Butternut |
| General |
| Common Name | Butternut |
| Latin Name | Juglans cinerea |
| Category | Nuts |
| Family | Walnut |
| Variety | |
| Visual Traits |
| Flower | yellow-green, monoecious, late May-early June, appears with leaves |
| Foliage/Fall leaf color | golden yellow, early to mid Sep |
| Fruit / Nut | fruit ripens Sep-Oct; nuts sweet and oily, occuring singly or clusters of 2-5; nut husk indehiscent, persistent through leaf fall |
| Height | 40-60ft |
| Other valued traits | maple-butternut candy |
| Spread | 30-50ft |
| Cultivation |
| Pollination | flowers of both sexes do not usually mature simultaneously on single tree |
| Propagation method | seed, grafting not well perfected |
| Seed treatment and storage | cold stratification 90-120days at 68-86ºF |
| Sowing seed | germinate early spring |
| Transplant | transplant early, difficult to transplant, ball + burlap early spring |
| Critters |
| Insect and invertebrate pests | butternut curculio (Conotrachelus juglandis) |
| Pathogens | butternut canker (Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum), bunch disease |
| Toxicity | juglone concentrated in roots and nut husks inhibits associated vegetation |
| Soils |
| Compaction (tolerance) | intermediate |
| Fertility / quality | seldom found in intertile soils |
| Minerals | frequently associated with calcareous soils |
| Moisture and drainage | requires deep, well-drained; seldom on dry or compact soils; drought intolerant |
| pH | 6.0 - 7.0 |
| Salt tolerance | intolerant |
| Soils and topography | well-drained soils of hillsides, coves, and stream banks; higher altitudes than J. nigra |
| Texture | moderately coarse loamy sands, medium loams to moderately fine silt loams |
| Growth Pattern |
| Good seed crop interval (fruit load) | 2-3y |
| Growth rate | fast |
| Longevity | short (less than 75y) |
| Root habit | taproot, more fibrous and spreading on shallow soils |
| Seed-bearing age /max production | 20y / 30-60y |
| Habitat and Climate |
| Fire tolerance | intolerant |
| Frost-free days (FFD) | 105-210, more winter hardy than J. nigra |
| Hardiness Zone | Zones 3-7 |
| Native Range | Central to Eastern United States and Canada |
| Rainfall / humidity | 25-80in |
| Wind / ice / frost susceptibility | windfirm; subject to storm damage |
| Light |
| Light recommendation | full overhead sun |
| Shade tolerance | intolerant; tolerant of shading on sides when young |
| Vegetation Associations |
| Competitive ability | poor competitor; tolerates shading from side, but performs best in overstory |
| Indicator species and associated forest | mixed hardwood; mixed mesophytic |
| Special Notes |
| Note 1 | difficult to extract nut; cultivars selected by ease of cracking and nut size |
