A Walk Through Walnut Grove (Identifying Black Walnut Trees)

While visiting my parents in Kenosha for Memorial Day, I took a walk through a nearby park to gawk at some trees.
Arbor Day Tree ID Tool: www.arborday.o...
Identifying Black Cherry Trees: • Identifying Wild Black...
Thank you to Triton Tools for sponsoring my work: www.tritontools...
Support What I Do: www.mattcremona...
Check out Wood Talk, a podcast about woodworking that I co-host:
www.woodtalksho...
/ woodtalk
Website: mattcremona.com
Instagram: / mattcremona
Twitter: / mattcremona
Facebook: / mattcremonaww
Email: [e-mail]

[@nathanvancil9019]

This would be an excellent series to start up. Just going out and teaching us all about the different kinds of oaks, cherry, walnut, etc...

[@jeffrymoore1167]

Nathan Vancil I came to say the same thing! I'd love a series identifying trees.

[@tiffanyjohnson3110]

Nathan Vancil I agree.

[@Benssawmill]

Nathan Vancil don't forget the different maple trees.

[@nathanvancil9019]

Bens sawmill no doubt! Good point.

[@slhasebroock]

Same here!

[@sandrastreifel6452]

Thank-you. We have a couple of walnut trees in the park, here, and squirrels have started seedlings in everyone’s garden, hiding the nuts and forgetting where they put them!😅

[@crriceII]

Thanks Matt. I really enjoy the diversity in your videos. Project videos, milling videos, videos like this walk in the woods. It makes this woodworking hobby so much more fulfilling to know where the wood starts, how it gets to my shop in usable form and then how to turn that into useful and beautiful pieces. Great work!

[@mcremona]

Thank you so much Chuck!

[@thomasmcfeely8869]

I'm from Burlington Wi now living in New Mexico I really miss the green and hiking through the woods. The Fox, White river and Honey creek all converge in town but before and after that there are great trails.

[@darodes]

Matt!!!!!! Bring back this series 😊😊😊😊😊 please do other North American Hardwoods!!!!

[@ericosterhout7564]

nice educational video. I remember as a kid growing up in Ohio my grandparents had hundreds of walnut trees on their property. To me these days that is a gold mine of beautiful wood. They also have quite a few cherry and one massive white oak that is about 5' across at the trunk.

[@philwatson24]

Definitely agree with your closing remark, it's fun to see the trees you love working in the shop; just a couple of weeks ago I started to learn tree ID here in the uk. I love working with ash, but thought I'd be lucky to see it with all the talk of ash die back. The first beautiful tree I looked at with my guide book in hand turned out to be ash. Now I see them everywhere :)

[@dpmakestuff]

"walnuts themselves are gonna be the easiest way to identify a walnut tree" My new favorite Matt Cremona quote! Great video!

[@mcremona]

hahahaha!!

[@anthonyromano8565]

I became fascinated with trees when I identified and read about the history of the Santa Lucia Fir and also Purchased some rare Sapodilla slabs from a tree blown down in Hurricane Wilma. Some trees seem to have an interesting background history.

[@billfromelma]

Hey Matt, awesome video. Read an article once about a guy who had a farm. Took 20 acres and planted all black walnut trees. Long story short that was his legacy to his family. In 20yrs the lumber value was in the millions.

[@mcremona]

wow. That's crazy valuable. I need to get some land :)

[@jamisonpitsch8185]

I can't believe you were in Kenosha! I was born and raised here. Now out in the county in Twin Lakes. Nice video!

[@ericschwoerer920]

Thanks Matt, this has inspired me to buy a field guide and get into the woods to identify trees. I would love to see you do a series on identifying several different species of trees. Thanks for all the great videos

[@fynbo1007]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about trees, I love walnut trees, they are very beautiful

[@christinakindler9112]

I love watching your videos. I live in Wyoming so we don't really have tree's like you get but I have learned a lot. I love working with wood myself and watching your videos is an inspiration and you make it fun. Thank you :-)

[@rml015]

Great video, Matt! Looking forward to more in the tree identification series. Up here in Maine, we of course have tons of pines (hence the state nickname), and my property has plenty of sugar maples, some oaks, lots of birch, a hybridized American chestnut, and one lonely ash in the front yard (at least until the ash borer gets here...).

[@samblaydon]

Great stuff Matt, would love to see more of this!

[@mcremona]

I can do that. Thanks Sam!

