Ask John at Nolin River if he has a Porter shagbark to pair with your Grainger. Porter and Grainger are the two very best.
T-92 and Underwood are the two very best hicans but Burlington is a favorite of John’s. You’ll need two. Some people may disagree but it’s short windows of bloom time each for: pecan, hickory, and hican. You’ll guarantee yourself that pollination has occurred if you have two of each. I’ve witnessed with my own eyes that only hicans were in bloom while while hickories nor pecans were not. Same for hickories and same for pecans.
For pecans, I can’t think of a single operation grafting Mullahy and NC-4 but those are the ones that author Wes Rice is putting a lot of emphasis on for areas with a shorter season. Mullahy originated where I live and by my friend I run around with. It’s a very good pecan. He (Gary Fernald) also introduced Dumbell Lake. Like @Fusion_power said, it’s a pretty good pecan. Wes Rice is also very fond of pecan Deerstand. Maybe atFusion knows whether it’s type 1 pollen shed or type 2. Mullahy is type 2.
You’ll be fine though with Lucas and Dumbell Lake. I wouldn’t stress very much over it if you aren’t able to find Mullahy and NC-4. Actually Grimo Nut Nursery (Canada) sells NC-4. Give them a ring/check their website. They ship to the USA & are great quality trees. Ask if they have Mullahy they would custom graft for you. And if not, and you are able to learn if Deerstand is type 2, pair it with NC-4.
I don’t know the dichogamy of Deerstand. Dumbell Lake Small is type 1. Lucas is type 2. Campbell NC4 is type 1. This is enough of a mix to say that pollination needs will be met.
I checked out grimo, the cost of shipping isn’t as bad as I thought it might be, 30 bucks if order is under 200. Any idea how long shipping can take coming across the border? They do have the hickory porter which sounds like something I should try to get. Nolan nursery has Burlington and t92 hican but no Underwood. So I might just try those two. Is there a blackwalnut you could recommend from nolan or grimo? I couldn’t find any of the recommended trees from fusion_power on nolan’s website, but they do have a long list of named blackwalnuts. I’d rather not order from rhora nursery just to reduce overall shipping costs. I could eliminate badgersette from my list also, but I am curious what their hickory/pecan/bitternut cross would be like. Has anyone grown these? I’m going to guess they would all turn out inferior to the pecan, hickory and hicans on my list, so i could just as well scratch them off. I would like to start some hardy pecan seeds to graft other varieties onto years down the road, should I order these from grimo or is there a cheaper source selling seeds from hardy trees? Sorry for all the questions, I appreciate everyone’s help so far.
Dumbell Lake small aka Dumbell Lake Best is the larger nut of the two. I know this makes no sense.
Then there’s a: Dumbell Lake Large. It is a smaller nut and less desirable that ‘Dumbell Lake Small’. John Brittan at Nolin River only sells the better of the two.
When Gary Fernald was evaluating both Dumbell Lake Small and Dumbell Lake Large, he unfortunately named the trees not because of the size of the nut but he named them as to which tree was larger than the other. It’s created confusion, naturally.
But anyone seeking Dumbell Lake should always get: Dumbell Lake Small aka Dumbell Lake Best. Wes Rice (author) put his own spin on the cultivar name and calls it Best to avoid this confusion.
I got a couple pecans from Grimo this past spring. They were good quality. Whether I ever get pecans this far north remains to be seen. Have a couple cheapo seedlings from another place that have actually made it through two harsh winters, even after getting chewed by rodents, so there is hope the trees will at least survive.
I would also be inclined to scratch Badgersette’s seedling hicans from your list if it were mine.
Grimo has a nice selection of hazelnuts, last I remember. If you’re ordering from them anyway, I’d take a really close look at their hazelnuts to see if any of their selected cultivars would be hardy enough for you.
Ok here’s what my list looks like now. Ordering from Grimo out of Canada opens up my options.
Grimo nursery: grainger and porter - hickory.
Lucas and nc4 - pecan (grimo doesn’t list type 1 or type 2 but from what I’ve gathered here these are type 1 and 2.)
Sparks 147 - black walnut.
Gene and slate - hazel.
Probably going to order my pawpaws from here also.
From Nolan nursery:
t92 and Burlington - hicans
Possibly dumbell but might just start with 2 pecans.
