Shellbark Hickory Seedling Bareroot

For Spring Planting (Ship or Pickup March - May 2027)

Grown by: True Root Nursery

Species: Carya laciniosa or hybrid of C. laciniosa and C. ovata

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.

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

Fruit Size: Large

Storage: Keep up to a year when stored correctly

Harvest: September - Late

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preferance: 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 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.

Overall Grower Ease Rating:

This rating is a combination of our experience growing in our test orchards and current available information on the cultivar.

Shellbark Hickory can be found naturally growing in scattered pockets of sourthern 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.

Shellbark Hickory seedlings are divided into the following grades:

-1 year plant - 15-20cm

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.

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 plants 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.

When Will My Order Be Ready?

Your order will be ready in the spring (late March to late May)! We will be in touch in the spring once your order is ready to go. Orders placed in the spring might not be ready for 1-2 weeks as this is a very busy time of year for us.

$25.75

Size: 1 year plant

Out of stock

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