[@thomastieffenbacherdocsava1549]

Matt, The previous comment is spot on. I have a couple of books on identifying trees in southern MN. I know what is immediately around me and what species are common but it takes more than what I see in the books to identify what is sitting in the compost site which our town has. I'll be checking out the arbor day site. Thanks!

[@thomastieffenbacherdocsava1549]

Thanks, checked out the site and also purchased a book that seemed to have more about trees than the books I have. "National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America" is the one I just purchased and I have "Trees of Minnesota" and another I have to look for.

[@MrCoaster36]

Great idea for a series! You should do more like this!

[@willemkossen]

Already as a kid i would go out with a determination table to identify plants including trees. I continued that during my education at the agricultural university in wageningen. There was a course on wood identification too. Of course aimed mostly at stuff we have here. We identified wood with microscopes looking at the cell structure. Maybe nerdy, but so much fun. And its helpful for a woodworker to pick up branches and logs and to immediately know what it is. I really loved this video. Makes me relate to your experience even more! Thanks Matt!

[@SteifWood]

I had the same route as you Willem, even my WUR years, so that I at one point ended up identifying trees for research projects in the Caribbean and Amazon ... fascinating for us nerds hahaha

[@mcremona]

That's awesome, Willem! I think that would be really interesting.

[@willemkossen]

Sweet ;)

[@carlbowden4712]

Nice vid, I live in Walnut country and yes woodworkers become more interested in tree types when they start woodworking.

[@greatitbroke]

Nice video Matt. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to seeing more. Great job.

[@mcremona]

thanks Greg!

[@AlexLeff]

This was as interesting to me as any of your build videos, definitely keep them coming if you're so inclined! My dad lives in Kenosha and I'm not far from there myself, will be on the lookout for walnut trees in my neighborhood from now on. :-)

[@WoodByWright]

My wife thinks I am crazy pointing out trees and dreaming of the figure I know is behind that bark pattern. maybe that is why she does not like walking in the woods with me. LOL

[@mcremona]

lol! I have that same mentality

[@WoodByWright]

Or stopping by the same tree every time I am in the park just to drool and see it it has been tagged to be taken down. One of these days that is going to be the most amazing dining table!

[@carlhudson881]

Wood By Wright I do the same thing! My wife just tells me I am better looking when I don't talk

[@WoodByWright]

LOL sounds about right.

[@jeremiah3543]

The shop at the end there looked pretty organized!👍

[@mcremona]

getting there :)

[@nordyfamily]

Great work Matt!.

[@mikedixon8681]

Great video, Matt. I like the natural teacher in you.

[@JadaCupcake]

We cut up and milled a black walnut tree here in PA that had fallen over. At first we were not sure what it was. The smell it put off while limbing it was the deciding factor that it was indeed a walnut.

[@hardnox6655]

Nice tour Matt. A forrester recently told me that the walnut has a blight that will eventually kill them all much like the American Chestnut.

[@jlynn473]

Great video and glad you got some time to spend with your family. Looks like it was a great day for venturing out to admire the trees. Good info on identifying as well. I've always wanted to learn more on identifying specific tree species, and hope to be able to do some of this more, when I move from the city. Walnut trees are beautiful.

[@mcremona]

Thank you :) It was a great weekend. Was over too quickly though

[@unchartedjake]

thanks for sharing! Very educational.

[@rudolfzaris675]

Walnut tree is in middle Europe very valuable species because of walnuts. It is a treasure to have a walnut tree on a property.

[@plantpropagationchannel2603]

I live up in menomonee falls, where there are also a lot of walnut trees.

[@VideosByAl]

Looks like a Lead Bullet in your sample board at 8:25. We saw a lot of Lead and Nails.

[@TheRedhawke]

I was on my FFA forestry judging team and learned to identify most trees on the eastern side of Texas. We moved to the southern end of the Hill Country north west of San Antonio and all the trees are totally different. I think we would all enjoy the series on the subject but think you should buy yourself a good book on tree identification for the area you live in, the species change dramatically in just a few hundred miles.

[@motormikeyy7707]

This is true especially in Minnesota you have hard soutern wood then you start heading north then all of the sudden... BAM soft wood.

[@metalandwood4u]

I just planted 100 black walnuts. I'm 47 years old and a wood worker. I have little expectation of using the wood. But 10 years I outta have some walnuts. And maybe in my old age the property value can help care for my wife and I. I had two residential walnut trees salvaged, I slabbed with Alaskan sawmill stored in my basement and moved 600 miles to my new home stored now in shipping container. One slab was stolen from me with boat motor and other stuff.

