
A seven year old buartnut (butternut / heartnut cross) with a living mulch of comfrey. This one produced its first nuts in only 5 years. 3 or 4 times a summer (especially when we have interns!) the comfrey is quickly lopped with a machete & in the places where it forms a donut around the tree, it is left to lay. In places where the comfrey is alone, that is usually used to mulch other plants. One caution is that as a living mulch comfrey works best around trees which end up much taller. I have a couple places where it was planted near blueberries & currants & it seems to rob the plants of phosphorus as they turn pretty yellow. Buartnut & chinese chestnut are planted as the overstory species in the Dreamtime nut garden. Supposedly one of the advantages of buartnut hybrids is their resistence to butternut canker but I am seeing signs of it on the trees. The nuts are half to 2/3 the size of an english walnut & the flavor is quite similar.
Nice photo, what are the growing conditions? --BK
If by growing conditions you mean the growing conditions of the site, DreamtimeVillage is located in the driftless bioregion of southwest WISCONSIN. The area is USDA 4b/5a, don't ask me what sunset zone it is, we get 30-40 inches of rain a year. 20-30 below is not uncommon in the winter.
The specific site of the buartnut is in an old school playground, heavily compacted soil. The site ONLY had QuackGrass when we arrived 10 years ago. Heavy clay loam soil. We make great use of the subsoil ie clay for making pottery & ocarinas. --mIEKAL
Hi Miekal, I have never heard of a Buart Plant before? By the sounds of it, it could grow here in theEnglish Midlands which are "cold and unkind". Is it related to a pecan do you know.
By the way, what is the block number of the comfrey you grow? I don't know mine. All I know is it is the Russian kind. I just cut it down and spread it on the grounds round plants as a sort of mulch.. Where it actually grows ther trees don't seem any better for it than elsewhere.
Buart nut is a cross between heartnut & butternut & is in the juglan family. The butternut give it hardiness to -30 C, the heartnut gives is the characteristic walnut kernal & flavor.
The best place to find out if plants will work in your location, especially since you are in the UK, is to use the incredible Plants for a Future database.
http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/D_intro.html but I see no reason why it would not work.
Thanks Miekal.
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