# Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)

> Peeling plated bark, golden fall color and the sweetest wild nut in the eastern forest.

Also called scalybark hickory, upland hickory. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shagbark-hickory/

![Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) bare crown against a cloudy sky in early spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/shagbark-hickory-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Sixflashphoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maple_Loop_Trail_-_Carya_ovata_1.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 60 to 90 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 9
- Grows wild in: Dry uplands and rich moist slopes
- Native range: 34 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), south to [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) and west to [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC)). Also recorded, not native, in [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND)
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: April to June
- Fruit: Nuts, September to October
- First crop: More than 10 years (in quantity at about 40)
- Mature spread: 70 ft
- Traits: Edible, Wildlife value, Fall color, Winter interest, Street tree
- Sold as: Saplings, Nuts

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Shagbark hickory is the tree behind hickory-smoked everything, and its nuts rival pecans for flavor. It grows a long taproot, so plant it small and young and be patient; the first nuts take well over a decade. Hardy, drought tolerant once established, and host to over a hundred caterpillar species. On older trees the shaggy bark is a winter feature. Plant it as the long-term nut tree on a big lawn, or in a mixed oak woodlot.

## Size, growth and what to expect

A shagbark hickory seedling spends its first three years building a taproot 2 to 3 feet deep while the top grows only inches. Growth stays slow after that. Forest-grown trees stand 23 to 43 feet at age 40 and 54 to 70 feet at 80, depending on region. Our growth estimator models it at about a foot a year on an average site, slowing toward maturity. A mature tree averages 70 to 80 feet with a trunk 12 to 24 inches through.

Seed bearing begins in quantity at about 40 years and peaks from 60 to 200, with a good crop every 1 to 3 years. A tree lives 200 to 300 years, and the oldest known has been ring-counted to 401. The nuts run 1 to 2½ inches long with a sweet kernel, a preferred food of squirrels, bears and foxes. The name comes from the loose bark plates, 1 to 3 feet long, that curve away from an old trunk.

It grows wild from Minnesota and Nebraska east to Maine and south to Georgia and east Texas, on upland slopes in the north and river-laid soils farther south.

## How to grow Shagbark Hickory

Shagbark hickory takes full sun and any well-drained soil, from upland clay to a rich slope. It grows tall and narrow and outlives the house, so plant it 30 feet from buildings, clear of power lines, and off driveways where nuts and husks drop. Set trees about 50 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant a dormant sapling between leaf drop and bud swell. It puts down a long taproot early, so dig deep enough for that root 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 2 inches deep under hardware cloth, or squirrels take every one.

Water every week or two the first summer. Deer browse hickory less than oaks, but rabbits girdle it, so use a tube or wire guard for three years. Top growth is slight at first while the root does the work; prune only to keep one leader.

It resents transplanting once the taproot is set, so buy it small and leave it be. Seedling trees bear after more than a decade, and a second tree nearby improves the crop. Young bark is smooth and gray; the shag comes with age.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: shagbark hickory](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/shagbark-hickory)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Carya ovata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/carya-ovata/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: shagbark hickory, Carya ovata](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=20)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Carya ovata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAOV2)
- [Illinois Wildflowers (John Hilty): Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata](https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/shbk_hickory.html)
- [USDA Fire Effects Information System: Carya ovata](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/carova/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Carya chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Carya.pdf)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation field guide: Shagbark Hickory](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/shagbark-hickory)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Shagbark hickory, Carya ovata](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/shagbark-hickory/)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Carya ovata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500320)
- [Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Natural Resources: Shagbark Hickory](https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/iowa_trees/trees/shagbark_hickory.html)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology, Eastern OLDLIST of maximum tree ages (Neil Pederson): Carya ovata, shagbark hickory](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/olds/detail.cfm?genus=Carya&species=ovata)
- [Ontario's old growth forests, Michael Henry: Ontario's oldest trees, updated February 2025](https://www.oldgrowth.ca/oldtrees/)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Winter identification: telling native trees apart by bark, buds and twigs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/winter-tree-identification/index.html.md)
- [The deepest-rooted native trees: how deep oak, hickory, walnut and pine roots really go](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/deepest-rooted-native-trees/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)

## Related

- We grow 12 other hickories (Carya): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=carya)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [White Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-oak/index.html.md), [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md), [Mockernut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/index.html.md) and [Pignut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pignut-hickory/index.html.md)
- Under its canopy: [Mapleleaf Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mapleleaf-viburnum/index.html.md), [Alabama Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/alabama-azalea/index.html.md) and [Flame Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/flame-azalea/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Sand Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sand-hickory/index.html.md), [Red Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-hickory/index.html.md), [Southern Shagbark Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/southern-shagbark-hickory/index.html.md) and [Bitternut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bitternut-hickory/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Shagbark Hickory, add ?species=shagbark-hickory with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 4, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Shagbark Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory): whether Shagbark Hickory can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Shagbark Hickory as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Shagbark Hickory is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Shagbark Hickory needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=shagbark-hickory:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Shagbark Hickory where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Shagbark Hickory goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=shagbark-hickory&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Shagbark Hickory flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=shagbark-hickory