[@orelygarcia]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge Matt. Thumbs up

[@mcremona]

thanks :)

[@BillHantzopoulos]

Good video Matt! ....So much to learn.

[@mcremona]

Thanks Bill!

[@craigolson8307]

I grew up in Kenosha. Your Instagram story at the park had me wondering why you were there. Makes sense now. It's a small world.

[@mcremona]

Smaller by the day

[@davidosullivan3432]

thanks matt i hope you do more of these type of videos

[@BillyMcCord]

I really hope you will do more of these, while I know how to identify a walnut, some of the other info was new, and I am sure as you show us other trees and how to ID them it would really spread the knowledge ! awesome content!

[@mcremona]

Seems to be well received so I'll plan on doing some more. Thanks!!

[@ragtie6177]

Excellent video Matt.

[@mcremona]

+Rag Tie thanks!

[@johnsobj]

I appreciate the tree identification videos. VERY helpful. This is something I can get much better at. Thanks and have a good one.

[@mcremona]

Awesome! thanks!

[@donfinch862]

Faskinating, thanks Matt. From Aus. we don't have those species, but ya still gotta know what ya lookin' at

[@onewhitestone]

I worked as a forester for some time, I had to know types of trees by their bark and tree shape (limbs and branches, overall shape of tree). Most trees are the same where ever you go, they might be a shade different in color. Not sure on your tree at 5:55, almost looks like some kind of nut tree. The black walnut meat of the nut is delicious, they are very expensive when purchased shelled. They are worth the effort.

[@periodcraftsmen]

Matt great video. Very informative and educational.

[@mcremona]

+Freddy Roman thanks Freddy!

[@Thom4123]

Awesome information and video. And the link you added is incredible the Arbor Foundation I just spent the last 20 minutes or so just looking around the site. Thank You so much these are great videos

[@mcremona]

Thanks Thom! I've spent a lot of time over there. Great resource.

[@williamspanfelner7981]

What a superb video! Nice work and full of quality information.

[@OpekiskaWood]

Good info Matt. Thanks.

[@mcremona]

+Rick Williams thanks!

[@krn14242]

Very interesting, thanks for the lesson.

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@200932me]

More of these please, as you travel around. One of my best memories of trees was a huge old chestnut. Not sure but at the base it was maybe 8 feet diameter.

[@mcremona]

Wow. that's a serious tree!!

[@maceeo]

Very similar bark to Hickory trees here in MS. Leaves are unique though.

[@jamesstanlake4064]

I got my forestry knowledge when I was young through my local 4-H club and there are a few great tree identification pocket style books that are available. Growing up in Michigan we had pretty much the same as you do there. One of the easiest ones for me to identify was Shag Bark Hickory and of course Maple, mainly because of it's distinctive leaf shape much the same as oak leaves. Canada identifies strongly with the Maple leaf and our military uses the Oak leaf with rank. I remember seeing Osage Orange trees with their large grapefruit size fruit. Identifying Red Oak from White Oak can be tricky from some boards but if you look at a freshly cut end grain from both you will see that Red Oak has at least 3 to 4 times the open pores as White Oak and has become my go to identifying trait I look for. As always love your videos and their content.

[@mcremona]

I think I need to head a few hours south and find some osage. I'd love to try working with it.

[@dannysulyma6273]

Interesting video for a guy from the west coasts rainforests. Other than the dominant evergreens, {Red &Yellow Cedars, Hemlock and many species of Fir), I have little in the way of native hardwoods to harvest. Red Alder, Maple, wild Cherry are about it. I should include Yew wood to as it is a very sturdy and good looking wood, but it is not commonly used by many woodworkers other than carvers and bow makers. We have plenty of Arbutus growing along the shorelines here but its not a useful wood other than carving and burning, though it is an excellent heat source.

[@stevemcentyre1570]

The 4H clubs used to have a very good program in tree identification. Black walnut are seriously delicious but a real pain to crack out. Wild cherry is very delicious and is used to cure a variety of ills. Wild cherry makes the best jelly that ever was. Now the question is how to distinguish between english walnut and black walnut? I don't think I have ever seen an english walnut tree.

[@andyfermanich9956]

Have big plans to get up to my parents land in Minocqua this summer and see what we can find to mill up. I know there is a bunch of white oak but who knows what we will find.

