Hello,
It’s my understanding Hickories have not been substantially documented in regard to being protandrous or protogynous. I have space to plant two (maybe three) Shagbarks. Can anyone recommend two or three Shagbarks that are known to cross pollinate? I’m in Zone 6b. Thank you
There has been lota of talk here about hickory over the years.
The link above is a good one.
I dont recall any mention of having to have two different types (for pollination) like you do with pecans.
Hickory and pecan can cross polinate… my daughter bought a home out in the country a while back and she has a bitcon in herfront yard… a cross of bitter nut hickory and pecan. Not good for eating.
Shagbarks grow all over here in my county but you rarely see them above 750 ft elevation… they prefer lower elevation… hollow bottoms or very low on the hillside.
Love foraging and eating the shag bark hickory nuts. We dont have shellbark here in my county.
TNHunter
These guys have a good selection of Hickory and Hickory/Pecan hybrids.
I tried planting the Burton variety but I had a mishap with the mower and took it out. I plan to try it again. I feel like these are trees you plant mostly for the next generation and hope you get to enjoy them a little in your time.
@belowtheterrace … that is why I am not growing them myself… they can take a long time to come into production.
Plus my site is not ideal for them… i have lots of hickory here… but the only varieties that grow and produce good nuts up on my ridgetop are red hickory and pignut hickory.
The nuts from those do not crack out well… so not worth harvesting.
The mockernut hickory that grow up closer to the ridge top produce small nuts… where mocker down near the hollow bottom produce nice sized nuts, good nut meat.
The shell on them is so thick… they are quite a bit more difficult to crack and get good chunks of nut meat out of. They are tasty… but compared to shagbark nuts… they are just more difficult to get good nut meat out of.
I have a few shagbark hickory on my place down on my deepest hollow… but they are not producing nuts yet.
I have many roadside and river side shagbarks located that I can forage from… get all the nuts I need.
This is a mockernut and the nutmeat you can exteact from it.
This is a shagbark and the nutmeat you can extract from it.
Top left shellbark, top right shagbark
Bottom left mockernut, bottom right red hickory…
LuckyP can help a bit with this question regarding varieties. Porter, Grainger, Lorane, Yoder #1, Lake Icaria, and Wilcox are likely varieties.
It is more important to find varieties adapted to your climate and soil type. As TNhunter says, location is critically important with hickory family members.
I’ve sampled wild hickory around this region for shagbark (ovata), shellbark (laciniosa), nutmeg (myristiciformis), mockernut (tomentosa), pignut (glabra), red hickory (ovalis), pecan (illinoinensis), and bitternut (cordiformis). Only 4 would be considered highly desirable. Shagbark in the wild tends to make fairly easy to crack nuts but can be bland in flavor. Shellbark is larger with larger nutmeat but can be poorly filled with low flavor. Pecan needs little description since it is commercially produced. Pecan varieties are available for most of the U.S. Mockernut is usually tightly bound in the shell but interestingly can have outstandingly good flavor. The single best flavored hickory I’ve eaten was from a mockernut tree growing on Natchez trace. Nutmeg hickory is arguably the hardest to find. Nuts range from small to medium large with usually good flavor. I picked up quite a few south of Selma Alabama a few years ago.
So what is adapted where? Nutmeg hickory usually grows along rivers and streams and in associated forests. Mockernut grows best on slopes and ridges. Shellbark grows best near streams in deep fertile soil. Shagbark is widely adapted but not usually found far from a water source. Pecan is arguably the most widely adapted species depending on rootstock it is grown on.
Check out rockbridgetrees.com
I’ll second Rock Bridge Trees as a good source. David has a good selection of hickories, and the trees I’ve seen from him have been great. All of his pecans, hickories and hicans are grafted onto container-grown northern pecan rootstocks.
Primo shagbark selections, IMO, would include Grainger, Lorane(a Grainger seedling), J.Yoder #1, Porter, Lizzie Mountain, Wilmoth, Jobstown (a Grainger sdlg from Ted Daniecki in NJ), Mitch Russell(a shagbarkXshellbark hybrid).
I really like Lizzie Mtn. and Polly’s Bend (a central KY-origin shag).
Thank you all for your responses! I previously called Dave at Rockbridge and he mentioned hickories have not been well documented like pecans regarding being protandrous or protogynous. He said he’d check a few sources to see if he can recommend a self-fertile hickory. My issue is I have limited space, which will likely mean only two hickories. I don’t want two protandrous or two protogynous hickories that cannot cross pollinate. I’ve seen posts on here from the past that classify some of the shellbarks as either protandrous or protogynous, but not the shagbarks. I’m located in Eastern Washington State, Zone 6b. I have drip irrigation set up for approx 300 black walnuts and 130 sugar maples. The two hickories would also have drip. The soil is fairly sandy, but seems to grow whatever I throw at it, including some ultra northern pecans from Rockbridge and Grimo 
Thank you again for the help!
(Grainger or Lorane) and Porter are usually considered pollination compatible. If anywhere near your pecans, you will likely have enough pollen for production.
What varieties of black walnut are you growing?
The hickories are approximately 415 feet from the pecans, so perhaps a bit far. I need to clarify a previous statement - for the black walnut I have the drip set up, but the black walnut will not be planted until Spring of '25. The cultivar is Purdue #1. It’s for my kids inheritance I do have heartnuts on black walnut root stock that are growing like champs. Also, Carpathian/English walnut grows real well in my area.
Purdue #1 is a relatively slow growing tree in my climate. It does tend to grow tall and straight. The last time I talked to Walt Beineke (@25 years ago), he had a few faster growing selections with similar form. In addition to Purdue #1, I also got GST#1, GST#2, GST #3, GST#4, and GST#5. None were as good as Purdue #1. Keep in mind that I am several hundred miles south of West Lafayette, Indiana. I found a walnut tree south of Selma Alabama a few year ago that produces the fastest growing seedlings I’ve yet seen. It averages 6 feet tall first year from seed.
I see Reed, Morse, and Greenwood nurseries selling either Purdue #1 or seedlings. Are you purchasing from one of them?
I’m purchasing from Reed. I did just leave Walt a voicemail to see if he has any other recommended cultivars. Thank you for mentioning Walt.
