Ep 226. Reader Sagas of Shagbark Hickories

Mary Stone shares the delights and cleanup sagas of Shagbark Hickory trees, highlighting their shaggy bark, edible nuts, and benefits to wildlife. She shares personal experiences and reader anecdotes, such as a client who planted Shagbark hickory for pollination and a reader from Indiana dealing with an excessive amount of nuts. 

Mary explains the tree's three-year nut-producing cycle and how mast years and nutless years help balance populations through a process called predator satiation.

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Related Podcast and Posts: 

Acorns and a Ruckus of Blue Jays - Blog Post with Blaine Rothhauser's stunning photos. 

Ep 132. Shagbark Hickories and Nutty Mast Years

Shagbark Hickories – Nutty Mast Years - Blog Post

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. 

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

More about the Podcast and Column:

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.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 226. Reader Sagas of Shagbark Hickories 

Sat, Oct 18, 2025 6:57PM • 11:13

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Shagbark hickories, acorn float test, Blue Jays, nutty mast years, wildlife feeding, squirrels, juglone, three-year cycle, predator satiation, outdoor activities, New Jersey, Indiana, garden dilemmas, nature balance, garden of life.

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 learn 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 it's a glorious sunny day, kind of on the cool side, but we are beyond that freeze we had the other night. I mentioned it in the last episode, and I did go out there with my sheets and cover up all sorts of things, including the vegetables in the garden. I covered the tomato plants, the pepper plants, and the zucchini plants. I know, I think I had 20 sheets out there, no kidding. I also cut some of the blooming sunflowers, anticipating that they would not survive, and they adorn my table. They are those rusty color ones that are so lovely in the fall. I'm glad I did, because the freeze did impact the plants, but the spent flowers are still standing and feeding the birds. 

Mary Stone  01:07

That's Jolie hunkering down on a beanbag chair out here on the screen porch. She's crumpling up the fleece on top into a ball to make a pillow. I think you got it, Jolie. Anyway, I'm excited to hear how many of you are going to do the acorn float test and make some more oak trees by planting the sinkers, as we spoke about in the last episode, Acorns and a Ruckus of Blue Jays. And for those of you who didn't click on the blog post link in the show notes, I invite you to do so. Blaine Rothauser shared his magnificent photos of Blue Jays, one of them having a bad hair day. No kidding, they are such a treat to see. In fact, I will put the link again in this episode's show notes so you can find them. And by the way, Blaine's images are available to decorate your world. You can visit his website to learn more about that. 

Mary Stone  01:59

Speaking of acorns, it's the nutty time of year for Shagbark Hickories, too. The theme of this week's story that starts like this: Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm not sure how many of you know that you can share and comment on our weekly chats at the bottom of each blog post on AskMaryStone.com. A few years ago, I posted the story about Shagbark Hickories and Nutty Mast Years that was in 2023, and received fun remarks and anecdotes that I look forward to sharing with you. 

Mary Stone  02:30

Shagbark hickories (Carya ovata) are native trees. Its common name speaks for itself, with shaggy bark that stands out like a sculpture. They're one of my favorite trees, but a treasure to some can be a nuisance to others.

Mary Stone  02:43

 A side note here, the first time a golf ball-sized nut thumped on 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 that the bears, Foxes, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and turkeys enjoy the nuts before tackling the cleanup, making the task far lighter to manage. Jolie also loves the nuts, which are becoming an afternoon favorite treat. That is, after she chases the squirrels, her favorite sport. While I have not tried them, I heard that the nuts taste very much like pecans, which are also in the walnut family. 

Mary Stone  03:18

I have never had a client request planting a shagbark hickory as a shade tree until just recently. There are new clients in Morristown, and they wanted to install shagbark hickory rather than the planned red oak that I had suggested. They said that the shagbark hickory will pollinate the pecan tree because they belong to the same family, and that is true. Mother Nature is so clever. Shagbark hickory produces juglone, a natural herbicide. Still, it's far less concentration than Eastern black walnut. So as far as I know, there are no plants to avoid around shag bark hickory. I believe that is true. I have many plants growing around mine, and it's so interesting the cycle of how they produce fruit. 

Mary Stone  04:02

Once shagbark hickory trees are old enough to bear fruit, they produce nuts in a three-year cycle. The first year of that cycle, the tree will yield a massive bounty, as many as 18 gallons of nuts. That's almost four or five gallon buckets full for a single tree, by the way. Then there will be about 10 gallons in year two and year three, the tree will be nutless. No wonder the cleanup didn't come with the usual wheelbarrows full of nut raking last year. 

