Are you aware of any studies that have evaluated if there is a differnce in the growth rates or long term mortality rates of plantations established by planting nuts vs. plantations established with seedlings? I believe that seedlings always have thier tap root pruned as part of the digging process and I am wondering if we acutally understand the impact of this pruning. Do we know in what fashion this tap root redevelopes and how that compares to walnuts planted from seed?

Hi James:

I'm not aware of any studies off the top of my head; however, I have never conducted a literature review on this topic. I'm sure there are some data out there on this topic.

Based on personal experience in east-central Illinois floodplains, I can tell you that I've experienced both great success and dismal failure with direct seeding hardmast tree species (oak, hickory, walnut, and Kentucky coffeetree).

Overall, I'm a firm believer in direct seeding simply because successful direct seeding practices are cheaper to install and one can easily end up with 1000-2200 seedlings per acre (based on an initial planting density of 3000 seeds/acre).

The keys to successful direct seeding practices are (1) Site preparation, (2) More site preparation, (3) Planting a lot of quality seed, and (4) Grass and broadleaf weed control.