Ep 132 Shagbark Hickory and Nutty Mast Years
Sun, Oct 29, 2023 10:26AM • 11:22
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
nuts, tree, hickory, walnuts, plants, nature, nutty, year, backyard, hearing, bark, mast, shade tree, woolly bear, porch, squirrels, garden, cycles, nuts, dilemmas, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone
Mary Stone 00:00
Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Mary Stone 00:26
Hello there, it's Mary Stone on the screen porch. And once again, a fall day that's warming up so beautifully. I slept on the porch last evening. It was only 45 degrees when I woke up, not too bad, not too bad. You are likely hearing the swarming grackles in the background, and I was trying to wait it out before sitting with you. But hey, why not enjoy their sounds? It's so fall-ish. I adore the cycles of nature. They're so intriguing, which will be this week's story about the nutty times. But before we chat about that, I want to thank those of you who reached back about last week's chat, Ponds versus Lakes and Vernal Ponds. It does put a different perspective on how we label things, doesn't it? But always think about how important our water sources are for wildlife.
Mary Stone 01:18
So, it is a nutty time. I was walking on the road a few weeks ago, and a man was pulled over in a very old pickup truck. I thought maybe he was picking up trash. You know, I have a thing about picking up trash along the road called Walking and Plalking. We spoke about that in episode 18. Anyway, I went up to him and said, "Hello there. Are you picking up trash?" And he was hard of hearing. So, I approached him more closely. And he said, "no, I'm picking up walnuts to bring home to the squirrels and turkeys and deer. I enjoy watching them in my backyard," which kind of made me laugh because we are inundated with nuts in my backyard. Anyway, I enjoyed hearing the history of his childhood when his dad used to take the walnuts and put them in the attic until they dried, and then he would open them with a hammer. What a neat memory to think about, and I imagine it was a good food source for them growing up, but he's not going to use them for food. But for his critters in the backyard.
Mary Stone 02:21
Black walnuts do make magnificent shade trees, but the native trees' beefy husk nuts can be a tad problematic, especially if you are below one when it falls. Much like being beaned by a shagbark hickory nut while gardening below them the first spring I arrived. Talk about an element of surprise. But it did come with a good laugh. I must say, and I'm kind of ahead of myself in the story. I want to talk about Shagbark hickories and about mast years.
Mary Stone 02:51
Shagbark Hickory, which is Carya ovata, is a native tree. Its common name speaks for itself with a shaggy bark that stands out like a sculpture. But a treasure to some can be a nuisance to others. It's true the first time a golf ball-sized nut thumped my head, it was a stinging surprise. Then there's the feeling of walking on marbles during the fall nut drop. Still, I'm glad the bear, fox, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and turkeys enjoy the nuts before tackling the cleanup, making the task far lighter to manage. Jolee loves the nuts as well, which is turning out to be one of her afternoon feasts. That is after she chases the squirrels, her favorite sport. While I personally have not tried them, I heard that the nuts taste very similar to pecans, which are also in the walnut family.
Mary Stone 03:41
I never had a client request planting a Shagbark Hickory as a shade tree until this week. No, wait a minute, I stand corrected. We planted saplings for our client with donkeys for shade, and once they grew up, he said, “Well, donkeys will eat the nuts too.” But by and large, folks think they are too messy as a landscape tree, though the bark is stunning.
Mary Stone 04:04
John and Barbara, new clients in Morristown, suggested that I plant a Shagbark Hickory rather than the planned Red Oak, which is the New Jersey State tree. They said the Shagbark Hickory would pollinate the Pecan tree in their front yard. They are from the same family, but I never considered they would cross-pollinate. Mother Nature is so clever.
Mary Stone 04:25
Shagbark Hickory produces juglone, which is a natural herbicide, but it's in far less concentration than Eastern Black Walnut, Juglans nigra, famous for being allopathic, a fancy word for emitting chemicals that harm other plants. Juglone gives black walnuts a competitive advantage over nontolerant plants within 50 to 80 feet. That's an amazing thing to think about that competitive advantage, but there are Juglone Companion Plants. A story in a podcast not long ago. I'll put a link in the show notes. But I never heard of any plants you must avoid around Shagbark Hickory, so perhaps it would be a beautiful shade tree for John and Barbara. I certainly enjoy mine, although nature put them there.
