New York Times<\/a> from 30 December 1976 talks of a black walnut tree that went up for sale with 17 others. It was considered by the hardwood industry to be the \u201cmost perfect and valuable black walnut tree in the nation\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe head of Atlantic Veneer Corporation, Hermann Meyer was the winning bidder of \u201cthe perfect tree\u201d and valued it at $30,000, having paid $80,000 for all 18 of the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tree was estimated to be between 180 and 200 years old and had 57 feet before its first limb and was 130 feet in length and 38.4 inches in diameter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such trees are exceedingly rare, but who knows what\u2019s lurking in your piece of forest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How To Tell How Old A Walnut Tree Is<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For a walnut tree to grow to its full height and width takes over thirty years. Sadly it\u2019s common for them to be harvested for their lumber long before this, but in reality, having a little more patience could bring you much bigger profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, if the tree becomes damaged, it can be best to cut your losses and cut it for lumber, as it will not achieve the same kind of value unless it has a high-grade rating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s pretty difficult to count the growth rings of your tree if it\u2019s still growing unless you take a core sample, and that isn\u2019t really a practical solution for most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A way of estimating how old a walnut tree (or almost any other type of tree) is, is by measuring the circumference of the trunk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Using a fabric measuring tape, measure up the tree\u2019s trunk from the ground to 4 \u00bd feet.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Now wrap the tape measure around the tree at this point.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- If you are on sloping ground, judge where the midpoint of the slope is at the base of the tree and measure up from there. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Make a note of the measurement, which is the tree\u2019s circumference.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Next, subtract one and a half inches from the circumference measurement, as walnut trees have thick furrowed bark, which you don\u2019t want to include in your calculation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Convert the calculation of the circumference you now have (less bark) into centimeters if you took all your measurements in inches, as it will make the calculation easier. One inch is 2.54cm. E.g. 10 inches = 25.4cm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Walnut trees grow about \u00bd to \u00be of an inch per year, which converted to centimeters is 1.3cm to 1.9cm, so we will use the middle value of 1.6cm as an average.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n- Now you can make your age calculation = Circumference (less bark) in cm divided by 1.6 = The approximate age of your tree.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Walnut trees aren\u2019t only valuable for the nut crops they can produce over a lifetime, they may also have even more worth for their lumber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we saw in the story of \u201cthe perfect tree\u201d <\/em>in the New York Times article, really good trees, even back then, had a very significant value as they still do today.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIdeally, you need to grow high-quality trees that will be category A or B and have sufficient age to allow for good height and girth to make real money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They may take too many years to get to this stage to be profitable for you but may be an ideal investment for your kids or grandkids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Find out more about Walnut trees and how to care for them<\/a> by reading our other articles<\/a> on the subject.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A walnut tree isn\u2019t just a valuable asset due to the nuts it provides; it\u2019s also worth money for its attractive dark wood too. The American Black Walnut is especially sought after for woodworking, and burr walnut for its incredibly beautiful figuring, which is often made into veneer or pieces of premium quality furniture. But … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":11876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11894"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12655,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894\/revisions\/12655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmandanimals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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