Study Nut Culture at home for Commercial Nut Growing or Home Nut Plant Growing.
Gain a sound foundation for growing a wide variety of nuts, particularly in temperate climates. This course also provides opportunities for you to focus more on types of nuts that are of greater interest and relevance to you.
Nuts have some distinct advantages over other crops:
- Long shelf life (so you don't need to sell them quickly) or use costly storage or processing to extend the marketing period
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High in protein - nutritionally intensive foods
A detailed study on nut growing with the opportunity to specialise, to some degree, according to your interests.
Nuts can be grown in most parts of the world - there are species suited to a variety of climates.
Nuts are an exceptionally valuable food crop that can be harvested and stored for long periods and can also be processed into a variety of products. These characteristics make them particularly useful for commercial growers, for the home gardener, or those striving towards self sufficiency.
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Lesson Structure
There are 9 lessons in this course:
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Introduction
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What is a Nut
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Identifying Plants Accurately
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Classification of Nuts into their Plant Families
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Juglanaceae,
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Coylaceae,
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Fagaceae,
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Burseraceae,
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Lecthidaceae
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Sterculiaceae
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Rosaceae
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Pinaceae
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Anacardiaceae, etc
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Review of Botany of Nuts: flowers and fruit development
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Resources
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The Most Commonly Grown Varieties
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Overview of Nut Culture
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Comparing most common nuts
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Terminology
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Almond
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American Hazlenut
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Cashew Peanut
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Walnut
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Macadamia
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Culture of Nuts
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Site Selection and Management
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Soils
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Soil Testing
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Water Management
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Nutrition and Feeding
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Plant Health: pest and disease, protection from wind, salt, air, etc
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Common problems with different types of nuts
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Planting
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Terminology
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Weed Management
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Pruning
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Less Common Nuts
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Pecan
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Pistacio
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Pine Nuts
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Auraucaria
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Chestnut
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Filbert
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Brazil Nut
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Beech
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Oak
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Sunflower
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Pili Nut
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Cola Nut
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Cocao
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Hausa Groundnut
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Acacia, and more
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Propagation
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Seed Propagation of Nuts
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Cuttings
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Layering
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Grafting
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Propagating Corylus
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Propagating Pinus
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Propagating aids and structures
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Harvest and Post-harvest of Nuts
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Harvesting
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Cleaning, Cracking and Shelling
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Drying and Storage
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Handling Almonds
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Cashews
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Chestnuts
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Pine nuts
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Walnuts
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Hazlenuts
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Pistacios
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Marketing Nuts
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Overview
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Where to sell nuts
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Marketing Processes
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Market Research
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Uses of Nuts: Food and other uses
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Workplace Health, Safety and Risk Management
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Duty of Care
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Risk Assessment in a Horticultural Enterprise
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Financial Risks
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Keeping the Workplace Safe
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Protective Clothing
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Equipment Safety (Tools and Machinery)
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Safety with Manual Handling and lifting
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Special Assignment
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PBL Project Develop a plan for growing selected varieties of nuts in a specific location
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
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Identify different nut crop varieties.
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Determine the cultivation practices appropriate to a range of different nut crops.
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Determine how to propagate a range of different nut plants.
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Determine appropriate techniques for harvesting a nut crop.
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Specify an appropriate post-harvest treatment for a nut crop.
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Develop marketing strategies for nuts.
What You Will Do
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Distinguish between common and scientific perceptions of the term nut.
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Compare the botanical characteristics of the fruits from different nut genera.
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Describe the botanical classification of different species of nut plants, including where appropriate, botanical interrelationships.
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Prepare plant reviews of different nut varieties, including the following details on each plant:
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Plant names (Common and scientific)
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A photo, illustration or pressed specimen
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Cultural details
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Harvest & Post-harvest
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Uses (eg. valuable products).
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Develop a resource file of fitems of information relevant to the nut growing industry, including:
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Suppliers of nut plants
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Trade or grower associations
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Publications
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Perform simple tests on different soils to determine:
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Soil type
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pH
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Drainage
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Water holding capacity
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Evaluate different soils tested in 2.1 to determine nut varieties suitable for growing in each.
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Explain soil management requirements for different nut varieties, including:
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Nutrition
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Soil structure
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Physical attributes
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Explain the control of different pests and diseases on ten different nut varieties.
