The New Zealand Walnut Industry Group is here to help you. NZWIG’s aims include encouraging discussion and learning with publications (including your manual) and field days. We also instigate research projects and work with the research team as they search for answers to key questions for growers.But NZWIG is not just for growers. We welcome all stakeholders in the walnut industry and draw on their expertise.
New Zealand Walnuts
We are proud of our public information web site. It’s called Walnuts Please. Take a look, you’ll find information about;
The NZ Walnut Industry Group Incorporated was incorporated as a society in NZ in 2001.
The objects for which the Association is formed are:
- To establish and maintain in NZ an industry body based upon the Walnut (Juglans sp.)
- To do any act, matter or thing which is incidental or conducive to the attainment of any or all of the above objects.
The Association shall set out to achieve such objects by:
- Encouraging the planting of nut trees, establishing trial areas for nut and or timber production, including the establishment of gene banks
- Promote, research and encourage a domestic and overseas export trade for walnuts
- Promote and commission scientific research, including plant breading, in all matters relative to walnuts
- To facilitate for the benefit of members the results of all scientific investigation, technical and practical information about walnuts
- To promote and provide for members, conferences, field days, workshops and any other training methods to further members’ knowledge about the growing and production of walnuts
- To promote an active liaison with the appropriate Research Organisations and Nut and Tree Associations in New Zealand and relevant international associations
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Hi NZWIG We have a house in Hawkes Bay and we have a huge walnut tree.We are picking them off the floor and putting them in net bags to dry and i read on internet they should be ready to eat or give away in 6 weeks..We have just moved here so this is are first crop.
We have bought small net bags as that is all we could find.
Any advice for novices would be great
Cheers
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui, Walnuts always taste better when they’re dried as soon as possible after they come off the tree. It’s likely that even in net bags the ones in the middle won’t dry out properly and may even go rancid and mouldy. We would recommend laying them out on a rack only one or two nuts thick for a at least month before they’re bagged up.
We bought a property in Amberley in 2012 after the quakes and to our delight found a fairly large walnut tree,( bent and on a 20 degree angle, which we think has been bent for years), growing in our backyard. We were unable to gather nuts in our first year because of the grounds being very untidy. The 2013 harvest gave us 6kg of cleaned up nuts; 2014 it became, 7 kg and 2015 ,it was 8 kg. We have mostly given them away as gifts to friends, together with enjoying them ourselves.This year disaster struck:with hundreds of nuts falling off the tree far to early. We presume it has a disease of some sort. Taking nuts out of its overcoat right now to ceck them out they are mainly black on the inside. Still a good number of nuts are still on the tree and we are hoping that these may stay there and fall off at the right time as in previous years in their hard husks but then we are certainly not sure about that. Can anyone give some advice ? I have read it might have a disease called :BLIGHT .Rayma and Jacob.
Hi Jacob and Rayma,
This year is a bad one for blight so that is probably what it is. Walnut Blight is more evident in wetter seasons. Commercial walnut growers use copper spray applying several applications in a season starting at bud burst, Large horticultural type air blast sprayers are used but this is hardly practical for one tree. The best advice is probably to take the seasons as they come and in dryer years it will be less of a problem.
So much appreciated for your advice.. We may be able to salvage some of the nuts still on the tree. We hope so ..Indeed, spraying them is well beyond us so we will take the years as the come. The past few years in North Canterbury have been very dry so it would not be because of too much rain. All the creeks have been dry for 9 or 10 months these few years and we have a dry creek right along the rear boundary of our property with the tree about 2or 3 meters from the creek. Our back neighbour said it is the first time in 17 years the creek has been dry, since he first built his house there. We appreciate your help..
Again, thank you.
Our best regards ,
Rayma and Jacob Schriek
I am interested in planting some walnut trees on a block of Land just out of Alexander. What would be the best variety to plant.the land is pretty much clay and gravel with some better ground in other areas.
Hi Kerran,
Haven’t caught up for a long time. How many trees are you thinking of? Home use or commercial?
There are late frosts in your area so Franquette would be a good variety to combat this but it tales a few years to produce. Darrell Johnston of River terrace Nurseries at Brightwater near Nelson is a good person to get grafted trees from, email rivernuts@tasman.net
Regards
Nelson
How do you propogate walnut trees from your own walnuts?
Just pop healthy mature nuts in the ground, not too deep and most will germinate and grow into trees. However commercial growers use grafted trees because they produce earlier and are true to type whereas there is huge variation in trees grown from the nuts and some may never produce
SPRAYFREE walnut producing lifestyle block 86 trees , 3brm house, sleepout plus range of outbuildings, nut harvest gear and fabulous orchard for sale in Geraldine. Details Sandie Finnie ph 021061 0492 LJ Hooker Geraldine.
wanting to purchase walnuts. Live in timaru
Try your local farmers markets, some shops stock NZ walnuts. Or try A Cracker of A Nut (as you live in Timaru). They are walnut processors (a grower coop). They are in West Melton (west of Christchurch). Have a look on their website
Hi Roly
The nearest supplier to you that I know of is;
Brydone Growers
469 Alma Maheno
Main South Road
Oamaru
They might have some, sorry I can’t give you a Timaru contact
can you stop them from growing nuts
Hi NZWIG,
We have a block of land that currently has 50 walnut trees, was wondering who to contact about possibly supplying walnuts for oil.
regards,
Erica Sievwright
Hi Erica
I just seen your question on the ChatZone.
There is “Cracker of A Nut” in West Melton if you are in the South Island.
Phone: 03 3478103
Website: http://www.crackernut.com
Please let me know if this helps or if you are elsewhere in the country, I can ask around for you!
Cheers
Trudi Meyer
Dear NZWIG,
We live in Drury, 40km south of Auckland and have a spare 2 acres of land for growing something and our thought is to grow walnuts.
We have heard that Wilson’s Wonder could be a suitable species for this region.
Our soil is a heavy loam. We have shelterbelts as the site was once an apple orchard.
Would this type of crop be a viable option?
Having read some great stories about walnut growing we would love to learn a bit more about it.
Gary is a landscape designer and is keen on utalising our extra block of land.
Thanking you for your reply,
Gary and Agnes DeBeer