Olpea, thats interesting on the relative insect pressure -- sounds similar to fruit trees but less extreme all around since the thick shells slow 'em down. Here is a draft of my overview I put together .. I roughy ranked them in the order I think they would be interested in given the need for large trees with no maintenance but good nuts. I'm not sure what to say about almonds but I have heard of no success stories in my climate. Similar for pine nuts, but it seems like they would work better. Edible Landscaping is selling some nut pines. It seems like they would be a good deal if you are wanting to put in some pine trees anyway. The description overviews are from some permaculture book I found online (West Coast Food Forestry), it has the size pollination etc basic info. Scott Nuts for Maryland For all nuts except for chestnuts squirrels are a big problem in Maryland. They can get all the crop until the tree is large. Overall, if choosing the right varieties nut trees should generally do OK without any spraying or pruning, but like any oak or maple there are plenty of problems that can arise if you get unlucky. Pecan Generally easy to grow but scab can be a problem. Two trees needed for pollination, one type 1 and one type 2; not all 1/2 pairs overlap well so its best to get a pair known to pollinate each other. Many varieties are hardy in Maryland but make sure to avoid more tender varieties. Some varieties have a harvest too late for our climate. One excellent pair is Kanza - Major. Other good varieties with early harvest and scab resistance include Caddo (type 1), Mandan (type 1). Northern Pecan (Carya illinoensis)- 70-90 ft tall and 30-40 ft wide North American tree grown for its delicious nut (10% protein, 88% fat, high in Cu, Zn, Mn). Smaller nuts than southern varieties. Needs two for best pollination and a warm microclimate. Prefers full sun and moist, well-drained soil of wide pH. May only yield during especially hot Summers in cooler areas. Pollination inhibited by high humidity. Easy to grow. Disease-resistant (including oak root fungus). Casts heavy shade. Flowers April- May, ripens Oct. Propagated from stratified seed, softwood cuttings, layering, root suckers. Hickory (two kinds, shellbark and shagbark) Very nice landscape specimens; shagbark has bark like a shaggy dog's fur Very good-tasting nuts, some of the best Varieties resistant to weevil: Lindauer shellbark, J.Yoder #1 shagbark Slow to come into bearing Scab and phylloxera are minor problems generally not needing treatment; shellbark usually does better with scab. Shagbarks taste better and crack better but are a bit smaller nuts. Two needed for pollination; do most pairs pollinate each other? The HIcan is a shellbark/pecan cross which is also supposed to be a good-tasting nut. Hickory- 60- 120 ft tall and 40 ft wide trees of two North American species, shellbark (Carya laciniosa) and shagbark (C. ovata), that produce flavorful nuts (13% protein, 64% fat, and high in thiamin, Cu, Mg, Zn, Mn) with thick shells. Also produce hardwood. Prefer full sun. Shellbarks can tolerate seasonal flooding and poor drainage, while shagbarks will grow in heavy clay soil, are wind-tolerant, and can be coppiced. Thinner-shelled and larger nut varieties available. Fall color. Need two for pollination. Resistant to oak root fungus. Cast heavy shade. Shellbarks flower April- May, ripen Sept- Oct. Shagbarks flower June, ripen Oct-Nov. Propagated from stratified seed. Black Walnut Fairly fast bearing Seedlings also an option for cheaper trees - they usually produce good trees if seed is from named varieties. Stronger flavor than store-bought kind (carpathian) Varieties: Emma Kay, Sparrow, Thomas Meyers, Daniels, Sauber, Neel #1, Clermont, Pounds #2, Kwik Krop Look for anthracnose resistance in variety Thousand cankers disease could be a major problem in a few years - unclear since it is so far out west only. Litter from husks can stain sidewalks etc and make a general mess. Need to pay attention to what is planted nearby - juglone produced by roots can stunt or kill other plants. Hard to crack, best with a specialized cracker. Pollination not necessary but helps yield Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)- up to 120 x 60 ft tree usually grown for its fine, rot-resistant wood, but also for its nut which contains 30% protein and 59% fat (and has an extremely thick and hard shell, though thinner-shelled varieties are available). Nuts are high in Cu, Mg, Mn, and