I am going to be planting Black Walnut seedlings along with some White and Red Oak seedlings also. I was wondering how close I should plant them together. I have read for Black Walnuts about 10 feet and for the oaks 8-10 feet, which is around 700-1100 trees per acre roughly. I am planning on letting them all grow to maturity and not thinning them out like several of the articles mentined. What should my distance be between the trees for the black walnuts, red oaks, and white oaks? I would appreciate any and all the information that you could give me. I am wanting to get them planted by this next weekend. Please let me know once you've answered my question so I can check back, or email me personally. Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.

Lucas Eades

Greetings Lucas,

To produce high-quality veneer and sawlogs, I would recommend a minimum 10x10 spacing (436 trees per acre). You will eventually have to cull-out some of the losers to make adequate room for the crop trees (a.k.a., the winners) that first reach and form the canopy. It is impossible to maintain all your planted trees to final harvest – if you do, all your trees will be the size of lampposts rather than big, quality sawtimber trees.

I am a huge advocate of mixed-plantings, so I give you a lot of credit for having proper foresight.

Hope this helped!