New variety of French walnut. Despite its medium and small size, this variety is distinguished by high yield of kernels.
Ferjan — this is a new variety with fruiting on lateral branches, productive and interesting for nut production. It is a medium-sized nut, however, the variety yields very good harvests when cracked. Fruit production is higher than that of Granjane. This variety is widely sold in the form of shelled kernels.
FRUIT
Fruit ripening is relatively late, a few days before Franquette. The shape of the fruit is spherical, resembling the shape of Granjane, the shell is relatively thin and slightly warty. Halves are firmly attached to each other. Fruit size is medium to small, usually 28 to 32 mm. The kernel separates well from the shell and constitutes 46-50% of the total weight of the nut. It has good flavor quality and is well preserved.
PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL
Due to the fact that fruits form on lateral branches, fruiting occurs quickly, from 5-7 years. According to observations, the average yield is 4 tons/ha of dried nuts.
Ferjan tree
TREE
Vigor: sufficiently strong for a variety with lateral fruiting.
Habit: semi-upright to upright
Fruit type III: on lateral branches, fruits are arranged along the branches.
Bud break occurs relatively early: first fifteen days of April (similar to Lara variety) or ten days before Franquette.
Monoecious variety, bearing both male and female flowers.
PLANTING DISTANCE
Ferjan is well adapted to semi-intensive systems with 8 meters between rows and 4 meters within rows. Pollination is anemophilous, therefore, pollinating varieties must be used, particularly
Rond de Montignac and Ferret at a rate of 2-3 trees/ha.
PRUNING
Since for this variety fruiting occurs on lateral branches, it is recommended to shape Ferjan along the trunk axis. Due to the risk of blocking fruiting points and based on experiments conducted on this variety, it was found that for favorable development of lateral branches, pruning of these branches should be carried out in the early years. Moreover, in the absence of pruning, sometimes bareness of branches was observed in the lower parts of branches.
PRUNING FOR TREE MANAGEMENT
This pruning is necessary to maintain good production quality and uniformity of nuts. By pruning branches, light reaches the inner part of the tree, positively affecting fruiting.
For Ferjan, pruning begins at 6-8 years by removing flowering points and small branches in the inner part of the tree, unnecessary branches, or branches located too low.
HARVESTING
Harvesting is the main stage for obtaining quality products. Nuts must be collected quickly and should not remain on the ground for more than three days. Nuts must be dried immediately after harvest in dryers using warm air to achieve 12% moisture content of the nuts.
STORAGE
After drying, quality can be preserved for a year provided that nuts are stored in shells at temperatures below 10°C and with humidity of 70%. Shelled nuts must be stored in a dark place at temperatures from 4 to 7°C and with humidity of 70%.
