In this Issue...
9:30 AM, Saturday 27 April 1985 to be held at the Baxter Conservation Area Workshop Building.
If you signed up for seed this spring take note: please be at the workshop building at 9:30 AM with your spade and plastic bag. The seed will be dug and divided starting then.
For more information (or to sign up for seed), call Gordon McArthur, Clarence Creek 487-2201, George Christie, Ottawa 733-6432 or George Truscott, Ottawa 733-4745. If you cannot com personally, try asking a friend who is coming to pick up your stock as well, or call Gordon, George or George before the Saturday Distribution Day.
A $1 fee per issue of nuts (any number) will be levied to cover data costs. Please be sure you register your nut stock for our growth testing project when you pick them up. Get first hand advice on germinating nuts from experienced nutters!
AGM '85 Special Nut Grove Grooming Project. First Day - Sunday 5 May 1985; Second Day - Saturday 11 May 1985. Both days work begins at 9:30 AM at the Baxter Nut Grove.
The work will be clearing around trees, staking, labelling, mulching, policing the periphery and planting new stock! Bring your sharp, round-nosed shovel, hoe, weeder, cultivator, proper clothing and your lunch!
Come either or both days - learn the basics of nut tree management! To sign up for the work party, please call George Joiner, Ottawa 749-2468 or Fil Park, Ottawa 749-1156.
| Event | Organizer | Event Date | Executive Meeting | Nuttery | Nuttery article deadline | Nuttery publication date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special Seed Exchange | Horticulture SIG | Sat 27 April | Tues 9 April | no.1 | Sat. 13 April | Mon 15 April |
| Baxter Grooming (2 days) | Special Grooming Committee | Sun 5 May & Sat. 11 May | " | " | " | " |
| Spring Picnic | Membership SIG | Sat. 15 June | Fri 17 May | no.2 | Sat 25 May | Mon 3 June |
| Summer Field Day & SONG AGM | Silviculture SIG | Sat 27 July | Fri 28 June | no.3 | Sat 6 July | Mon 15 July |
| Fall Field Day | Survey SIG | Sat 12 Oct. | Fri 13 Sept | no.4 | Sat 21 Sept | Mon 30 Sept |
| Project Reporting Meeting | Communications Committee | Wed 27 Nov | Fri 25 Oct | no.5 | Sat 2 Nov | Mon 11 Nov |
| Winter Meeting | Nut Use SIG | Wed 15 Jan 1986 | Fri 6 Dec | no.6 | Sat 14 Dec | Mon 30 Dec |
| 1985 AGM | Executive | Sat 15 Mar 1986 | Fri 14 Feb | no.7 | Sat 22 Feb | Mon 3 Mar |
Each event is organized by one of our Special Interest Groups (SIG). Events, usually held on Saturdays, control the Chapter's calendar. Executive meetings and publication of the Nuttery are keyed to the dates of events: Exec meetings are held Fridays about 4 weeks before the event, articles for the Nuttery are Saturday about 3 weeks before, and the Nuttery is published Mondays about 2 weeks before. For more information, call the Secretary, Paul Bender 224-1102 in Ottawa. Extraordinary meetings or events may be called - watch your Nuttery.
If you are a member, you will find the current membership list of the Ottawa Chapter of SONG, and the minutes of the 84/85 AGM enclosed. Since the last issue of the Nuttery, we can welcome 3 new members - Wm.G.Grant of Nepean, P.S.Forrestal of Ottawa and J.Giblin of Nepean. The Sec/Treas says if your address label on this envelope has a red X on it, your modent $5 1985 dues are due. Please, don't miss a single issue of the new Nuttery!
Paul Bender writes that according to the Journal of Commerce, Indonesia has become the dominant supplier of hardwoods to the United States, capturing 75% of the market. The hardwood industry in the USA, which is now experiencing over-capacity, is looking to such nontraditional areas of use as industrial products, furniture components and possibly new home construction for market growth. Prices for imported hardwoods doubled in the early '80s. Could Canada be a supplier? See the following article.
Our Changing Northern Climate An opportunity for hardwoods?
In following up Don Stalker's Winter Meeting talk on expected climate changes caused by the CO2 greenhouse effect, Paul Bender writes: Studies being undertaken by various agencies, including Canada's federal Department of the Environment (see GEOS 14(1):1-6 1985) into our changing northern climate, suggest that our climate could return to that encountered by our Viking forerunners 1000 years ago. These changes could be noticeable in as few as 20 to 30 years. For the benefit of our younger members who did not experience the Viking days, the following extract from GEOS edifies:
One thousand years ago, Viking adventurers established a colony along the southwest coast of Greenland of pioneer farmers and became the first Europeans to explore our Canadian Arctic. They found Inuit families settled on Ellesmere Island and in northern Greenland, they found summer limits north of 80 degrees and treelines 100 km further north than they are today.At its peak, the thriving Greenland community numbered some 500 souls, sustained on the fruits of the land (which included cereal crops) and supplemented by cod, abundant in the coastal waters.
