# Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa)

> A squirrel's preferred mast, with citrus-scented leaves, fat furry winter buds and clear gold fall color, on a hickory the trade seldom sells.

Also called white hickory, whiteheart hickory, bigbud hickory, hognut, bullnut, carya alba. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 60 to 80 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 9
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Edible, Wildlife value, Fall color, Drought tolerant
- Natural communities: upland-dry, mesic-slope, rocky, sandy
- Sold as: Saplings, Nuts

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Mockernut hickory is the common hickory of dry ridges and upper slopes from Massachusetts and New York south to northern Florida and west to Iowa and Texas. Crush a leaf and it smells of orange peel; the undersides are furry, the twigs end in fat cream-colored winter buds a half inch long or more, the bark is a tight gray lattice that never shags and the leaves turn clear gold in fall. The nut is the joke in the name: a thick husk around a very thick shell around a small sweet kernel. Squirrels do not mind, and mockernuts are their preferred mast; black bears, foxes, beavers and white-footed mice eat them too; deer browse the twigs; old trunks hold cavity nesters. Hickory is a keystone genus, host to 213 kinds of caterpillars, among them the luna moth, the regal moth, the hickory and banded hairstreaks and the walnut sphinx. Ideal for a dry upland lawn, a woodlot edge or a wildlife planting beside oaks.

Nurseries seldom grow it, because the taproot goes down 4 feet and the top grows little for years while it does, so plant it small and leave it alone. It is drought tolerant once established and its wood is probably the hardest of any hickory; a tree still bears at 200 years. Male catkins and female spikes share a tree in April and May but often open at different times, so two trees set more nuts than one; the first crop takes about 25 years.

## How to grow Mockernut Hickory

Mockernut hickory is hardy in zones 4 through 9 and grows in full sun or light shade in any well-drained soil, from a dry sandy ridge to a rich slope; it does best on deep fertile ground, tolerates drought once its root is down and dislikes a wet spot. It grows 60 to 80 feet tall and 40 to 60 wide, so plant it 30 feet from the house and off the drive.

Plant a dormant sapling from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole deep enough for the taproot to hang straight and wide enough for the rest, flare at grade, native soil back in, mulch off the trunk, no stake unless it leans. Sow nuts in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth, or squirrels dig them, or soak them two to four days, hold them damp in the refrigerator for 90 to 150 days and sow in spring. They come up in late spring and put the first year into the root.

Water every week or two the first summer when rain is short. Deer browse hickory seedlings hard enough to kill them and rabbits gnaw the bark, so tube or cage the tree for three years and keep the mulch thin at the stem so voles do not nest there. Prune only to keep one leader, in the dormant season; a hickory cut hard throws water sprouts.

Growth is slow. The first nuts come at about 25 years and then a good crop every two or three years; a tree still bears at 200. Male and female flowers share a tree but often open at different times, so plant two or set it near other hickories. Drought invites the hickory bark beetle, and a tree that turns red in midsummer has it; twig girdlers can kill the tops of young trees and nut weevils take a share of the crop.

## Related

- Planting-site check: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/?species=mockernut-hickory
- Companion species: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/?species=mockernut-hickory
- Growth estimate: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/?species=mockernut-hickory