[@mcremona]

That's part of the fun! And if you find something that looks good, it could end up being junk once milled :P

[@scotthaun8582]

super helpful!

[@carbonitegamorrean8368]

I would love to know these things, know what bark, leaf, wood, etc. I loved this, please do more. I would like to know what wood is what too. I tend to know only about 4 types of wood by looking at a board. it's embarrassing.

[@josephbrauer2573]

Very educational , thanks for sharing Matt . :)

[@mcremona]

Thanks Joseph :)

[@GeekBuildersNet]

I never thought about there being a "mother tree". Fascinating stuff!

[@mcremona]

Deep thoughts :D

[@TokenRing1024]

Video was very well done

[@mcremona]

Thank you Larry!

[@motzemog]

Great video. Very informative.

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@browpetj]

Great vid, really interesting to see walnuts growing on mass. I don't know about those though mate. They look quite old(?). That kind bark doesn't develop very fast. I guess in searing sun you might get fast fissuring. The bark is smooth for a long time before it fissures up though. You might be surprised if you get a core sample or pollard one of these. They look quite straight and tall too. Was anything planted with them? They grow pretty thin and tall if chaperoned. And they grow much slower without full sun. Maybe they have been struggling away there for 50 years or more(?).

[@cityguyusa]

Walnut Grove is where Little House on the Orairie took place. Where Michael Landon worked in a… are you ready??? A saw mill!

[@jaykallenbach1846]

Well, hello from Milwaukee, cool to know you visited WI :)

[@mcremona]

+Jay Kallenbach hello there!!

[@jaykallenbach1846]

hello back fine sir! Hopefully we hear more about the trip on WoodTalk ;)

[@mcremona]

Listen to this week's episode :)

[@jaykallenbach1846]

Matthew Cremona dang, I knew I was a week behind!

[@WayWoodworking]

loved the video. I drove home looking for walnut trees. if the dark wood is dead why does the sap wood stay lighter even after slabbing? Or does it darken ever?

[@brendanh8808]

Nice! I did my internship in Kenosha. This was a great segment, and since I still live in Wisconsin, very relevant. Yet, even though I'm less than a hundred miles north of Kenosha I've never seen what has been identified by others as a Buckeye. I have a small property with about 100 hardwoods on it, none of them Buckeyes and thankfully only 6 Ash. Anyway, rant aside, this was a really cool video.

[@agekjrgardpayoutube2593]

Brendan H buckeye trees are pretty common in southeast WI. They’re occasionally planted, but the high germination rate of their seeds makes it so that escaped specimens have become very common.

[@kortt]

Great video, learned a lot!

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@yummboy2]

Thanks for this! Excellent information!

[@francoispienaar1256]

Good job! Perfect amount of information.

[@FredMcIntyre]

Thanks for the info Matt! 👍🌲🌳

[@stevenkofoed1698]

Just wanted to say hey Matt! I enjoy and learn from your videos. And I live in Kenosha.

[@mcremona]

Thank you Steven!!

[@firstgeer]

Pinnately compound is the botanical description of the walnut leaf.

[@dimension-ji7xk]

When I was a teenager , a friend and me were at a park watching soccer game. I was leaning up against a Walnut tree with my left hand. The next day we went to the park we noticed that Walnut tree I was leaning up against was now shriveled up and completely dead. A couple of days later it was announced in the local paper that park maintenance workers were going to cut that Walnut tree down. I think that maybe while leaning up against that Walnut tree I drained it of its life force ( Chi ), and now I might live as long as a Walnut tree would.

[@kenjett2434]

nice video Matt here In WV i was raised in the country and was a logger for a few years. So identification comes easy for most species. I agree with others though if you could do a edu. series on this subject im sure many out there would greatly benefit. Myself am involved with scouting and passing this knowledge to my scouts.

[@mcremona]

The reception has been very good so I'll be seeing what I can do to continue this type of video. In hindsight, I wish I had earned the forestry merit badge

[@kenjett2434]

Cool so i take it you was in boyscouts. I have been involved for a few years as a cub scout den leader and scout master of a troop. Im currently serving as membership chair for our district covering 4 counties.Look forward to your new series.

[@themightywartit]

thank you!

[@hotrodhog2170]

5:56 looks like it could be a pawpaw tree. It produces fruit.

[@rbday1]

I thought so too...

