True Root Nursery
Shellbark Hickory
Shellbark Hickory
Species: Carya laciniosa
History: Shellbark Hickory can be found naturally growing in scattered pockets of southern Ontario and parts of the northern and central United States. It is relatively uncommon in its native range due to its poor seed dispersal and human activity has made the tree even more rare. A wide variety of wildlife feeds on the nuts, the largest among the hickories, and there are some plantations although it is not commonly grown commercially as the nuts are quite difficult to crack. The wood, which is hard and strong yet flexible, is used to make furniture and tool handles while the inner bark has been used by indigenous peoples to make items such as baskets and snowshoes.
Why We Grow It: Although difficult to crack, it is worth the effort to access the sweet nuts which are great eaten raw or baked into pies like pecans. The tree itself is quite attractive with unique bark that looks like it is flaking or peeling in strips once the tree matures.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, baking, feeding wildlife, lumber
Fruit Size: Large
Storage: Keep up to a year when stored correctly
Harvest: September - Late
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5
Soil Preference: Loamy and sandy soils
Flowering Time: Spring
Bloom Colour: Green
Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, this tree will produce nuts without another Shellbark Hickory nearby but will produce more and better nuts if one is present
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Tree reaches 18-25m tall, low vigour. Generally resistant to pest and diseases. Harvest in fall, ripe nuts will fall to the ground or can be shaken from the tree.
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
Shellbark Hickory seedlings are divided into the following grades:
-2 year plant - 15-30cm
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.
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