Walnuts

Ashley

Developed by U.C. Davis, the Ashley walnut boasts a 90% lateral pistillate bloom. The Ashley walnut leafs out early and matures ahead of other varieties. For this reason, it is not suitable for areas with heavy spring frosts. Like many early-leafing California selections, it is sensitive to walnut blight especially in humid and rainy areas.

Chandler

In 1979, the University of California introduced the Chandler walnut as a heavy-bearing, mid-late season walnut with lateral bud fruitfulness of 85-90% percent. The Chandler walnuts are large and smooth with well-sealed shells and a pearly kernel color (expect a 90% or better light color grade). Chandler’s late-leafing and bloom reduces frost damage, walnut blight and codling moth susceptibility compared to earlier varieties. The Chandler tree is moderately vigorous and  semi-upright, so it is well-suited to high-density plantings. Franquette or Cisco are recommended as pollenizers. (Patent # 4388)

Chico

The Chico walnut offers a combination of heavy yields and an early harvest time. Chico is a small-size nut with good kernel quality. This small, upright, highly productive tree is often planted as a pollenizer for Vina, but is well-suited as a primary variety in high density plantings due to the smaller tree size and very high percentage of lateral pistillate blooms (90-100%). Chico needs an early catkin blooming pollenizer such as Sunland, Serr or Payne.

Cisco

The Cisco walnut is an extremely late-leafing, laterally fruitful variety. Due to its moderate yield, Cisco is used mainly to pollenize Chandler and Howard walnuts. In growth habit, the Cisco tree is semi-upright and relatively small. The Cisco nut and kernel are similar to Franquette, but slightly larger. Kernel color can be variable.

Forde

The new Forde walnut is precocious with a mid-season harvest date. Forde leafs out about 5 days before Chandler and is 100% laterally fruitful. The Forde variety produces immense nuts that are oval to round and medium textured with a good seal and strong yet easily removed shell. The remarkably large kernels (9 gram) are light and make up about 54% of the total nut weight. Forde is intermediate in vigor between Sexton and Gillet and shows low susceptibility to walnut blight. Pollenizers are Payne, Vina, Serr and Sexton. (Patent# 16495)

Franquette

The Franquette walnut (Scharsch strain) is a late-leafing variety that offers low susceptibility to spring frost damage, walnut blight and codling moth. The Franquette walnut features fair production of well sealed, thin-shelled, quality nuts and a light-colored kernel. The Franquette tree is a very large, upright tree comes into production late and requires little pruning.

Gillet

Like Forde and Sexton, Gillet is a new cultivar that features high yields on young trees and a mid-season harvest date (10 days before Chandler). With a low blight-score and 100% lateral fruitfulness, the Gillet walnut is an excellent early-leafing selection. Gillet nuts are somewhat more oblong than Sexton but are similar with good seals and strength. The light-colored Gillet kernels are easy to remove and heavy (8.2 grams) with a 50% crackout. The Gillet tree is more vigorous than Forde or Sexton. Pollenizers are Payne, Vina, Serr and Sexton. (Patent# 17135)

Hartley

In 1915, the Hartley walnut was exhibited at the World’s Fair and won blue-ribbon recognition as a premium in-shell nut. Today, the Hartley walnut is the standard for mid-late season harvest. The Hartley variety is a consistent producer, despite being only slightly fruitful on lateral buds. The Hartley walnut is fairly large with a pointed tip. This thin-shelled, well-sealed nut is easy to crack and offers a high percentage of light kernels (76%). The Hartley tree is medium to large, moderately spreading with low susceptibility to codling moth and blight. It is susceptible to deep bark canker when stressed by a lack of water or poor soil. Hartley is usually planted with Franquette as a pollenizer.

Howard

The Howard walnut variety is a smaller sibling of Chandler that was released by the University of California in 1979. This is a laterally fruitful, mid-season walnut with heavy bearing potential. The semi-upright Howard tree is not as large or vigorous as Chandler and should be pruned to encourage growth. Due to its smaller growth habit, Howard is a good candidate for high-density plantings. As with other late-leafing varieties, Howard has reduced blight and codling moth susceptibility. The Howard cultivar produces a large, round, smooth and well-sealed nut with a very high percentage of light kernels (96%). It can be pollenized by Cisco or Franquette. (Patent # 4405)

Livermore Red

The medium-sized vivid red kernels of the Livermore Red walnut are highly desired in niche and farmers’ markets. The Livermore Red tree is laterally fruitful and harvests late with moderate to heavy yield. Leafing of the Livermore variety occurs in mid-April. Patent Pending.

Payne

Harvested early in the season, the Payne walnut is medium to small in size with a very good shell seal. The Payne variety offers high yield potential due to high lateral buds fruitfulness (80 to 90%), and good vigor. This precocious tree requires heavy pruning when young to avoid overbearing and is very susceptible to walnut blight and codling moth due to early leafing and bloom. The Payne walnut is pollenized by Chico or Hartley but is self-fruitful due to good coincidence of pistillate bloom and pollen shedding.

Serr

The Serr walnut is the preferred variety for marginal soils and hot climates. Unlike other cultivars, Serr seems to prefer shallower, heavier, less fertile soil and is highly resistant to sunburn. With an early to mid-season harvest, the Serr walnut is large in size with a fair to good shell seal. Serr kernel crackout is 59% with an average kernel size over 7 grams. The fast-growing Serr tree requires a spacing of at least 40 feet due to moderate spreading and good-to-excessive vigor. Suitable pollenizers for Serr include Chico and Tehama.

Sexton

Sexton is a new walnut variety characterized by very high yields on young trees and a mid-season harvest time. The Sexton walnut will leaf out and harvest at least a week ahead of Chandler. Sexton has low blight-scores and is 100% fruitful on laterals with abundant male and female flowers. The Sexton nuts are relatively smooth and round with good seals and good strength. The large (8 gram) kernels are light colored, easy to remove from the shell and make up more than 50% of the nut weight. The Sexton tree has a densely-branching canopy and requires training and pruning of young trees to prevent overbearing. Potential pollenizers are Tulare and Chandler.

Sunland

An early-leafing, late-maturing walnut, Sunland offers heavy yields of particularly huge nuts with kernels weighing 10.4 grams on average. Like many early-leafing California cultivars, the Sunland walnut is sensitive to walnut blight, especially in humid or rainy areas. The Sunland tree is a good lateral bearer (80% of lateral buds bear flowers). The Sunland kernel is light with a very good crackout (58%).

Tulare

The large Tulare walnut is a well-sealed, nearly round nut with very high quality kernels. Tulare crackout is about 53% and average kernel weight is 7.5 grams with 86% light. Harvested mid-season, the Tulare variety requires no pollenizer due to a good coincidence of pistillate bloom and pollen shedding. The upright, moderately vigorous Tulare tree presents high production potential especially in hedgerow and other high-density planting systems.

Vina

The Vina walnut features early-to-midseason harvesting with high lateral fruitfulness. Vina bears high quality, medium sized, pointed nuts with well-sealed shells. Like many early-leafing Californian selections, the Vina cultivar is moderately susceptible to walnut blight and codling moth, but is well adapted to areas with high summer temperatures. This medium-sized, rounded tree is highly productive with moderate vigor. Vina is pollenized by Chico, Chandler, Howard and Tehama.

Note:
"% lateral pistillate bloom" refers to the percentage of fruit buds which are borne on the sides of branches rather than on terminal buds. Varieties with a high percentage of lateral pistillate bloom are more precocious and are considered better adapted to higher density planting, terminal fruit buds can be pruned off without removing entire crop.