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Develop guidelines for the culture of a specified variety of nut, in your locality, including:
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Watering
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Weed control
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Soil management
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Fertilising
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Pest control
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Disease control
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Prepare a twelve month plan for cultural practices on a specified nut plantation.
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Explain different methods of propagating different nut species, including:
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Seed
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Grafting
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Layering
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Cuttings
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Determine propagation methods for fifteen different nut species, including where applicable, rootstock variety names.
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Demonstrate how to prepare cuttings for two different nut species.
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Demonstrate three different types of grafts, suitable for propagating nut varieties.
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Determine seed germination procedures for ten different nut genera.
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Prepare a production schedule, for nursery production of a specified type of nut.
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Propagate different nut plant varieties.
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Explain the operation of a mechanical harvester which can be used for nuts.
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Determine when to harvest different specified nut species.
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Compare the efficiency of four different techniques for harvesting nuts.
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Describe two different storage techniques for a specified nut variety.
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Determine the optimum environmental conditions for the storage of three different nut species.
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Evaluate three different samples of nuts, which have been stored using three different techniques.
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Determine the commercial processing techniques used for five specified nut species.
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Explain post-harvest handling of a specified nut species, by a commercial plantation in a specified locality.
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Determine different ways in which nuts can be consumed.
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Compare different ways nuts are packaged for retailing, with reference to different factors including:
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Physiological impact on the nut
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Cost of packaging
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Presentation
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Explain the marketing of different specified nut products, in your locality.
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Develop a marketing plan for one specified type of nut.
What Nuts are Edible?
The review below demonstrates just how diverse this subject can be:
Family Juglandaceae
Includes the following genera:
1. Carya (includes Hickory, Pecan and Mountain Walnut)
2. Juglans (walnuts)
Note: the Oleaceae and Lauraceae families include several trees including some which are also know as walnuts.
Family Characteristics: pinnate leaves, Leaves normally opposite, Buds over winter are brown and hairy, male and female flowers are separate but occur on same plant, Male flowers are a pendulous catkin, female flowers look quite different. Ovary is inferior.
Family Corylaceae
Includes the genus Corylus (filbert and hazelnut)
Family Characteristics: Deciduous trees or shrubs; Leaves are simple (undivided) alternately arranged on the stem, Male and Female flowers are separate but occur on the same plant, Male flowers form a pendulant catkin; Female flower is commonly a bud like structure with a tuft of styles extending from the top. Ovary is inferior.
Family Fagaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Castanea (chestnut)
2. Fagus (beech)
3. Quercus (oak)
Family characteristics: Leaves are simple, usually arranged alternate and occasionally whorled along the stems; for most, male and female flowers are separate but occur on the same plant; male flowers have five or more stamens. Ovary is inferior. Female flowers usually have three styles and three carpels (sometimes 6 styles and 6 carpels).
Family Proteaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Macadamia
2. Brabejum (wild almond)
3. Finschia
4. Hicksbeachia (monkey nut)
Most Proteaceae share the following characteristics:
a) Leaves are thick and leathery. This type of foliage allows them to withstand water stress better than many other types of plants. They are likely to be wind resistant and tolerant of dry air conditions (ie. low humidity).
b) Most grow continuously all year round in mild climates (some have a short dormant period over summer).
c) Most have proteoid roots. (ie. proteoid roots are a type of root which is able to absorb nutrients from soils which have very low levels of nutrients where other types of roots would not absorb nutrients). Proteaceae plants will grow on relatively infertile soils; some in fact do not tolerate fertile soils.
d) There tends to be a great deal of variation within a species in terms of flower, foliage and growth habit.
Family Burseraceae
Includes the genera:
1. Boswellia (Indian olibanum)
2. Canarium (pili nut)
Family Lecthidaceae
Includes the genus "Bertholetti" (Brazil nut)
Family Sterculiaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Cola (cola nut)
2. Theobroma (cocoa)
Family Anacardiaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Anacardium (cashew)
2. Aleurites (candle nut)
There are around 60 genera and 600 species in this family; and most are trees and shrubs (occasionally climbers). Leaves are usually alternate and compound. Flowers can be unisexual or bisexual. Flowers typically have 5 or 10 stamens. Ovary is superior with 3 united carpels.