Mary Stone 05:11
A side note here: John thought that a shaggy bark would inhibit lantern flies from climbing to lay their eggs. And I think about that, it is not a smooth bark, so they would have trouble climbing the trees. And then John showed me the sapling of a Shagbark Hickory hid in his backyard, which was about chest high, so we may move that into the front yard to make it his shade tree. Why not?
Mary Stone 05:35
Once Shagbark Hickory trees are old enough to bear fruit, they will produce nuts in three-year cycles. In the first year of that cycle, the tree will yield a massive bounty, which is called a mast year, as many as 18 gallons of nuts, which is, Gosh, when you think about it, four- or five-gallon buckets of nuts, and that's just from one single tree. Then, there will be about 10 gallons in year two, and in year three, there will not be any nuts. No wonder leaf cleanup didn't come with the usual wheelbarrows full of nut-raking last year, which brings to mind a story titled Beyond Nutty Mast year that starts like this.
Mary Stone 06:16
Hello, fellow readers and listeners. These are nutty times. Far nuttier than usual in my neck of the woods. The Shagbark Hickory nuts are overabundant and golf ball and size, so much so that walking amongst them is risky for ankle stability. It's called masting when there's an excess of nuts, but how do trees know when to dial up the volume for a mast year?
Mary Stone 06:38
A few years ago, I had the privilege of attending Dr. Doug Tallamy's talk about his book The Nature of Oaks, which I highly recommend. I've always talked about his go-to, Bringing Nature Home, a wonderful book as well that was recently updated. He spoke about why there aren't the same number of nuts each year, Mother Nature's way of checks and balances of controlling populations, called predator satiation. In a nutshell, (I couldn't resist) the hypothesis is same species of plants simultaneously produce more seeds or nuts than can be consumed by animals so that the plant will have plentiful seeds and nuts to reproduce. And other years, when there are only a few or no nuts, squirrels, chipmunks, Blue Jays, turkeys, etc., may starve, keeping populations in check.
Mary Stone 07:31
We've all heard the folklore that an abundance of nuts means a severe winter ahead, right up there with a theory that the narrower the brown band on woolly bear caterpillars, the harsher the winter, but neither is scientifically proven. Scientists aren't exactly sure what causes mast years, though theories of environmental reasons, available pollen, and chemical signaling are likely. And, of course, the normal cycle of nuts like we just spoke about with Shagbark Hickory. Certainly, untimely spring freezes can kill fruit-bearing buds, and wet and cold springs can impact pollination, just as dry, hot summers influence the size of fruits and nuts. But, the specific triggers for mast years, which occur every two to five years, are not definitive.
Mary Stone 08:17
Large oaks can produce 10,000 acorns in a mast year - 10 to 20 times more than average, and trees grow more slowly when masting as they put energy into making nuts. Speaking of woolly bears, I'm noticing many anomalies this year, including all-brown and all-black caterpillars crossing the road during the walk with Jolee, who was fascinated by them and annoyed by them, too. When she gets into a play position. The fuzzy fellow doesn't reciprocate. I have a hilarious video of Jolee barking at a woolly bear. While I loudly over the ruckus, say leave it, Jolee, it's just what they do this time of year, looking for places to hunker down. Passersby must think I was going nutty. Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone.com.
Mary Stone 09:03
So, I want to fill you in on that funny folklore about woolly bears because the narrower the brown band, the harsher the winter. That's the old folklore saying, and I just love that saying. I just love looking at woolly bear caterpillars. And even though it's not scientifically proven, it's just fun to think about. Again, the cycles of nature and the unique ways that things unfold and the magic of how nature has a way of controlling populations and realizing that our role in that is not to mess things up.
Mary Stone 09:36
So, for instance, when Curt was doing the lawn cleanup in the backyard, he was raking up all of the spent shells of the Shagbark Hickories. And, of course, many were intact, so he placed them in our compost area, and they will feast over there, continuing the purpose of those nuts. Not to say that the fellow picking up walnuts along the road was doing a bad thing because, as he said, they would just be crushed by the cars, so why not use them and put them in his backyard?
Mary Stone 10:05
So anyway, I so enjoy our time together each week, and I hope you have as well. I want to thank you for joining me and for all your support. And I always love hearing from you. So please email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. And if you wouldn't mind, would you share the podcast with a friend or two so more can join us? It's just so fun to see how our community is growing and how many more of us are becoming aware of the part we play in the whole of nature that is part of us and part of our world. That makes you realize how small we are in a way, but also how big our role can be in helping each other, helping nature, and being kind. So, thanks again; I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. Have a great day.
Mary Stone 10:52
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.