Can you compost Black Walnuts ?

[WVsnowflake]

November 15, 2008

The mention of black walnut trees makes many gardeners groan, because all of the plants parts, from leaf to root tip, contain a substance called juglone that causes severe stunting of many plants, including tomato. In fall, black walnut hulls become a car-bashing, foot-bruising problem, too. After you harvest the nuts, you're left with that pile of tarry hulls. Is it really safe to compost them?

Thanks to on-farm research done by Chris Chmiel in Athens, Ohio, the answer is yes. Looking at all the wasted hulls from black walnut processors in his area, Chmiel launched into a three-year study that showed that a year of composting turned walnut hulls into a soil amendment with some surprising properties – such as an alkaline pH instead of an acidic one.

Best known for championing the culture of native paw-paw trees, Chris Chmiel grows paw-paws, goats, and makes compost at Integration Acres in Ohio.

— Barbara Pleasant, Mother Earth News contributing

www.motherearthnews.com/Ask-Our-Experts/Organic-Gardening/Composting-Black-Walnut-Hulls.aspx

[famfish]

i throw a busshe of Black Walnuts in the garden and burried them and now I have 10 walnut trees that I will cut down next yeaR OR PUT THEM IN CONTAINERS AND SELL THEm They are about 2 feet high!