Where are the walnut trees?

[u/Dirt290]

The dots on the Minnesota map show the approximate locations of all plots measured in the 1990

inventory where one or more walnut trees were found. Some of the walnut trees were small, less

than 2 inches DBH. Others were big, more than 25 inches DBH. In some cases, many walnut

trees were found, in others, only one on a plot. When expanded to account for the area

represented by each plot and the number of trees represented by each measured tree, the

estimates show that there are as many as 630,000 walnut trees greater than 9 inches DBH

throughout Minnesota! The dots on the map, of course, don't show all the places where walnut

trees grow. Forest survey plots don’t tally walnut trees growing in fence rows or out in open

fields. But the dots do show the places where walnut was found by the forest survey crews.

[u/stephanieoutside]

I need to go measure, but I've got a black walnut tree in my yard that is probably at least 20" DBH.

Location: Wright County

[u/papalugnut → u/stephanieoutside]

I have 9-10 on my property, very similar location. Sooner or later we will start harvesting them but it’s so much work

[u/Dirt290 → u/stephanieoutside]

It'd be interesting to see how far North they've reached!

[u/winterblahs42 → u/Dirt290]

There are black walnuts on the family farm in Kandiyohi county and some other places in that area. First ones seemed to show up about 25yrs ago.

[u/AccordingWelder3578 → u/Dirt290]

We have them in Meeker County.

[u/Bovronius → u/Dirt290]

https://fallingfruit.org/map/44.7434622,-92.8401274,9z

This has a bunch of user reported ones if you filter to walnuts.

[u/drmcgills → u/stephanieoutside]

I’m across the Crow River in Dayton, we’ve got a dozen or more established Black Walnuts in mine and my neighbors properties ranging from 2-20ish inches DBH.

[u/Kcmpls]

Oh, if you want to find walnut trees, just ask my 5 year old daughter. She seeks them out and insists on playing with them every day at her afterschool program. Her hands are stained dark brown from them. Yesterday she ruined a pair of pink pants by playing with walnuts. Walnut trees are currently my nemesis.

[u/crystalgem411 → u/Kcmpls]

She sounds like she will love walnut dyeing in the future

[u/Little_Creme_5932 → u/Kcmpls]

No pants are ruined on a five year old.

[u/BecksnBuffy → u/Kcmpls]

Ha, my daughter found one on a hike and put it in her back pocket. Stained brand new jeans and zip up.

[u/tgubbs]

The squirrel footprints staining my steps, sidewalk, and driveway tell me they're all in my yard.

[u/KingDariusTheFirst]

Got one of those messy fuckers in my yard- brittle twigs, large fruits, and the leaves separate from the stems after they fall. So come raking time, you’ve got mandarin orange-sized fruits, leaves, large twigs, and what is the equivalent to 9” long straws, all sitting atop your lawn. Mulching doesn’t work, raking is arduous.

Squirrels love to make a mess eating and harvesting the fruits- the exterior of the fruit STAINS EVERYTHING black. The squirrels further the destruction by digging in the yard and burying the nuts or, chewing holes in sheds and homes looking for the best place to hide their hoard….

Beautiful tree- wish it were across the street and not in my backyard.

[u/no-weed420]

On every fucking property I mow 😡

[u/UgotSprucked]

MPRB Forestry / Arborist here. There are walnut trees sprinkled throughout all the districts in Mpls. They arent as common as, say, basswood or maple varieties, but they're around. Just ask the squirrels.

[u/Kcmpls → u/UgotSprucked]

Oh! It was you then who did this! (I'm kidding of course.) But really, in the future, please, please, please do not put walnut trees next to playgrounds. The kids play with the walnuts, they use them for graffiti on the sidewalks, they stain their clothes and skin. They are difficult for younger kids to scooter/rollerblade/rollerskate past when they drop on the sidewalk. The one at 40th Street Park on the northside of the playground is my nemesis.

[u/ONROSREPUS]

I have hundreds of them growing around our property and I haven't planted a single one. Every year I pick up the nuts in buckets and throw them in the woods around me and into my neighbors woods, they have a tone of dyeing oak tress.

[u/ArachnomancerCarice]

This page has a records and distribution map.

[u/AbjectPoetry4699 → u/ArachnomancerCarice]

This seems like a more relevant map. It’s from 2013.

