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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Mockernut Hickory questions

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mockernut Hickory questions
  • Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 11:00:43 -0600

At 11:41 AM 3/17/2004 -0500, Uma wrote:
In clearing an area for apple trees, I found a nice Mockernut Hickory, about 5 ft. tall. I would like to transplant it, but am wondering - will it produce nuts by itself, or are there male/ female issues? If I move it, should I prune it? (it is so pretty how it is.) Can it be pruned to keep it small? Are the nuts tasty? I have no experience with these, and would appreciate advice.

A 5 ft mockernut is going to be pretty tough to dig out by hand, and is not going to take kindly to being uprooted at its relatively advanced age.  You can probably accomplish it, but don't expect significant growth out of it for a number of years - it won't do much more than leaf out until it gets a root system re-established.
In all likelihood, there are other hickories in the vicinity, close enough to provide adequate pollenation for it to produce nuts - but you may be waiting 10-40 years or so for it to do so. 
Pruning to keep it small would probably result in just keeping it in a vegetative, juvenile state, preventing it from maturing enough to begin fruiting.
The nuts are quite tasty, but with most specimens, the nut shell is so thick, with prominent internal ridges that trap the nutmeats, that It's barely worth the effort of trying to crack them out - you mostly get just small fragments of nut kernel.  Most I've sampled have a good, strong, hickory flavor, almost approaching the taste of black walnut.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY



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