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Pecans and hickory were widely used by the entire Native American tribes. Hickory shells have been found in sites dated over 8,000 years ago. The native ranges of most of the species were expanded hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles by early Native Americans. Hickory forests were often found by early settlers to be quasi-managed orchards where the removal of understory plants by fire and cutting maintained a park like experience. Even tribes where the hickory doesn’t grow today had a name for the nut as well as the tree. The high calorie nuts provided a much needed food supply during winter. Hickory milk was made by crushing the whole nut and shell in a mortar while mixing with water. By boiling the crushed nuts, oil was extracted and used for a variety of foods. The oil was used as a hair ointment as well as baby food. The wood was a favorite for making bows. Its qualities combine strength, hardness and flexibility. As a result, hickory was used for agricultural implements, wagon stock, and sporting equipment. The tap rooted nature of the plant makes it difficult to move large trees successfully. By root pruning the seedlings and growing them on a copper mat, we are able to significantly increase the root structure of the plant, while minimizing the loss of the taproot. Now anyone can grow this tree successfully.
Bitternut Hickory — Carya cordiformis
This is one of the fastest growing hickories and one of the few native hickories that can form pure stands if given a chance. The wood of bitternut is hard and makes great walking sticks but is considered inferio...		 More Details
Cultural Suggestions
Hickories and pecans are adaptable to a wide variety of soil types. Slow growing at first, trees start making good progress at five years of age, averaging 18-24 inches growth per year. Production of nuts begins ...		 More Details
Hybrid Hickory — Carya ovata x cordiformis & ovata x laciniosa
Hickories like oak represent many forms, subspecies, ecotypes-really the particle physics of the plant world. Istanbul and Constantinople in the world of botany. In the early 1980’s we started exchanging hickory ...		 More Details
Lecont Hican — Carya illinoensis x aquatica
Lecont Hican is a natural hybrid found in the southern part of the U.S. where pecan and water hickory overlap. Generally, the seedling trees are intermediate between these two species. This is by far the fastest ...		 More Details
Michigan Pecan — Carya illinoensis 'Ecos'
Michigan Pecan is a new northern pecan strain created by using wild tree germplasm from across the U.S. Seed selections were based on using early ripening trees in the most northern part of the range as a guide f...		 More Details
Nutmeg Hickory — Carya myristicaeformis
Straight, tall tree with a large trunk often 2 ft. diameter found growing along the banks of swamps and rivers in rich moist soil. Narrow, open crown with spreading and slender branches. Very strong, hard and clo...		 More Details
Shagbark Hickory — Carya ovata
Best-known hickory due to its high quality nuts with excellent flavor and shaggy bark. Young trees have an open oval-shaped crown and start branching after 4-6 ft. tall. One of the more tap-rooted species and co...		 More Details
Shellbark Hickory — Carya laciniosa IA Seed Source
The largest nuts in the genus Carya are the shellbark hickory often reaching over two inches across. Rapid in growth and fairly easy to transplant in a variety of soils, shellbark is a good hickory for mixing wit...		 More Details
Southern Pecan — Carya illinoensis Sacred Forest
Wild selected strain developed in the Florida panhandle area. Starting in the 1950's Mr. Bynum began purchasing and collecting wild seed nuts from trees that produced nuts only in the years when there wasn't a c...		 More Details
Sweet Pignut Hickory — Carya ovalis
Native hickory widely distributed throughout the northeast in all types of soils from sand to clay. Open trees develop a broad rounded crown with a height of 60-80 ft. with a trunk diameter up to 2 ft. Ages of 20...		 More Details

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