North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 11:01 PM 8/3/2006, Donna wrote:
>     There are some wild trees of both in our general area, and I can tell
> you that the wild shagbarks are a LOT easier to crack than the wild
> shellbarks.
My experience, as well, to a large degree.  Typically, shagbark nuts 
have a much thinner shell than do most shellbarks.  However, internal 
structure plays a significant role in crackability.  Some individuals 
in both species have minimized internal ridges, diminishing the 
amount of nutmeat 'trapped' by these ridges, and increasing the % of 
intact halves and quarters obtained when cracking out the nuts.  Some 
shellbarks, while having a thicker shell, will yield more and larger 
kernel pieces than the average shaglbark.
I've seen a couple of shagbarks that have shells thinner than many 
pecans - one's growing here on the farm - but internal shell 
structure is not good - prominent internal ridges that trap the 
nutmeat - so, even though they'd theoretically be easier to crack 
than one with a thicker shell, yield of intact nutmeats would be 
diminished - and would require quite a bit more work to pick out the 
tasty little morsels.
Also, my limited experience with these really-thin-shelled shagbarks 
has been that weevil infestation is a much greater problem than for 
those with thicker-shelled nuts.  There's one grafted hickory 
selection here that I've not yet been able to ID definitively (two of 
these trees in the neighborhood, planted at least 35 years ago) - 
large(>8gm) shagbark type nut(may be a hybrid with bitternut) with 
exceedingly thin shell and large nutmeat(somewhat astringent, hence 
my suspicion of bitternut in its heritage) that cracks out easily, 
yielding intact halves - but most years, 85% or more of the nuts are 
weevil-infested.
Fred (Mr. Hick'ry) Blankenship has indicated to me, on more than one 
occasion, that he thinks the "J.Yoder #1" shagbark hickory 'knows' 
when its nuts are weevil-infested, and aborts them.  He's rarely, if 
ever, found a full-sized weevil-infested nut under a Yoder tree.
I've seen reports alleging that the 'Lindauer' shellbark is weevil-resistant.

> I don't think anyone has found any shellbarks that crack out as
> well as most shagbarks, at least in terms of  % of kernal to shell.
You're probably right on that count - shellbarks, with their thicker 
shell, probably do crack out with a lower % kernel - but if it's a 
big nut, you can pile up a larger quantity of nutmeats faster.  With 
some of the better shellbarks, that kernel comes out of there like a 
big ol' cookie!
Most of the good shagbarks have kernel/shell ratios in excess of 40%, 
but most of the numbers I've seen thrown out for shellbarks are in 
the 30+% range.
Fred B. has recently introduced a shellbark selection, 'Simpson #1', 
that looks very promising - it's actually a fairly small nut, as 
shellbarks go, but internal structure is great - cracks out intact 
halves, and it has a good flavor.

I've got so many seedling pecans growing that I'm not at a loss for 
suitable rootstocks.  Seedlings of the "Major" pecan are the 
preferred understock for pecans and hickories in this area.   Some 
hickory selections are reputed to really 'like' pecan - they grow 
more vigorously, and perhaps produce a slightly larger nut on 
pecan;  pecans here(early August) are currently in a second or third 
flush of growth for the season, whereas hickories had set their 
terminal buds and stopped all vegetative growth as of early July.  It 
may be that pecan understock can 'push' hickory a little bit.
I've received some conflicting reports on some points with regard to 
compatibilities.  I've had several people in the KNGA tell me that 
the 'Cody Cox' shagbark will not graft to pecan, but Gerald Gardner, 
in MO says it does just fine on pecan for him.

I've got one tree here on the farm that I suspect is a hybrid of 
shagbark and mockernut - bark looks most like mockernut, with slight 
tendency for thin plates to exfoliate, as you get higher up the 
trunk.  Leaves are most like shagbark.  Nuts are the shape and size 
of  the nearby mockernuts, but are white, instead of brown.  Just an 
average nut, as shagbarks go, but a great nut compared to 
mockernut.  Guy Sternberg also has one in IL that he thinks is a 
shagXmockernut hybrid, but Fred is skeptical, as the two species are 
of differing chromosome numbers - mockernut is a tetraploid, shagbark 
is diploid.

Lucky