Bitternut Hickory Seedling
Bitternut Hickory Seedling
Species: Carya cordiformis
History: Bitternut Hickory grows throughout the eastern United States and into parts of southern Ontario and Quebec. It is closely related to the pecan, hence its other name Pecan Hickory. However, it does not produce edible nuts, hence its common name. Instead, its durable wood has been used to make furniture, tool handles, etc., to smoke meat, and is used by indigenous peoples to make bows.
Why We Grow It: Bitternut Hickory produces one of the most durable native hard woods available; excellent for furniture, paneling, tool handles, ladders, etc., and makes nice chips for smoking meat. These trees add the value of diversification to your landscape and can help feed wildlife as well.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Hardwood for furniture and woodworking
Fruit Size: n/a
Storage: n/a
Harvest: N/A
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 4
Soil Preference: Rich loam
Flowering Time:
Bloom Colour:
Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, this variety will produce nuts without another tree but will produce more and better fruit if one is present. The nuts are inedible to humans but are eaten by wildlife.
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Tree reaches 35m in height; slow growing
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Bitternut Hickory seedlings are divided into the following grades:
-1 year plant - 10-25cm
There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.
All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.
Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.