Black Walnut Trees

Hey, Permies!

I have been visiting this forum and for quite some time but decided to create a profile and post because I couldn't find a thread that really thoroughly talked about black walnut trees..

My family just purchased 3.5 acres in Western NC, where I grew up but haven't been living for quite some time. We have been here for about a month and I'm realizing... The property is COVERED with black walnut trees. I love walnuts, don't get me wrong, but I know they are allopathic, and the list of plants that are tolerant to their juglones is short.

I'd love to hear your experiences - what have you successfully grown around them? Will raised beds solve some of the problems? How have you all creatively solved this problem?

Thanks,
Sage

well, to start with, you can expect natives that co-evolved with, and are seen with walnuts in the wild in the area to be fine - pawpaws, persimmons, mulberries, spicebush, blackcaps, blackberries, herbaceous greens like waterleaf (hydrophyllum sp.), sochan (Rudbeckia laciniata)...and on.

there are some threads about juglone-resistant plants. try:
https://permies.com/t/1249/Juglone-planting-walnuts
https://permies.com/t/117867/Juglone-tolerant-plants

No experience with Black Walnuts, though we do have closely related Butternuts. What seems to do well with them, that I'm aware of, are native wild grapes (I guess that should be Muscadines for you) & what we actually have are Hawthorn/ Crabapple & the Black Raspberries previously mentioned. We also have a ridiculous patch of Woodbine there worse than just about anywhere else I've seen & I managed to get one of my Eastern Sweetshrubs started alongside that spot too. Also had a Morel Mushroom growing there about a month ago, but just the one. Sadly, that spot is also badly clogged up with things like Buckthorn & Privets.

Across from that patch, I managed to start a three trees & a bush after clearing out some invasive grapes & buckthorn, though I still don't exactly know what all is even there other than a plum. Other than buckthorn, what was already in that spot were Milkweed, Dogwood & a Mulberry.

Some things I attempted to put there that didn't even attempt to sprout-- Wintergreen, Eastern Red Columbine & Cranberry, but I don't know if that is my fault or not. Fire Pinks also didn't grow, but I know for a fact that one was my fault.

I don't have an extensive list as some others have, but we have maybe 20 wild black walnuts on the farm, and plants that have grown well near them are persimmons, daylilies, black raspberries, and wild bee balm. Wild bee balm is something if I am looking for it on the farm I look near the black walnuts near the valley.