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Hickory-Pecans

Our hardy hybrid hickory-pecans - are not hickories, not pecans, and not "hiccans".  They are something entirely new, another neohybrid genepool we are developing.

No one grows pecans as a crop anywhere within 200 miles of us; they are simply not cold or climate hardy.  Shagbark hickories do grow here (just barely); but no one seriously attempts to commercialize them, they are wild; erratic crops and heavy shells.  Bitternut hickory grows far north of us, but is named correctly - squirrels do eat them, but humans will always spit them out as soon as they can.  "Hiccan" is used to describe the occasional natural hybrids between pecan and one of they hickory species; they are simple "F1" hybrids, not selected for crop behavior.  

hic/pecan nutmeats

Badgersett neohybrid hickory-pecans (let us know if you can think of a better name!) combine genes from all three species; pecan, shagbark, and bitternut; and are being actively selected now for real crop behavior; big, regular crops; thin shells; clean processing.  Not hiccans- something truly new.

main field hickory-pecans

Above is about half of our main planting, with Meg and Elly, and if you look very closely, the sheep in the distance.  The neat pruning is a joint effort of the sheep, horse, and Sue, who neatens up their work.  

The neohybrid hickory-pecans we sell seedlings (tubelings) of are uniformly very thin shelled, like a pecan, crack out clean, and have either a good pecan — or sometimes a good shagbark hickory— flavor.  The characteristics of the parent- are not a guarantee for the progeny yet, however!  These are sold ONLY under a broad licensing agreement, which you must sign before you send us your check - to guarantee that future generations of the crop do not descend into genetic chaos.

To order hickory-pecan plants, go to the hickory-pecan plant catalog.

For hickory-pecans to eat, visit the nuts to eat catalog.