vit B6. Fast-growing. Tolerates wetter soil than English walnut, but not year-round saturation. Will grow in heavy clay. Prefers alkaline soil. Wind and drought-tolerant.Disease and fire-resistant. More productive with multiple varieties. Excretes chemicals toxic to certain plants (allelopathic especially to apples). Casts heavy shade. Flowers March- June, ripens Sept- Nov. Propagated by stratified seeds. Chestnut Think of a chestnut as a nut-potato cross, they are somewhere between those two. Make sure to get the Chinese-American crosses which are resistant to chestnut blight. Dunstan clones are good. Two are needed for pollination; Dunstans are seedlings so any two of those will work. Not picky about location, in particular can tolerate dryness. Problems with burrs piercing shoes; flower smell is also somewhat unappealing to some (but not as bad as e.g. Ginko). Nuts don't store as long as other nuts, but can be stored like root vegetables to lengthen use period. Trees grow very wide Chestnut (Castanea spp.)- numerous varieties reaching 30- 60 ft tall and wide (European chestnut [C. sativa] can get up to 100 x 100 ft) grown primarily for its sweet nut, being compared to potato (5-10% complete protein, 9% fat), and also for its rot-resistant wood. An 8 ft dwarf Korean chestnut (C. crenata) is also available. Nuts are high in Cu, Mn, B vitamins, and vit C and do not store long unless dried, stored airtight in sand, or refrigerated, but they can be used like other grains and ground into flour. Drought-tolerant. Does not like wet soil. Prefers acidic soil. Need two for pollination (can plant two in one hole). Easy to grow. Yellow in Fall. Can be coppiced for nuts and wood.Blight-resistant varieties (usually hybrids with Chinese chestnut [C. mollisima]) preferable. European chestnut is resistant to oak root fungus. Casts heavy shade.Flowers July, ripens Oct- Nov. Propagated from seed (yields in 5- 7 years), root suckers. Filbert More like a fruit tree in size compared to usual nut trees. Need varieties resistant to eastern blight. Does not tolerate drought but is easy to grow otherwise. Need two trees for pollination. Filbert (Corylus spp.)- 10- 15 ft tall and wide multi-stemmed tree grown for its nuts, which are 13% protein, 61% fat, high in Ca, Cu, Mg, Mn, B vitamins, and vit E. Nuts store for over a year. Very productive and easy to grow. Can take partial shade, late frost, wind, wet soil, and a wide pH. Does not like intense Summer heat. Forms an excellent hedge when planted at 4 ft intervals. Fruits on last year’s new wood. Must have appropriate pollinating varieties as companions. Fall color. Blight- resistant varieties preferable (especially in north). Must harvest nuts early to beat squirrels. Casts heavy shade. Flowers Jan- April, ripens Sept- Oct. Propagated by seed, division, layering. Pine nuts Several pine trees can produce nuts: Chinese white pine, Korean pine, Italian Stone Pine. Two trees are needed for nuts. Don't know anyone growing these in Maryland for nuts so don't know disease and other potential problems. White pine blister rust is a problem but Korean pine is resistant to it. Cones take several years to form seeds but new cones form each year. Italian Stone Pine (Pinus pinea)- 30- 70 ft tall and 30- 60 ft wide, umbrella-shaped tree produces sweet pine nuts (14% protein, 68% fat) in a 5 inch cone. Cones open when left in direct sunlight. Nuts high in Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Zn, B vitamins, vit E and K. Sun-lover. Needs well-drained soil. Tolerant of heat, drought, and wind. Flammable. Easy to grow. Need two for nuts. Zone 9 only. Susceptible to oak root fungus, otherwise disease and deer-resistant. Allelopathic. Flowers May- June, ripens April. Propagated by seed (yields in ten years). Heartnut Ornamental and spreading tropical-looking tree. Buartnut is similar. Flavor fairly bland so less interesting on that count. Heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia cordiformis)- 40 ft beautiful Japanese walnut, wider than tall with horizontal branches, but similar to English walnut. Nuts are sweeter, but smaller and harder to remove than English walnuts. Prefers alkaline soil. Fire- resistant. Easy and fast to grow. Self-fertile. Disease-resistant. Casts heavy shade. Flowers May-June, ripens Oct. Almond Not very well adapted to our climate, likes drier warmer climate. No reports of people happy with their almond. Trees are small; a relative of the peach Can have fungal