True Root Nursery

Shellbark Hickory Seedling Bareroot

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. Check out this blog post by one of our customers to learn more cool history about these trees. 

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.

    $25.00

    Size:

    Out of stock

    Fruit Traits:

    Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, baking, feeding wildlife, lumber

    Fruit Size: Large

    Storage: Keep up to a year when stored correctly

    Harvest: September - Late

    Tree Traits:

    Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

    Soil Preferance: Loamy and sandy soils

    Flowering Time: Spring

    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 Habit: 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. Begins bearing in 10+ years.

    Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courier. 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.

    Shellbark Hickory seedlings are divided into the following grades:

    -1 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.

    Purchasing Bareroot

    New to bareroot? We've got you covered on what to expect when ordering bareroot plants

    Visit the Blog

    Full of orchard education, fun recipes, and other fruit related content!

    We are here for you!

    Over the last 16 years we have helped thousands of orchardists begin their journey. Questions? Just ask!

    Our Standards

    We are committed to growing the healthiest, finest plants. Read about our growing standards. It all matters.