Content
Some gardeners are faced with the problem of why walnuts do not bloom. Its fruits contain a large amount of nutrients and vitamins and are used in cooking, cosmetology and medicine. Observing a number of the rules described in the article, you can easily achieve the flowering of the plant.
How walnuts bloom
The tree blooms from April to May. Walnut bloom lasts about 15 days. At the same time, both female and male flowers can be on it. Females are located at the top of the annual shoot singly or in several pieces. Male stamens look like hanging earrings, tightly gathered in the axils of the leaves. Below are a few photos of walnut flowering.
Walnut flowers are small, light greenish. 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 peel 0.5 - 2.2 mm thick and a dense pit with several partitions. When the fruits are ripe, the peel dries up and breaks into 2 pieces. What remains is a woody shell, inside which the edible kernel itself is enclosed. Maturation occurs in August and September. Nuts can be both small and large: it depends on the variety and place of growth of the tree. The shape of the fruit is usually round, oval or ovoid.
After planting from seed, fruiting occurs at 8 - 12 years. From 10 to 300 kg of fruits are obtained from one tree annually. On a garden plot, walnuts live for about 200 - 500 years, in the wild - up to 1,000 years, and sometimes even longer.
Why walnut does not bloom
To grow a nut that can enter the fruiting season, you need to properly study the biological characteristics of the flowering of this plant.
Variety and method of planting
There are early, medium and late fruiting varieties of 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.
Absence of a partner
It is known that the walnut is a dioecious plant, however, its flowering has three forms.
Protandric | Protogonic | Self-fertile |
First, a male flower blooms, and after a certain time, a female one. | First, the female is dissolved, and after that, the male. | The flowering of female and male inflorescences begins at the same time. |
If the female inflorescences have not opened by the time the male ones have released the pollen, the tree will not bear fruit. | If the male flowers have just blossomed, and the female ones have already faded, there will be no harvest. | The plant self-pollinates and can subsequently bear fruit. |
Protandric and protogonic individuals are simply not able to fertilize 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 onset of enhanced root development, and the rest of the processes are inhibited or stopped altogether.
Abundant crown density
If the tree has a lot of sparse, short young shoots, it is too thick. Walnut blossoms occur with a moderate crown density. This way the pollination process proceeds better, since the wind can freely capture and move the pollen.
Unsuitable conditions and illnesses
Pollination of walnuts is impossible at both low and extremely high air humidity. Especially if there are prolonged cold rains during flowering.
Growing soil 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 can be sick or be infected with parasites.
What to do if a walnut does not bloom
- To accelerate the time of fruiting, inoculate the individual with the "eye" of another walnut, similar in flowering cycle.
- If the walnut tree is not self-fertile, plant a partner with it. It must be selected in such a way that the ripening periods of male and female flowers coincide in plants.
- Another option is to use a branch from another plant with ripe pollen and shake it over a tree that does not produce fruit. Or lay out the drop-down earrings on a piece of paper and leave to ripen for a day. Then collect the pollen in a tissue bag and spray it over the plant during its flowering. Such pollen can be stored for 1 year.
- If the concentration of fertilizers is exceeded in the soil, it is required to stop complementary feeding and watering until the walnut returns to normal. If that doesn't work, prune the root system. To do this, move away at a distance of 1.5 m from the trunk and dig a groove around it in width and depth equal to the shovel.
- With abundant crown density, cut off excess branches.
- When the soil is depleted, it must be dug up using a pitchfork. Use 3-4 buckets of humus as fertilizer, cover with mulch.
- In drought, the plant needs a lot of water, but it is not recommended to use more than 100 - 150 liters.
- Nut moths, mites, white butterflies and codling moths can be eliminated by hand-picking parasites and their larvae. Another option is spraying with specialized solutions. During the flowering and fruiting period, it is prohibited to spray the walnut.
- Diseases such as marsonia, bacteriosis and root cancer need to be diagnosed and treated on time.
Diseases: methods of treatment
Marsonia | Bacteriosis | Root cancer |
Fungal infection. Red-brown spots are formed on the leaves. They grow and, over time, affect the entire surface, then move on to fruits. | Fruits and leaves are affected, this leads to their fall and deformation. | Cancer is a developmental arrest. Small tubercles appear on the stem and roots. The plant does not receive nutrients and water from the ground, does not bloom, gradually begins to fade away. |
The reason is a large amount of precipitation | Too much watering or frequent rains, fertilizing with nitrogen-containing products. | A soil-dwelling stick that penetrates roots through cracks. Drought. |
Prevention - spray the crowns of trees with quicklime and copper sulfate diluted in water in proportions 1: 1. Repeat 3 times. Remove affected leaves and burn. | Before flowering, treat the walnut three times with a marsonia remedy. Collect and burn the affected plant parts. | Cut off the overgrown tubercles, treat with liquid caustic soda, rinse with water. |
Conclusion
Knowledge of the biological characteristics of the plant and the intricacies of caring for it will help achieve the desired results and see with your own eyes how the walnut blooms. The start time of flowering mainly depends on genetic characteristics, growing conditions, soil and crown formation system. All difficulties are often solvable, so do not rush to cut down a non-fertile tree.