Northwoodswis, what pecans did you plant from grimo? I’d be interested in how your trees fair in the future as I will be several years behind you. If I remember you saying in another thread you are around Minneapolis? Whatever works for you should work for me since I’m 4hrs south of there.
Everything on your updated list looks good to me, at least so far as I know about these things (pretty much all second-hand.) The only thing I’d think to change – and this is based on personal experience, albeit quite limited – would be to add a second black walnut (especially if you don’t have wild black walnuts in the woods nearby) and also add some American hazelnuts (C. americana), at least some cheap seedlings if not also a named variety like Winkler. I haven’t had the blight resistant European hazelnuts long enough to even get my first crop of nuts, but based on what I’ve heard from other growers and based on my own experience so far, it doesn’t seem like they’re likely to be nearly as reliable or trouble-free as the American hazelnuts, at least not in my location.
I planted Warren 346 and Campbell NC-4. They are struggling with the dry summer we are having. I have given them water a few times, but they are not easily accessible with water, so I hope they make it. Was hoping for some rain today, but not real promising again. They are planted in full sun in a former pasture area and well-protected with fencing and hardware cloth.
You’re good to go with Lucas (type 2 pollen shed) & NC-4 (Type 1 pollen shed.)
If you like persimmons, you should order H-118 aka Early Jewel from Nolin. It’s one that will ripen in time for you and you do not need another pollinator & it will be seedless.
So there might be some wild blackwalnut at my new place, but if there isn’t I know someone with one that’s about 8ft in their grove. I might try transplanting it or a smaller one this fall. They are fairly common in the wild here. As for the hazelnuts, it doesn’t seem as though any of Grimos are american, all either european crosses or Asian crosses.
I’ll look into persimmons a bit more. I think I might be a bit too far north to successfully grow those. I know people in the southern half of iowa grow them. I’ve never actually tried one, there are few types of fruit i dont like though.
It’s a beautiful tree that won’t take up a lot of space. They’re zone 4 and H-118/Early Jewel will ripen where you are. Look at their bark and fall foliage and with fruit hanging on them. If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.
hazelnuts are good, but do get blight immune/strongly resistant varieties. I’ve ripped out 3 huge producing plants and have nearly lost my contorted green hazelnut (I did lose the supposedly immune Red Dragon cultivar to blight as well).
Chinkapin (native american, chestnut, supposedly blight immune) grew well for me and I got nuts in 2 years from planting, but the nuts are very small. These nuts are smaller than good garden peas.
Yellowhorn has grown well for me and I’ve gotten blooms a couple times, but I have not had good nut production. (though it is in a poor spot).
Walnuts are huge trees and I didn’t want to deal with juglone. That being said, I grew up with black walnut trees in my yard and they were good, but hard to harvest meats,
I have a potted heartnut and this year it produced its first nut, in year 4, but a squirrel decided it looked too good to pass up well before it was even fully developed.
It sounds like I definately need to stick with the american hazelnuts, most blight resistant. I have not thought much about chestnuts yet. Have never actually tried one although I have seen them grow around here. Does jugalone affect other nut trees or blue spruce? I plan on a 40ft spacing and growing a row or two of all these trees (hickory, hican, pecan and walnut) along a windbreak of blue spruce.
You talked me into another tree, not too hard. They look very ornamental so if nothing else it will look great in my front yard even if I dont end up liking the fruit. You wouldn’t happen to know which pawpaw cultivators I should plant? From what I’ve read they dont usually ripen this far north but I have read about some success with seedlings. Right now I’m leaning toward seedlings from grimo.
These guys should be able to help you with which ripen earliest.
Some people have 100% success with grafted trees while others continuously lose grafted pawpaws due to either late incompatibility (which is a mystery in my mind) or the grafted part of the tree fails after winter.
I know which ones I like most, but not sure about ripening time. Shenandoah, Susquehana, Mango, are all very good. I know atHambone likes Overleese but others too, however for me Overleese tasted like a wild seedling and not as flavorful as cultivars.
Red Fern Farm in Wapello, IA has excellent varieties they bred. Regulus, Atria, and Betria are all as superb as Shenandoah and Susquehana… which are the two main ones of Neil Peterson’s selections that everyone notes as the best of the best.
Unfortunately, nolin did not have any of the nut trees that I’m after, wet year and many grafts did not take. Grimos website shows that they have most of what is on my list except for hicans. They have burton and seedlings. Should I order any of these? Or just stick with the hickory and pecan. Burton is one that hasn’t been mentioned yet…