Family Rosaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Prunus dulcis (almond)
2. Prunus armeniaca (apricot or Chinese almond)
3. Parinari curatellifolia
The rose family is diverse in many respects (eg. widespread and variable growth habits).
Leaves can be simple or compound but are typically alternate.
Flowers are usually bisexual and occur at the tips of the stems.
Fruits can be dry or fleshy and structure can vary (including drupes, achenes and pomes)
Ovary is normally superior, but not always.
Calyx has 5 sepals and the corolla has 5 petals.
Family Leguminosae
(NOTE: this family is now split into Fabaceae, Mimosaceae or Caesalpiniaceae)
Includes the genera:
1. Arachia hypogaea (peanut)
2. Kerstingiella geocarpa (Hausa groundnut)
3. Acacia albida (and seed of some other species can be roasted and eaten)
4. Castenospermum australe (this nut is eaten by some indigenous Australians)
Legumes can be identified by the fruits which are pods, enclosing the seeds.
Family Asteraceae (also known as Compositae in older texts)
Includes the genera:
1. Balsamorhiza sagitta (sunflower)
2. Carthamus tinctorius (safflower)
The Asteraceae or "Daisy" family comprise a very large family of about 800 genera and 12,000 species. The flowers are actually a composite of several small flowers fused together to appear as one flower. If the flower is pulled apart it can be seen that it is made up of several individual units, each one having its own set of floral parts (ie. petal, stamen, stigma, ovary etc). Some Asteraceae flowers are incomplete and have only some of the floral parts (eg. Helichrysum, Dahlia, Zinnia, marigold, tansy, chrysanthemum, lettuce, sunflower etc).
Family Cucurbitaceae - (note: this family is now known as Brassicaceae)
Includes the genera:
1. Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin) (seeds eaten)
2. Carthamus tinctorius (oyster nut)
The cucurbits are creepers, warm season plants. Flowers are 5 lobed and often monoecious (ie: contain either male or female parts only).
Family Palmaceae - (note: this family is now known as Aracaceae)
Includes the genera:
1. Cocos nucifera (coconut) - there are many other palm nuts that are considered edible, though only some are considered pleasant to taste.
2. Areca catechu (betel nut)
The palm family includes not only tall tree like plants, but also low shrubby species and climbers.
Leaves form a terminal cluster and are palmate (fan types) pinnate or sometimes bipinnate. Flowers are usually unisexual. Fruit is a berry or drupe, enclosing a hard seed.
Family Pinaceae
Includes the genera:
1. Pinus pinea (stone pine)
2. Pinus cembrioides (Mexican nut pine)
Plants in this family are mainly evergreen, occasionally deciduous, monoecious trees, occasionally shrubs, usually with needle-like foliage, from the Northern hemisphere. Branches are opposite or whorled, elongated, or sometimes spurred. The leaves are linear, often needle-shaped. Male cones are small and non-woody, female cones are woody, and generally with spirally arranged scales. Each scale (usually) with two ovules borne near the base of the upper side of the scale. Usually two winged seeds produced per scale. Genera in this family include: Abies, Cathaya, Cedrus, Keteleeria, Larix, Picea, Pinus, Pseudotsuga, Pseudolarix, Tsuga.
Note: there are many more species of rare and uncommon edible nuts - many of these are eaten by indigenous populations in remote areas.
FREQUENT QUESTIONS
Why Choose This Course
- Unique course materials (developed by our staff) and more current than some colleges (many reviewed annually); as a result, ACS graduates can be more up to date.
- We work hard to help you understand and remember it, develop an ability to apply it in the real world, and build networks with others who work in this field (It’s more than just serving up a collection of information –if all you want is information, buy a book; but if you want an education, that takes learning to a whole new level).
- Start whenever you want, study at your own pace, study anywhere
- Don’t waste time and money traveling classes
- We provide more choices–courses are written to allow you more options to focus on parts of the subject that are of more interest to you; a huge range of elective subjects are offered that don’t exist elsewhere.
- Tutors are accessible (more than elsewhere) – academics work in both the UK and Australia, 5 days a week, 16 hours a day. Answering emails and phone calls from students are top priority.
- We treat students as individuals –don’t get lost in a crowd. Our tutors communicate with you one to one.
