Buartnut (Juglans ailantifolia x Juglans cinerea)

Buartnuts are an exceptional choice for Canadian food forests and agroforestry due to their disease resistance, cold hardiness, and high nut yields. Their nitrogen-rich leaf litter improves soil fertility, while their nuts provide a reliable and nutritious food source for both humans and wildlife. By integrating Buartnuts, you can enhance the biodiversity and resilience of your system while enjoying the dual benefits of improved nut quality and adaptability to challenging climates

Buartnuts grow rapidly in their early years, forming a tall, upright trunk and a spreading crown. Their pinnately compound leaves provide dappled shade, making them a good companion tree in agroforestry systems. In spring, they produce inconspicuous greenish flowers, followed by clusters of green-husked nuts that ripen in late summer to early fall. These nuts are larger and easier to crack than those of pure butternuts, with excellent productivity over the tree’s lifespan. The tree we collect from looks like an octopus, its epic.

Size at Maturity- 40-60 feet tall with a spread of 30-50 feet

Current Size- Large 1'-2' 1 year old seedling

Buartnuts are a hybrid of butternut (Juglans cinerea) and heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis), combining the hardiness and cold tolerance of butternuts with the crackability and productivity of heartnuts. This hybrid is more disease-resistant than pure butternuts, making it an excellent choice for regions where butternut canker is prevalent. These trees are a legacy of Jack Gellatly’s nut breeding program, and their parent trees are mature, disease-free, and highly productive. Buartnuts provide high-quality, easy-to-process nuts that are rich in flavor, making them a favorite for culinary uses and a valuable food source for wildlife.