Hickory nuts from seeds

15 years ago

I found out it's not good to steal hickory trees from the woods. 5 years later and I have White Ash as young Ash seems to have the same number of leaves as a hickory.

I figure if I start from local seeds I can have one tree and not worry about pollination.

So do I plant them outside now (do they need the freeze treatment), wait until spring or start them inside in a pot now?

I'm guessing the squirrels plant them now, they freeze and come up in the spring.

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Comments (6)

denninmi
15 years ago
Yup, good guess -- they require stratification over the winter, as do most woody temperate zone seeds which mature in the late summer and fall (as oppossed to something like Silver Maple which germinates about as soon as it hits the ground in the sprintime).

Either plant them where you can bury some hardware cloth over them to keep the tree rats out, or just plant a LOT of extras. (Don't want to mention any squirrel control strategies, why poke that hornet's nest again?)
myk1
Original Author
15 years ago
I've got some left over hardware cloth from when I fenced the sparrows out of my siding.

Thanks.
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Christie, While a hammer will do in a pinch, your best bet would be a good nutcracker - one designed for use on hard-shelled nuts like black walnut(check out the NNGA Marketplace page at the site linked below). But a good bench-mounted vise will work just as well, if a bit slower to operate. I have cracked small numbers of them with a pair of vise-grip pliers - but I wouldn't want to do many that way. If you'll soak your clean hickory nuts in a pan of hot/warm water for an hour or two before beginning a session of cracking, you'll find that the shells will absorb enough moisture to bend, buckle, and split, rather than 'exploding' when you reach 'critical pressure'. Then, with a pair of diagonal wire-cutting pliers and a nutpick, you can usually give a snip here and there and remove the nutmeats mostly as intact halves or quarters. Nuts from every different tree will have differing cracking characteristics, and you'll have to experiment to see if they crack out better by applying force from end-to-end, or side-to-side, etc. Here is a link that might be useful: Northern Nut Growers Association
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lindakay
15 years ago
Has anybody heard of fried Squirrel? Just kidding. Hickery nuts come up real good from seed. They have to go through winter. Wish you were here , we have tons of hickery nuts.Linda
myk1
Original Author
15 years ago
I mainly want the wood for smoking. I could collect the nuts easy enough in the woods. But those woods trees go straight up with no low branches to climb so they're not pruning friendly.
I think I tried squirrel on the smoker and it wasn't right. The nut fed ones are much better than ones who like wild grapes.

What I'm remembering from when I was in a house in the woods the hickory nuts weren't as good as the butternuts and I'm getting plenty of those this year so hopefully that tree is large enough to always give enough now.
But the Hickories are a lot easier to crack so I'd like the nuts if I have the tree.
lindakay
15 years ago
Hickery nuts are delicious in fudge. Have you ever had hickery nut cake. MMMMMMMMMM Linda
wildlifeman
15 years ago
lindakay,

even better than fried squirrel is baked pot pie and slippery pot pie ( dumplings )! of course mr. squirrel is the main guest invited for dinner.

hickory nut fudge and cake sound wonderful.

i'm wanting to plant a few here for fresh eating nuts. i'm hoping dad can gather and send me some nuts this fall. trouble he has is getting them before the local wildlife. wanted some persimmons from him and they were ate before he even had a chance to pick them.

i bet they would enhance vanilla ice cream just as black walnut does. black walnuts i do have and am planting even more.

regards,
wildlifeman.

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Hickory nuts from seeds

Comments (6)

denninmi

myk1
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Hickory nuts from seeds

Comments (6)

denninmi

myk1Original Author

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lindakay

myk1Original Author

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wildlifeman

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myk1
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