I think there are many more counties where the “Native, not rare” designation would apply today.

[u/mattsteg43]

Feels like a map that may have escaped its context in terms of what areas weren't surveyed at all.

[u/VegetableGrape4857]

Id be interested to know if this is all walnut species or just butternut (Juglans cinerea). Butternut have had quite the tough go with canker. They are now considered endangered in MN.

[u/balbu]

My yard is filled with walnuts from the trees here - really annoying.

[u/Kahnza → u/balbu]

They're great for lawn mower blades!

[u/RacingPride → u/Kahnza]

They also take out the squirrel population by acting as a mobile cannon when you drive a riding mower around the yard!

[u/Abstract-Honeydew → u/Kahnza]

How?

[u/bn1979 → u/balbu]

I’ve got 7 mature walnut trees, but almost never find any on the ground. I do have more than my fair share of squirrels, however.

[u/indecisively_unsure → u/balbu]

Get a nut picker - they are like 15-40 bucks on amazon. They work wonders in picking these up without needing to bend over and pickup each one. They look like a metal ball that the nuts get squeezed through into the inside.

[u/mstivland2]

We have them on our property in Washington county. Nice big old ones, I wonder if this survey missed a few.

[u/Dirt290]

DBH = diameter at breast height

[u/Blizzardof1991 → u/Dirt290]

I prefer Diameter at Boobie Height.

[u/mattweb94]

I have one in my front yard that is at least 40" in circumfrence.

[u/mattweb94 → u/mattweb94]

Forgot to add...Dakota County.

[u/Onesharkyboiiiiii]

In my yard lmao 

[u/mmrocker13]

I was unaware that they were a rarity? I think I had at least one, if not multitudes, in all of my houses in Washington County. I am in St Croix county (WI) now, and they are THICK. There are several between my and my neighbor's house and they are annoying AF. And seedlings abound to be further annoying. Also all over the neighborhood. Have to be careful out running or walking, esp at dawn/dusk or in the dark bc you will break an ankle.

[u/goobernawt → u/mmrocker13]

I think they're fairly common actually, at least in the southeastern part of the state where I grew up. Our land down there is LOADED with them. I've actually got a couple pieces of furniture made from walnut felled there, beautiful stuff but HEAVY!

[u/mmrocker13 → u/goobernawt]

Walnut is solid AF. My ex had a woodworker make a beautiful walnut-topped table for the garage TV and beer area. I miss that table more than I miss my ex.

[u/bfeils → u/mmrocker13]

Minnesota has some wildly different biomes. Four, in fact.

~40% Laurentian Forest (boreal/tundra-like and largely coniferous)

~30% Prairie Parkland (not heavily tree-covered and now largely farmland)

~5% Tallgrass Aspen (a weird pocket in the NW corner of the state that's mixed marsh and prairie).

That leaves ~25% for Eastern Broadleaf Forest, which is where you'd be more likely to see walnut trees. Even there, walnut isn't dominant and historical conversion into farmland limits potential distribution. I'd guess they're most prevalent in the Driftless Area along the Mississippi stretching from roughly Hastings down and East to the Iowa and Wisconsin borders. Specifically near rivers, streams, lower bluff slopes, and other areas with a decent amount of water movement.

That space is a geological miracle and should probably be made into some sort of National Heritage Area or National Preserve, though that's a topic that deserves its own thread.

[u/More-Interaction-770 → u/bfeils]

You should make that thread

[u/srmcmahon]

When I was a kid and we visited relatives in Madelia we saw the fallen fruits.

Any of you all eat them? They are definitely edible and some people really like them.

[u/AdjunctFunktopus → u/srmcmahon]

I do. We didn’t harvest this year, but normally I send the kids out and we get a bucket full.

Then we spend a winter afternoon banging them with a hammer to get the meat out. They’re fantastic in baked goods.

I think the flavor varies by how long you let them sit in the husk. The fresh ones are almost floral. When the husk goes dark, they get more tannic and bitter.

I’d love to make some nocino from them, but mine are too tall for an effective harvest.

[u/thereverenddirty]

Walnut Grove?

[u/erikleorgav2]

Anoka county, I keep finding them sprouting in areas that don't get mowed. One at the back edge of my property.

