black walnut hulls

[ozarkwildflower]

I have a large supply of black walnut hulls. Does anybody know how I could use them in compost, fertilizer or as mulch? I don't know anything about how I can use them. If anybody has any ideas, I would very much like to hear them.

[redbrick]

You need to be very careful with them. Black walnut hulls (I assume you mean the fleshy green to black hulls, not the woody hulls) and leaves contain a strong herbicide called Juglone. I've seen instances where tomatoes were planted under the dripline of black walnuts. They grew just fine until the first good rain, when the excess Juglone was washed off the foliage unto the tomato plants, killing them within a day. I would suggest mulching problem weed areas to kill the weeds this year so you can plant next year. If you could grind the woody hulls, they might make a sort of mulch. Otherwise, I'd think you could burn them and use the ash as a potash supplement, like wood ash.

[ozarkwildflower]

Thank you. I do mean the fleshy hulls and not the woody hulls. I had never heard of juglone before. I will have to research that. That is why I need to ask questions.

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Just don't throw them in a small pond, off shoot of a river or anything like that....they displace all the oxygen and the fish float to the surface of the water.....Makes easy fishing but if to much is put in it will kill the fish....old indian trick. Black walnuts are very medicinal as well...do some reading on them. But I would not plant my garden near a Black walnut tree...(have lots of them here in Arkansas....)they do not help the garden at all.

Later!

[drobinson]

All of the advice and info on black walnut hulls is good. They are not good for general mulching. Even planting veggies several feet from the tree will cause stunting of certain plants, because of the root structure underneath. But, the hulls can be put back under the walnut tree itself for mulch. I have done that for several years and my tree is thriving. Kind likes kind I guess. And, blue grass seems tolerant of black walnuts because it grows well under walnut trees. About the only grass that will, though.
The American Indians used walnut hulls in lakes and streams to stun fish, and I have known of some old timers in the Missouri Ozarks to do the same - illegal though it might be. Having said all that, walnut wood is beautiful and one of the gems of the wood species.