Mary Stone  04:29

So, back to all the experiences about Shagbark hickories that I heard from you kind listeners and readers. Paul wrote, I have enjoyed hickory nuts since I was a child. I'm from a family of seven children. We played outside a lot. A favorite pastime was cracking and eating hickory nuts. Now 59 years old, I rediscovered my love for them. Easing into retirement, I realize I need some healthy outdoor activities. Hunting for hickory trees is my latest obsession. When I gave her a taste of a hickory nut, my sister recalled that there was a huge shagbark hickory in the back of her house in Seneca Knolls, New York. Karen punched in the address of her old house on her phone. There on the screen was the hickory tree, my old friend, sitting in the field. I just love that image. Paul, thanks for sharing it. 

Mary Stone  05:21

Then I heard from Leslie, What a lovely article. We have a large grove of hickories. There were two huge old trees, over 100 years old, for many years, while we were pasturing cows in the area. We sold the cows 40 years ago, and the grove has grown to more than 50 trees. I'll bet they are stunning. Leslie, imagine how much wildlife they feed a beautiful thing. 

Mary Stone  05:45

Then came the candor about the Clean Up Challenge. When Sarah wrote, we are having a heck of a time this year keeping up. It's not just the nuts, but the daily carnage of squirrel-chewed leftovers. We could sweep the deck twice a day and not keep up. How long will they keep falling? And we've been in this house 10 years and never remember them being this bad. Is it an especially abundant mass year? Thanks. 

Mary Stone  06:11

So I wrote back to Sarah here in Northern New Jersey, shagbark hickory nuts typically fall to the ground from mid to late September through October. Squirrels help them along by nibbling off branches so the nuts fall. It does make a mess, but wildlife is happy. Raking up the uneaten hickories in the lawn, which is like walking on golf balls, adds to the fun. But I have to say, I adore the shaggy bark of the trees in glorious yellow fall color, hang in there. This too shall pass smiley face. 

Mary Stone  06:43

So I'm remembering that the mast year was 2023, here in New Jersey. So this is not a mast year. I don't know where Sarah is from; she didn't say. The next mast year here is going to be around 2026, or 2028. Mother Nature will decide when that will be. The reason there aren't the same number of nuts each year is that it's nature's way of checking and balancing populations, called predator satiation. In a nutshell, I couldn't resist. The hypothesis is that the same species of plants produce more seeds or nuts than can be consumed by animals, ensuring the plant has enough to reproduce. In other years, when there are only a few or no nuts, squirrels, chipmunks, Blue Jays, turkeys, and so forth may starve, keeping populations in check. 

Mary Stone  07:32

Large oaks can produce 10,000 acorns in a mast year, 10 to 20 times more than the average. And trees grow more slowly when masting, as they put energy into making nuts. We've all heard the folklore that an abundance of nuts means a severe winter ahead. It's right up there with the theory that the narrower the brown bands on wooly bear caterpillars, the harsher the winter. But neither is scientifically proven, although I do love the woolly bear one. I just love looking at them crossing the road. 

Mary Stone  08:02

Just today, Mike shared his story. Greetings from southern Indiana. My wife and I retired here in 2005 after a 25-year career in the military. We purchased a new house situated in the country on two acres with lots of trees. Little did I know that at least 100 trees were shagbark hickory. We found out when green hickory nuts started slowly falling all around us. I would be out there under a tree raking them up, and the squirrels would be up in the tree working on the nuts. It would literally be raining pieces of nuts on me as I was raking. I'm 64 now, and it's hard keeping them cleaned up. The squirrels love our place, though. Speaking of nuts, I'm hearing them fall with the wind. I wait until most of the nuts have fallen and then do a clean-up. I have found that a good backpack blower comes in very handy for pushing the nuts into a pile. Then, I rake them into a huge dustpan, and into a wheelbarrow they go. 

Mary Stone  09:00

I adore your optimism, Mike. Think of how much wildlife your 100 trees are feeding. Thanks for sharing your tips, and thanks to all for writing in and to you kind listeners for joining me here each week. I'm grateful also for the delightful local paper, The Press, here in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that has made a home for our weekly chats since 2012, which is 13 years, which is just hard to believe. The cycles of nature, the unique ways things unfold, and how nature keeps things in balance, are miraculous. May we all continue to nurture nature and each other in this garden of life. Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com.

Mary Stone  09:45

So thanks for joining me, kind listeners. I love hearing from you. So please send more comments via email, or, as I mentioned on the blog post, there's a place to put it at the bottom of the post, which is kind of fun, because then it's in print and others can read it. So I love when that happens. But either way, it is convenient for you. I sure enjoy our time each week, and I can't thank you enough for it. What is our topic going to be next week? Any ideas? I have one swimming around my head, but maybe you have to get off the subject of nuts. Maybe not. I don't know. We shall see. The wind is kicking in. I hope we don't have another freeze tonight because I don't know if I want to go out there and make garden ghosts out of everything, but I will if I have to. It's kind of a funny habit. Eventually, you have to give these things up, right? But let's keep things going as long as they can. It's a beautiful thing, as is our time together. I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  10:42

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and on 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.