Content
Some gardeners are faced with the problem of why walnuts do not bloom. Its fruits contain a large amount of useful substances and vitamins and are used in cooking, cosmetology and medicine. By following a number of rules described in the article, you can easily achieve flowering of the plant.
How does a walnut bloom?
The tree blooms from April to May. Walnut flowering lasts about 15 days. At the same time, there can be both female and male flowers on it. The female ones are located at the top of the annual shoot, singly or in several pieces. Male stamens look like hanging catkins, tightly collected in the axils of the leaves. Below are several photos of walnut blossoms.
Walnut flowers are small, light greenish in color. They are pollinated by wind and pollen from other walnut trees within a radius of 1 km. As a result of pollination, fruits are formed.
The fruits are large nuts with a thick green rind 0.5 - 2.2 mm thick and a dense stone with several partitions. When the fruits ripen, the peel dries out and bursts into two parts. What remains is a woody shell, inside which the edible kernel itself is enclosed.Ripening occurs in August and September. Nuts can be either small or large: it depends on the variety and location of the tree. The shape of the fruit is usually round, oval or ovoid.
After planting from seed, fruiting occurs in 8–12 years. Every year from one tree they produce from 10 to 300 kg of fruit. In a garden plot, a walnut lives for about 200 - 500 years, in wild conditions - up to 1 thousand years, and sometimes longer.
Why doesn't the walnut bloom?
In order to grow a nut that can enter the fruiting season, you need to thoroughly study the biological characteristics of the flowering of this plant.
Variety and planting method
There are early, medium and late fruiting varieties. To quickly achieve the color of a walnut, you need to know the heredity of the individual from which the seeds or cuttings were taken.
Lack of partner
It is known that the walnut is a dioecious plant, however, its flowering has three forms.
Protandric | Protogonic | Self-fertile |
The male flower blooms first, and after a certain time the female flower blooms. | First, the female one blooms, and only after that the male one blooms. | Flowering of female and male inflorescences begins simultaneously. |
If the female inflorescences have not opened by the time the male inflorescences release pollen, the tree will not bear fruit. | If the male flowers have just bloomed and the female ones have already faded, there will be no harvest. | The plant is self-pollinating and may subsequently bear fruit. |
Protandric and protogonic individuals are simply not capable of fertilization on their own; during flowering they need a pollinator.
Too much fertilizer
If the tree is actively growing, but flowering does not occur, this means that the owners fertilize and water it too generously. This contributes to the beginning of enhanced root development, and other processes are inhibited or stopped altogether.
Abundant crown density
If the tree has many sparse, short young shoots, it is too dense. Walnut flowering occurs with moderate crown density. This allows the pollination process to proceed better because the wind can freely capture and move pollen.
Unsuitable conditions and diseases
Pollination of walnuts is impossible both at low and at extremely high air humidity. Especially if there are prolonged cold rains during flowering.
The soil for growing is also important. Walnut does not like acidic environments, and the most productive trees are found on lime-rich soils.
Among other things, flowering does not occur because the tree may be sick or infected with parasites.
What to do if the walnut does not bloom
- To speed up the fruiting time, inoculate an individual with the “eye” of another walnut, similar in flowering cycle.
- If the walnut tree is not self-fertile, add a partner to it. It must be selected in such a way that the maturation periods of male and female flowers coincide in plants.
- Another option is to use a branch from another plant with pollen that has arrived and shake it over a tree that is not producing fruit. Or lay out the drop earrings on a sheet of paper and leave them to ripen for a day.Then collect the pollen in a fabric bag and spray it over the plant during its flowering. Such pollen can be stored for 1 year.
- If the concentration of fertilizers in the soil is exceeded, it is necessary to stop feeding and watering until the walnut returns to normal. If this does not help, prune the root system. To do this, move 1.5 m away from the trunk and dig a groove around it with a width and depth equal to a shovel.
- If the crown is dense, trim off excess branches.
- If the soil is depleted, it must be dug up using a pitchfork. Use 3-4 buckets of humus as fertilizer and cover with mulch.
- During drought, the plant requires a lot of water, but it is not recommended to use more than 100 - 150 liters.
- Walnut moths, mites, white butterflies and codling moths can be eliminated by collecting parasites and their larvae with your hands. Another option is spraying with specialized solutions. During the flowering and fruiting period, spraying walnuts is prohibited.
- Diseases such as marsonia, bacteriosis and root cancer need to be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner.
Diseases: treatment methods
Marsonia | Bacteriosis | Root cancer |
Fungal infection. Red-brown spots form on the leaves. They grow and eventually affect the entire surface, then move on to the fruit. | Fruits and leaves are affected, which leads to their falling and deformation. | Cancer is a stoppage of development. Small tubercles appear on the stem and roots. The plant does not receive nutrients and water from the ground, does not bloom, and gradually begins to fade. |
Reason: high rainfall | Too much watering or frequent rains, fertilizing with nitrogen-containing products. | A soil-dwelling rod that penetrates roots through cracks.Drought. |
Prevention - spray the tree crowns with quicklime and copper sulfate diluted in water in a 1:1 ratio. Repeat 3 times. Remove affected leaves and burn. | Before flowering, treat the walnut three times with a marsonia remedy. Also collect and burn the affected parts of the plant. | Cut off the overgrown tubercles, treat with liquid caustic soda, and rinse with water. |
Conclusion
Knowledge of the biological characteristics of the plant and the intricacies of caring for it will help you achieve the desired results and see with your own eyes how a walnut blooms. The time when flowering begins mainly depends on genetic characteristics, growing conditions, soil and crown formation system. All difficulties are most often solvable, so there is no need to rush to cut down a tree that does not bear fruit.