[@tomharner83]

pretty sure it's a pawpaw

[@hotrodhog2170]

Yeah, I have one in my yard but can't get the fruit to mature before they fall off and rot on the ground :/

[@ShopOfTheseus]

If you ever get a ripe one it they are divine!

[@kattasudhir]

pawpaw trees needs a different genetic variety of pawpaw to pollinate and the pollinators are flies. So plant different variety of pawpaw near by and also if you don't have fly hand pollinate. some farmers hang chicken necks or spray fish emulsion to attack flies.

[@donnymcarter]

Very cool video Matt! I need to plant a few a few trees!

[@paulanderson2803]

The tree at 6:00 is a Shag Bark Hickory.

[@joshwiley881]

great video, Thanks

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@Tracks777]

I enjoyed your video :) Keep it up!

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@ringerson4x4]

The bark of that young walnut reminded me of elm.

[@maddin95k1]

The bark of the walnut and the cerry tree look very different from the the ones we´ve got here in Germany. The bark here is much smother even when the trees get older.

[@oheebatch_algorytmu]

maddin95k1 but we Have juglans regia, not nigra in eu

[@maddin95k1]

Ah thanks I didn´t know.

[@ronron8464]

Thanks for the very informative video Matt!! 👍 Ron1

[@lionheart1867]

Walnut Grove was also the name of the town in the 1980s TV series "Little House On The Prairie".

[@Orxenhorf]

When the walnuts (green golf balls) have just fallen, you should really open one up and rub the black stuff from the inside on your hands. It'll be tons of fun. :-)

[@mcremona]

hahaha pass

[@dor12144]

Matt, the unknown tree looks like a buckeye.

[@mikebohn2813]

Black Walnut trees give off a chemical compound (juglone) which inhibits the growth of many other species of plants. For example, most Gardners know that tomatoes won't grow near black Walnut trees. Black Walnut trees change their immediate environment to increase the odds of black Walnut reproduction, so it's not uncommon to have stands of mostly walnut trees. I live near Madison, and I have mostly walnuts, with ash and hickory around the edges.

[@theislandworkshop8453]

great video matt, really helpful, nice one

[@mcremona]

thanks!

[@donchristie420]

Standing from a distance,walnuts will have a browner look to the butt,than surrounding stands.The biggest thing is the smell,even in the saplings,you cannot mistake that!!

[@conork8177]

Surrounding neighborhood: Hurry, everyone get inside. There is a strange man walking around in the woods talking to the trees.

[@tarz9386]

I was good at this in MICHIGAN but not so good now in COLORADO just not enough variety here , it just pine & Aspen ash, and a few maple in the city . oh yeah and those dam Cottonwoods.

[@mcremona]

hahaha the cottonwoods!!!

[@beardoggs]

I believe you were looking at a Hickory tree. I live in Milwaukee, and am very familiar with hickory trees The bark is a dead give away.

[@mcremona]

Out of curiosity, any idea on the type of hickory? The only one I've seen is bitternut and I've only identified those by the nuts.

[@beardoggs]

The type is shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). This species is common in southern Wisconsin. I googled the Wisconsin DNR website. If you look it up, it should help you identify what you saw.

[@BlackOwlOutdoors]

Matthew Cremona Looks like shagbark to me as well.

[@ceedubbz777]

How do you tell the difference between walnut trees and sumac?

[@tbernardi001]

That looks to be a Buckeye (horse chestnut) at 5:44.

[@handydan1591]

There is an app called leaf snap. If you take a leaf from a tree a take a photo of it with a white background the app will identify the tree for you

[@streetfiremkv12]

this tree is an aspen... you can tell by the way it is. neat

[@Johnrider1234]

I got one walnut tree out of 30. All small trees. One to two feet high. One grows yellow. Instead of green. Any idea’s?

[@IronOakSawmill]

Hickory, and Chestnut Oak I believe. LOL

[@jrlejeune]

Matt, Do you have the Sibley Guide To Trees? It is a great reference. Nice dendrology lesson! Thanks.

[@mcremona]

Just ordered it. thanks for the recommendation!

[@jrlejeune]

:-( I wanted to buy it for you. Pancake mix instead?

[@jrlejeune]

Pancakes are on their way!

[@mcremona]

You're crazy, John! :D

[@walterrider9600]

thank you . tree may i go ah wandering .....

[@mcremona]

have fun out there!

[@walterrider9600]

i was the guy in boy scouts who picked up poison ivy and asked what it was . thank god he looks after fools