Nut trees

[TimW]

Planting a little corner of orchard before the winter is over I find I
have space for maybe 2 or three small trees more. I have been doing nuts
in this corner, the idea being to have variety, it isn't agriculture. I
have a walnut, a hazel/cob and an almond. Thinking about a sweet
chestnut but I am not sure it will stay small. Other nuts are available
pistachio and cashew for instance but do they really grow and fruit in
the UK?
TW

[Jeff Layman]

Basically, there are very few nut trees hardy in the UK, and even fewer
which would fruit reliably. I think you've mentioned them all. Pistachio
and cashew are really tropical/subtropical. You might get some nuts in a
heated greenhouse, but you'd have to be very observant of the plant's
requirements.

One thing you might be interested in is the experimentation in nut tree
rootstock. We're all familiar with rootstock for top fruit, but nuts are
being looked at too:
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623031/>

--

Jeff

[The Natural Philosopher]

On 11/02/2024 18:48, TimW wrote:

> Planting a little corner of orchard before the winter is over I find I
> have space for maybe 2 or three small trees more. I have been doing nuts
> in this corner, the idea being to have variety, it isn't agriculture. I
> have a walnut, a hazel/cob and an almond. Thinking about a sweet
> chestnut but I am not sure it will stay small.

It wont, but it will take 100 years to get big.

Other nuts are available
> pistachio and cashew for instance but do they really grow and fruit in
> the UK?

Never known them to, but I could be wrong.

> TW

--
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have
guns, why should we let them have ideas?

Josef Stalin

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

On 11/02/2024 18:48, TimW wrote:

For some "nut" plants (pine and gingko nuts aren't botanically nuts)
sold in the UK see

https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/product-category/plants/nuts/

Mostly relatives of the species you mention above, but there's also
bladdernut, as well as pine and gingko. I can't comment as to how
reliably, or at what age, they might crop in the UK.

--
SRH

[Jeff Layman]

Er...you *wouldn't* want gingko to crop. It's fruits are said to smell
like a cross between rancid butter and vomit! It also appears that the
nuts are poisonous unless roasted.
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/female-ginkgo-tree-leaves-smelly-mess-for-owner-1.7059243>

--

Jeff

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

Durian fruits are said to have a terrible stench (banned from public
transport), but they're also a delicacy. (They also add impact damage
from falling fruit to the hazard mix.) I wouldn't grow gingko for its
fruits but that doesn't mean no-one else would.

(The preference for male gingko trees in amenity plantings is well
known, but I wasn't bothered by the odour when I encountered female
trees at RBGE.)

--
SRH

[Nick Maclaren]

None of those are really small, and (according to my sources) the
Japanese and Chinese chestnuts are pretty comparable.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.