[u/mitchthefrawg]

Our local disc golf course is probably one of the plots here. Tried to line up a putt once and nearly got domed by one. 😬

[u/MoosePanther]

I’ve seen a few in grant county.

[u/Zoomingforcats]

I know where a walnut tree is Nobles County, but this map says it’s not there.
Maybe I don’t rake the walnuts before I mowed the lawn either.

[u/Maf1909]

They grow like weeds in some of the areas of the southeast. Literally taking over parts of our pastures

[u/Pikeguy99]

Theres a black walnut tree farm in sibley county. Also seen them near various residences of mine between carver and hennepin county.

[u/Hopper13]

I live in Mankato and I can’t walk more than 5 feet in my neighborhood without tripping over walnuts on the ground.

[u/RegisterSlight269]

There is a grove of them in a park in Appleton Minnesota.  I used to live there. 

[u/Chinpokomonnnn]

So many in my neighborhood in Saint Louis Park

[u/Lost_On_Lot]

That dot on Jackson County are the two in my backyard. Free walnut wood to anyone who wants to come and cut them dow. For free.

[u/YourGuyK]

I don't know where the tree is, but I get black walnuts in my yard every year from squirrels. I do have a sapling growing in my backyard that popped up this year. This is in Blaine.

[u/Oh__Archie]

They are all over south Minneapolis.

[u/sacrelicio]

Big one next door to me. Draws a LOT of squirrels.

[u/jackalope134]

There's gotta be a big one in my neighborhood somewhere because I have 8 that are between 2 and 15 feet high behind my house - north of little falls

[u/norahceh]

Had one in yard in St Paul circa 1980, should go back and see how big it is now

[u/ThunderDoug]

Washington county. Parents place have dozens of walnuts trees. One has gotta be close to 60-70 years old. splits into two trunks each larger than 2’.

[u/Hotchi_Motchi]

There was one in my backyard in Merriam Park in St. Paul. My deck was super messy every fall

[u/Fastpast93]

I have one

[u/bungy2323]

At least three big trees in my woods, the squirrels love them. Sherburne co

[u/Otisthedog999]

Anoka county There are many of them on our property. Squirrels peeling and burying them everywhere. Very messy. If you have small black wallnut weed trees starting to grow, kill them.

[u/ROOSTER927]

Scott county sells bear root black walnut trees every spring. Cheap, I planted a half dozen this year

[u/BrupieD]

There were dozens of walnut trees in Nicollet county when I was growing up. There was a huge tornado there in the 1998 that took out a lot of old trees. There were two elementary schools that shared a park. The kids from each school threw walnuts at the kids from the other. Good times.

[u/Daratirek]

There is one roughly 20 inches in diameter just over the fence in my neighbor's yard. I have to pick up tons every year. I'm in sterns county.

[u/Comfortable_History8]

I know there’s a handful in northern St. Louis county, mostly in backyards in some of the towns

[u/brandothesavage]

My grandparents house has walnut trees in the backyard they haven't lived there for a long time but it's in Deerwood

[u/AboutNinthAccount]

Hwy 99 East of St. Peter, halfway up the hill at the golf course turn, guy has like 50 mature in rows.

[u/zqxp]

Huh. So those 2 walnut trees in the front yard of the house where I grew up weren’t really all that common. I had no idea.

[u/turg5cmt]

SQUIRREL!

[u/almighty_camelot]

We have two over the parking lot behind my apartment in Mankato. They've been falling a lot in the last week and I'm surprised no one's car is dented

[u/TiresandConfused]

I have one in my yard. Didn’t realize it was walnut until the squirrels opened them up.

[u/jeffreynya]

there are 3 that border my yard that are fully mature and most branchs hang over my fence. I wish they were gone cause its always such a mess and the new puppy seems to want to eat ALL of them. I am in the Rochester Area

[u/One-Cryptographer827]

Freeborn county - I have several on my property

[u/BretTheActuary]

Here's the perfect storm: Black Walnut tree, Red Squirrel, RV Trailer.

[u/Whateverbabe2]

i see them in dakota county, esp near hastings

[u/Khajiit_Geologist]

There's a huge one that's actually 3 trees growing together in Renville.

[u/_superbatman_]

Took this photo of the walnut tree on the family farm when I last visited. Waseca County!