I’ve been reading about nut trees throughout the winter. I am pretty sure the answer is no, but does anyone know of self pollinating nut trees?
My space is quite limited, but I would like to plant some sort of nut tree. I am currently planning to put in a Selbhers hickory that I intend to graft a pollinator branch of Simpson to in a year or two, but maybe there’s something I don’t know about.
Interesting! I have my doubts it would do well here in Pennsylvania, but I will do some more reading.
Have you scouted the neighborhood to see if there are any hickories or walnuts growing within a thousand feet or so? That might make your decision easier. Another strategy I’ve seen is to let the first variety grow for a while, then replace the central leader with a compatible pollinator.
Plenty of shagbark, but I have been told they don’t bloom with shellbark. Plus black walnut, but I don’t want to deal with that.
Heavens no.
Silvis 303 hickory, Fayette hickory, and Rhodes heartnut are all said to be self-pollenating.
I’m just south of you growing heartnut, persian, and white. All of those should work for you. Jays idea of grafting another variety onto them is a good idea even if they would work on their own.
‘Garnett’ shellbark, which I introduced, is likely self-pollenizing… while there are shagbarks in the woods 1/2 mile away in any direction, there are no other shellbarks or pecans that I’ve been able to spot within miles of the tree, but it still manages to produce huge crops every year(it’s in the middle of a corn/soybean field… when planted, ~1940, it was in the front yard of a friend’s childhood home).
Consider planting a carpathian walnut tree such as Allegheny.
I looked through the pecan pollination sheet for either a far northern or ultra northern variety that would be viable in your climate and is a strong self-pollenizer. The only one that fills the bill is Starking Hardy Giant. There are several better choices that could be made to work by grafting in a compatible pollenizer.
Best suggestion, plant a tree of Hark and top graft a compatible pollen source such as Kanza or vice versa. If a hickory is your first choice, I suggest Porter and Grainger for shagbark. Your choices of Selbhers and Simpson #1 are good choices for shellbark.
Dax suggested shellbark because they are little smaller narrower and start bearing early.
Didn’t even think of almonds! Too bad Plum curculio wrecks stone fruit here…