In the next 20-30 years, well within the growing span of our young hardwoods, our climate could so change that, with estimated temperature rises of between 1.5 and 4.5C, the climate could push the southern limits of softwoods northward and leave a climate more suited to hardwoods. The predictions are not yet definite, but are certain enough to encourage our work to establish nutwoods in this area.
Put nuts through food processor until very fine. Process small batches and let cool between batches to avoid destroying flavour. Nut butters will be firmer than peanut butter as trhey contain less oil. If desired safflour or peanut oil may be added. To make maple walnut butter add maple syrup to the ground walnuts. All nut butters should be sealed and refregerated to keep fresh.
Jim Bartley
Finding the Height and Diameter of a Tree
The height of a tree, particularly a tall one, can be determined with fair accuracy using simple tools. The principle is based on simple geometry that says if you look upward at an angle of 45° and just see the tree top, then its height is your distance from its base plus the height of your eyes above the ground. A few simple tools make it easy to do this.
Make a staff of 3/8" plywood 1" wide and 6' long (or suitable substitute) and at one end fasten a 1' long piece of the same material crossways at an angle of 45°. With a small, inexpensive carpenters level taped to the 6' piece, it is possible to hold it vertical while sighting along the 45° crosspiece at the tree top. Move back or forward until the tree top can just be seen while the staff is vertical. It is easier if an assistant can watch the level to ensure it is vertical. The height of the tree is then your distance to the base plus 6' (the height of your crosspiece above ground). Care should be taken to sight from ground that is at the same level as the tree base. I have used a dental mirror taped to the sighting bar so I could see simultaneously the bubble on the level. With practise and diligence, height estimates should not err more than 5%.
For diameters, since the circumference of a circular object is pi (22/7) times its diameter, the simplest way to estimate its diameter is to measure the circumference and divide by pi. Using a calculator makes it easy, since most have a pi key. If you measure the circumference in centimeters, the diameter will also be in centimeters; likewise, feet give feet and inches give inches.
Weed Control with Simazine in demonstration walnut plantation at Parhill Conservation Area
1st area - seedlings were planted in 1981. After planting, half the area was treated with Simazine for weed control, and each spring thereafter, at the rate of 6.7 lb/acre. The other half of the test area had weeds mowed, about five times per year.
In August 1984, the trees in the mowed area were about knee high. The trees in the Simazine treated area were about nine feet high, and had already attained canopy closure.
2nd area - Plot planted in 1973. In 1980 measurements of height and diameter were made of all trees. The figures shown are averages of these figures for each control group. Half the plot was treated with Simazine in 1981, 82 and 83.
| Year | untreated group | treated group | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| height | diameter | height | diameter | |
| 1980 | 2.6 m | 2.7 cm | 2.9 m | 3.2 cm |
| 1982 | 3.1 m | 4.0 cm | 5.2 m | 6.9 cm |
| 1983 | 3.5 m | 4.2 cm | 6.1 m | 7.5 cm |
R.J.Scally
Growing Black Walnuts from Seed
The easiest way to get trees established on your proerty is to plant young trees, but you can raise your own from seeds. It is best to start with more seeds than the number or trees you want. Black Walnuts must be kept cold until the spring in a stratification pit, and dug out as soon as the ground thaws.
If they have already sprouted, take care not to break off the sprouts. It may help to carry them in a pail of water. Replant as soon as possible. Ideally they should be put into a seed bed for a year, then set out in a nursery bed for a year or two more. Poorer specimens should be culled at each move.
Our greatest problem is in preventing squirrels from stealing the nuts as soon as they see the young sprouts appear above ground. You must protect the nuts until they have their first season's leaves fully grown. You could protect each nut with a cylinder of wire mesh, about 6" in the ground and about 12" above, and with the top covered too. One inch chicken wire will protect against squirrels.
In a simple seed box 4' square, however, you can grow 100 walnuts. One sheet of ¼" aspenite, 4'x8', worth about $5, cut into 6 pieces 4'x16", will make a box 4'x8'. Four such pieces will make a box 4'x4'. The boxes simply consist of the pieces of aspenite on edge, buried about 5" deep, in the form of a square. They are nailed to corner posts of 2x2 driven in at each corner. Set it in ground already dug and cultivated. Plant the nuts about 4" apart in rows 4" apart. Put a piece of 1x2 strapping across the box, cornerwise, then cover with 1" mesh wire. Peg it down all round to prevent squirrels getting in. Keep well watered all spring and summer. When the leaves fall, remove the wire mesh. Next spring, take up the young trees, and set out the best ones in a nursery bed, about a foot apart. If you need the seed bed for new seed before the nursery bed is ready, the young trees can be heeled in for a week or so, fairly safely. However, get them planted before they leaf out.
A.C.Jones
Provided by ECSONG. Feel free to copy with a credit.