Choose a few canopy trees spaced 25-40 ft apart, plant them first because nut trees are the slowest to bear, and place smaller sub-canopy trees in the partial shade between and beside them. Most nut and apple trees need a second, compatible tree nearby to set fruit, so buy or graft in pairs or groups rather than single trees. Remember that a mature canopy tree will shade the rows beneath it, so site each one for the light it will leave, not the light you have on planting day.
Canopy trees are the largest food and nut producers in a food forest, and sub-canopy trees are the smaller fruit trees that grow in the partial shade beneath and around them.
Plant The Slowest Trees First And Plant Fewer Of Them
The carrier guide puts canopy trees (walnut, chestnut, hickory, pecan where the climate allows, full-size apple, pear, cherry, mulberry, oak) at 25-40 ft apart and 30-60 ft tall at maturity, and warns that they will dominate everything below. Its bearing-age figures for nut trees are chestnuts by year 5-7 and walnuts by year 8-15. Those are the carrier’s estimates; seed-grown trees can take longer than grafted ones, and the actual age depends on species, variety and site.
Sub-canopy trees (dwarf and semi-dwarf apple, plum, apricot, peach, pawpaw, persimmon, serviceberry) are 10-30 ft and tolerate partial shade. They come into bearing sooner and carry the planting’s early production while the canopy grows.
What You Need
- Grafted or named-variety stock where you want predictable fruit; seedling nut trees vary in yield and quality.
- Compatible pollination partners. Apples, pears and most plums need pollen from a different variety that blooms at the same time. Chestnut and many hazel and walnut types also need more than one tree for good nut set. Check the specific species locally.
- A planting map with each tree’s mature spread drawn to scale.
Method: Siting And Planting
Step 1: Mark mature spread, not young size. Draw each canopy tree’s spread as a circle on the site map. Trees 25 ft apart need circles that nearly touch; trees at 40 ft have room for sun between them. Plant on the north side of the system in the Northern Hemisphere so the shade falls on the trees’ own rows, as the carrier advises.
Step 2: Check the soil under each tree. Nut trees with a deep taproot (walnut, hickory, pecan) resent shallow, waterlogged or compacted ground. Dig a test hole and watch whether water drains; see Soil Management.
Step 3: Plant in the dormant season (late autumn or early spring, depending on how hard your winters are), bare-root where possible. Set the tree no deeper than it grew in the nursery, spread the roots, and water it in.
Step 4: Mulch to the drip line, keeping mulch off the trunk. Mulch against bark shelters voles and keeps the bark damp. Protect the trunk from rabbits, voles and deer with guards or fencing (Fence Types).
Step 5: Place sub-canopy trees where the canopy’s mature shadow will still leave them a few hours of direct sun. The carrier’s light bands: partial shade of 3-6 hours for sub-canopy and shade-tolerant shrubs.
Some Canopy Species Change The Ground Beneath Them
Black walnut roots and leaves release juglone, a compound that harms some neighbouring plants; tomatoes and other nightshades are among the sensitive ones. Do not plant a nightshade bed or a juglone-sensitive guild under a walnut without checking. Oak acorns are edible only after the tannins are leached out, as the carrier notes. Black locust and honey locust are not interchangeable: black locust fixes nitrogen and honey locust does not (see Nitrogen-Fixing Companions).
Common Mistakes
- Planting a lone nut tree — it flowers but sets little or no nut crop without a compatible partner.
- Planting canopy trees at sub-canopy spacing — they crowd within two decades and cannot be moved.
- Planting the crop before the shade plan — a row of tall trees on the south side shades the whole planting.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Shrub and Herbaceous Layers — what fills the light the trees let through
- Combine with: Year 1-3: Establishment Phase — keeping young trees alive