Under natural circumstances, such nuts
as black walnuts, English walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, pecans,
hazelnuts, filberts and almost all other nuts, will be planted by
squirrels, mice and other rodents. Although most of these will be eaten
by the animals who buried them, a large percentage of the ones which are
not eaten will sprout. The sprouts which achieve maturity and bearing
age, however, will be only a very small percentage--some say only a
fraction of 1%--of the number that sprouted. This is an expensive and
wasteful method, horticulturally speaking, but it does indicate that it
is best to plant nuts as soon as possible after they have properly
ripened and been dried.
After walnuts, hickory nuts, butternuts and hazels have been gathered,
they should be dried until the hulls have lost most of their moisture.
The husks should be removed from filberts before they are dried. While
this preparation is not essential, nuts are less likely to mold if they
are dried somewhat before they are planted. However, I have planted
freshly-gathered black walnuts and butternuts and most of them sprouted.
If nuts are to be stored in large quantities, the drying-out process is
absolutely essential and should be carried to the point of completely
drying the hulls.
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