- Extra help at no extra cost if needed. When you find something you cannot do, we help you through it or will provide another option.
- Support after you finish a course –We can advise about getting work, starting business, writing a CV, etc. We can promote students and their businesses through our extensive profile on the internet. Graduates who ask will be helped.
- Support from a team of a dozen professional horticulturists, living in different parts of the UK, and in both temperate and tropical climate zones of Australia.
About ACS
ACS was started in 1979 by John Mason, who at the time was a gardening author, horticultural consultant and lecturer in horticulture at several colleges across Melbourne (in Australia). Over the summer that year John discovered that there were thousands of applicants going to be turned away from horticulture courses at Burnley Horticultural College (now Melbourne University). There were simply too few courses being offered for the number of people wanting to study horticulture in Australia. This situation prompted a move to establish a correspondence course at Burnley; but after months of unsuccessful lobbying for support from government; John wrote a course, and with help from a colleague at Council of Adult Education, marketed it.
Standards were originally set in line with what were seen to be the standards of Australia's top horticultural college; and over the years, those standards have never been reduced. This makes our courses longer and more demanding than some other colleges; but it has also led to us building a credibility that stands tall in the horticulture industry across the world.
In the early 1990's John started visiting the UK and becoming involved with the horticulture industry there. Around the mid 1990's ACS began offering RHS courses, and in 2003, John was formally recognised for his contribution to British Horticulture by being made a fellow of the Institute of Horticulture. ACS, as a school, established an office and staff in the UK in 2001, and has expanded considerably since then. Today it is formally affiliated with five other colleges in the UK (including Warwickshire College); all of who license and deliver ACS courses.
A team of leading horticulturists work for the school's horticulture department, including 12 faculty members in both the UK and Australia
How You Study
- As soon as you enroll, we send an email to explain it all.
- We direct you to a short orientation video (downloadable over the internet) to watch, where our principal introduces you to how the course works, and how you can access all sorts of support services
- You are either given a code to access your course online, or sent out a CD or course materials through the mail (or by courier).
- Work through lessons one by one, each lesson typically having four parts:
- An aim -which tells you what you should be achieving in the lesson
- Reading -notes written and regularly revised by our academic staff
- Set Task(s) -These are practicals, research or other experiential learning tasks that strengthen and add to what you have been reading
- Assignment -By answering questions, submitting them to a tutor, then getting feedback from the tutor, you confirm that you are on the right track, but more than that, you are guided to consider what you have been studying in different ways, broadening your perspective and reinforcing what you are learning about
- Other - Your work in a course rarely stops at just the above four parts. Different courses and different students will need further learning experiences. Your set task or assignment may lead to other things, interacting with tutors or people in industry, reviewing additional reference materials or something else. We treat every student as an individual and supplement their learning needs as the occasion requires.
- We provide access to and encourage you to use a range of supplementary services including an online student room, including online library; student bookshop, newsletters, social media etc.
- We provide a "student manual", that is a quick solution to most problems that might occur
Recognition
- ACS has a highly respected international profile: by employers and academics alike. People are more aware of us than many other distance education schools –just do a search for “horticulture distance education courses” and see what comes up on the internet; or search for ACS Distance education on Facebook or Linked in, and see how many connections we have compared to other colleges.
- Recognised by International Accreditation and Recognition Council
- ACS has been educating people around the world since 1979
- Over 100,000 have now studied ACS courses, across more than 150 countries
- Formal affiliations with colleges in five countries
- A faculty of over 40 internationally renowned academics –books written by our staff used by universities and colleges around the world.
Extra Books or Reference Materials
- The course provides you with everything that you need to complete it successfully.
- Assignments may ask you to look for extra information (eg. by contacting nurseries, visiting gardens or searching the internet), but our school's resources and tutors are always available as a back up. If you hit a "roadblock", we can quickly send you additional information or provide expert advice over the phone or email; to keep you moving in your studies.
- Some students choose to buy additional references, to take their learning beyond what is essential for the course. If a student wants to buy books, we operate an online bookshop offering ebooks written by staff at the school. Student discounts are available if you are studying with us. The range of e books available is being expanded rapidly, with at least one new ebook being written and published by our staff every month. See www.acsebook.com
