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Butternut

Will Ship Spring 2025

Plant Type: Dormant, bare-root

Zones:  3-8

Soil Type:  Clay, Loamy & Sandy Soils

Site Selection: Full Sun, Partial Sun

Mature Height & Width:  40-60' Height and 35-45' Spread

Growth Rate:  Slow - 8-12" per year once established

Moisture Requirements: Dry to average soils

Plant Characteristics
HUNTING PLOT
EDIBLES
FALL COLORS
NUT BEARING
ROUND SHAPE
$12.15
3-8

Butternut

Juglans cinerea

The Butternut is a beautiful and slow growing shade tree which is hardy in colder climates. This tree produces drooping clusters of sweet nuts which are used in baking and loved by wildlife. Has a distinctive ridged and furrowed bark. Easier to grow than Black Walnut in northern areas. It's a good idea to plant more than one tree for proper pollination. These are hard to find seedlings, but we have them!

This selection is also known as the White Walnut and the Oilnut.

The Butternut lives up to 75 years old.  Like the Black Walnut, the Butternut tree produces Juglone, a substance which can be harmful to other trees within its root zone.  Juglone can harm or kill some other trees and plants within a 50' radius if the Butternut tree is mature. 

Common uses:

  • Shade tree
  • Sweet, edible nuts are used for baking
  • Butternut fruit is eaten by deer and squirrels
  • Cold hardy alternative to the Black Walnut

Butternut fruit provides food for squirrels and other rodents and the leaves are palatable to white-tailed deer.

Product Questions

Will this damage pine trees in the vicinity?
Question by: rose phelps on Jan 23, 2022, 1:38 PM
It is important to note that the roots of this tree generate a substance called juglone. This substance can be toxic to other trees or plants planted near a black walnut and may even cause them to perish. Contact your local county forester or university extension office for more information on acceptable trees and shrubs that will grow near this tree.
Answer by: Chief River Nursery on Jan 24, 2022, 9:56 AM