problems on leaves; Halls Hardy also suffers from moth damage Varieties: Halls Hardy is considered not very good tasting by some; it also is not a standard almond, it has a thick shell, and moths attack it -- not recommended. Ripon is one regular almond variety that is hardy that could be worth a trial. Almond (Prunus amygdalus or dulcis)- 20- 30 ft x 30 ft attractive tree produces nutritious nut. Semi-dwarfs also available. Nuts are 22% protein, 53% fat, and high in Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Zn, vit E, and riboflavin. Drought-tolerant. Needs full sun, well- drained soil, and hot, dry Summers. Vulnerable to late Spring frosts, so late-blooming varieties are often essential. Dislikes wind. Likes alkaline soil. Somewhat fire-resistant. Remove 20% of oldest fruiting wood annually. Susceptible to oak root fungus. Harvest nuts when shells split to beat the squirrels. ‘Hall’s Hardy’ and ‘Reliable’ (see listing under Short Nut Trees) are the best for coastal California and further north. ‘Hall’s Hardy’ produces thick-shelled, strong-flavored almonds and is disease-resistant and partially self-fertile. Some people say that its nuts need to be boiled to remove their bitterness. Flowers Febr- April, ripens Aug- Oct. Persian Walnut (carpathian, English) Should also work but people growing nut trees seem to prefer black walnuts, they taste better and are less bitter. Also not native where the black walnut is native

Im assuming you're from the bp area? Im about an hour south of kato so we've got essentially the same microclimate. In my experience, even the arboretum pecans are pretty iffy in mn. You should remember that they have constant care and supervision. In my opinion they haven't proven themselves here yet.but its always worth a shot. My first choice would be the walnut. I have trees at my house that regularly withstand spring flooding without a problem. The juglone wont be a problem unless you plan on gardening underneath it, but walnuts can also be very messy for a front yard and thays something to remember. We are on the very northern edge of the range of Bitternut hickory. Imho it is a very beautiful tree that makes less of a mess, doesnt produce juglone, and has acceptable water tolerance. Occasionally i have noticed black knot on the bitternuts at the lake cabin, so be prepared for that. Oh that and the nuts would only be edible if you were totally indifferent to your taste buds. I guess what im saying here is, go with a hickory if you can. You'll be the only person in the county with one in your front yard.

This cultivar belongs to Prunus x persicoides, the hybrid between almond and peach. Intermediate characters can be seen in leaves and flowers. Peach heritage supposed to make kernels bitter, inedible raw, yet I have eaten them right out of the shell, from local trees more than once. Sizable specimen (now dead) I spotted from the freeway in Marysville was being attended by gray squirrels while I stood there looking at it. They were coming across a wide roadway to get at the nuts, in a not very well treed neighborhood. Shouldn't need staking unless rootbound, toppling over. Need for fungicidal sprays main thing that is likely to "crop" up at some point.

Another potential deer strategy is stringing monofilament ("fishing") line between your bamboo stakes. This was suggested to me - the claim is that the deer don't like being touched by something they can't see. I did this around a rugosa hedge planted in a high-exposure area and thought it worked really well. But I now believe that "our" deer just don't like rugosas. Oh well - it might still be worth a try. As bboy says - watering and weeding. Last weekend was dedicated to the fight to reclaim large portions of the yard from blackberries and other nasty berry vines, nettles, baby alders and maples. I think the berry vines that creep along the ground are actually worse than the big octopus canes. After two years of this I am making visible progress. Meanwhile the majority of the yard around the house is still a construction zone. Dirt work is supposed to be accomplished in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait! Roses - Teasing Georgia, Coquette des Blanches, Souvenier de la Malmaison and Rose-Marie are on standby waiting for their new homes. A couple of Madame Alfred Carriere's are waiting for their trellis/privacy screen to be built. And there's still a few dug up before construction began waiting to go back into the ground.