North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Jim asked:  What do you do with Pig Nut Hickory nuts?

 

 

Jim,   

     I don't do anything with pignuts except try to graft selected shagbarks to the ^*#%**&% trees.  This is the second spring with apparently zero takes( haven't checked the later ones).  I got to looking at the trees that took grafts years ago, back when it was still raining normally in TN.  The mockernuts overall seem to be more cooperative.  I think one person in NNGA said they were fine rootstocks, whereas others have said they are worthless.  I went for hicans initially because they are said to be to compatible with mockernut.  If I take inventory....

 

James Hican:  on two mockernuts and one pignut.  The first is about 9 years old, but not all that big in spite of being at the former edge of the garden with improved soil

Burton Hican:   one mockernut

another hican, I forget which:  one mockernut

Fox or Davis shagbark, said to be compatible on pignut:  one good graft on pignut, a single experimental chip bud last summer took on pignut but froze out this spring

 

That's it.  The kind of pignut we have, with fairly rough bark, is said to be more closely related to shagbark than the other, so reading that gave me fresh (false) hope.  I'd done more with the mockernuts before, then switched focus the last 2 years.  I think I've done 50+ grafts and buds over the years, as Lucky keeps kindly supplying me with scions.  In fact, his kindness has forced me to become much more proficient and better with aftercare, because those living things in my hand feel like a heavy responsibility.  I tend to get at least 50% takes on pears, apples, persimmons, plums.  But I've gotten only 7 out of at least 50 on the hickories.  I plan to do some more chip budding on the mockernut hickories this summer, from the trees I have.  I'd never done pecans before, and found one seedling in the garden.  It would x pollinate the hicans, so I put some buds on it.  The thing is, pecans don't need to be grafted to be worth cracking.  But pecans are said to demand deep friable soil with lots of water to do well, and it's not going to like what it finds in our dense red clay once it gets some size to it.  I'm pinning more hopes on the Greenriver pecans I just budded on bitternut.  As hickories take about 25 yrs to start cropping, I figured 10-15 yr old native rootstocks would put me way ahead.  This is some 10 years into it now.....    My ONE black walnut graft has done MUCH better!!!        Donna

 

P.S.  But it could be the 2 years and counting of drought behind my failures.