Do you also have any self-seeded hickory trees? The squirrels are always planting black walnuts here. I would love the nuts, anyway. My trade list disappeared and I'm slowly replacing it, but it's not finished. Take a look and let me know. Phyllis

I am now, I think, the expert on shagbark hickory nuts and viability for their planting. This does not necessarily apply to other nuts. I took about 20 hickory nuts and put them in a pail of water. They all floated! So......I left them over night and they all sank. Thus, the sink or swim theory needs about 24 hours to be effective. I cracked several open and they all have beautiful nut meats. I am fortunate in where I am going to plant them. There are currently only saplings and thus, no squirrels!! I've picked the nuts from the back of the house where many squirrels enjoy them. I'm planting them several acres away in the front of the house. My new nut trees will be able to mature with no fear of being dug up from bushy tails. Of course some will be lost to mother nature and some to other rodents but the potential is stupendous. I have @ 8 acres that i'm trying to turn into a semi-woods. I'll never see it come to fruition but someone will enjoy the paths I have cut in the meadow and lined with trees. There are elm, oak, maple, cedar, black walnut, pine, and now even hickory! I've got about 100 trees so far that have made it but that's only in 2 years and they are all from saplings or nuts! Thank you all for your advice.

Definitely NOT shagbark - the smaller ones are pignut - C.glabra; larger one might be mockernut, C.tomentosa - but may just be a larger pignut. The non-dehiscent husk is a giveaway. Sorry, Dax, but you're off your rocker. Shagbark hickory nuts are THE BEST! Great flavor, heavy production in 'on' years. Tougher to crack than pecans, but some better selections have relatively thin shells, and yield mostly intact halves/quarters. I've never bothered much with pignut hickories, as the shell tends to be thick and internal shell structure usually precludes obtaining much more than tiny little nutmeat fragments - but there have been a few 'improved' pignut and mockernut selections that have been discovered through the years - but they still take a distant backseat to even an average shagbark or shellbark hickory. I will say, however, that mockernut has a very good flavor - fairly strong, approaching that of black walnut, though a bit sweeter, and more appealing, IMO.

I think local trees are your best source. If you're in part of the world where Shagbark Hickory grows it shouldn't be too hard to find a tree or two growing along a country road or in a park. The trees are easy to identify because of the shaggy bark. Before long the nuts should be dropping to the ground and you can simply pick them up. I would scatter them on the ground when the ground is soft and heel them in by stepping on them. I'd collect many more than the number of trees you want since many will be eaten or otherwise fail to become seedlings. Even after they become seedlings many will not turn into adult trees for various reasons. If you are looking in a particular area and can't find Shagbark Hickory trees, try another area a few miles away. Even though they are widely distributed Shagbark hickory are quite common in some areas and much rarer in other very similar areas not far away. All plant have spotty distributions.