so they make a slurry.

I took some expanded metal and put some 2x8 boards around it for sides. Once the walnuts have lost the hull in the mixer, i dump them in the box with the expanded metal bottom. I usually have it setting on some cinder blocks to provide drainage.

I then fire up the pressure washer and clean the walnuts off.