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Shag Bark Hickory

Started by Autocar, July 29, 2011, 02:25:31 PM

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Autocar

It's been so hot that I moved my equipment back home for a while but started cutting dead trees here in the woods. I cut a number of hickorys,but this morning I cut them into firewood length. Stacking them in the back of the pick up truck I sat down to cool off and looked at this one peace. It looked like a old vynel record the growth rings were 1/64 of a inch. So I started counting them and it turned out to be 135 years old and what amazed me was it was just 12 inches in diameter. I felt bad thinking, here I am cutting this into firewood and it's that old.  :(
Bill

SwampDonkey

Just goes to show what many of us have been preaching, age can't be guessed to accurately based in diameter.

I was in a second growth stand of fir and aspen. The fir was about 3-6 feet tall and the aspen was 25-30 feet tall. The fir was 30-40 years old and the aspen was 12-15 years old.  ;D

What happened was the mature fir died and crashed with a new crop underway, but the aspen was still healthy for a few more years before the stand was finally harvested. The fir was being held back by the aspen canopy until it was released from the harvest but the aspen suckered in the trails and drop zones and took off like a rocket above the fir. After a harvest, suppressed fir will take 3-5 years to begin growing in height with any significance. Being suppressed for so long is especially bad on fir.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Piston

I have a shagbark hickory in my front yard, I just recently cut down a white oak that was 100 yrs old, I imagine the hickory is about the same age.  The hickory is maybe 12" dbh and the white oak was right around 30" dbh.  The oak always shaded the hickory. 

That reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.  Can you pick up the hickory nuts from the tree and put them in a pot and grow hickory trees?  I would like to plant about 50 or so in pots if possible, and transplant them in a year or so if they are established. 
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

Autocar

I am sure you can but I thnk they have to be frozzen to crack the nut then they sprout when spring arrives
Bill

SwampDonkey

If "crack the nut" is short for breaking dormancy, then yes to that. It's not like white oak that can sprout in the fall. If your yard tree didn't start from a nut, then how? ;) It's a bit early maybe to collect nuts though.

Butternut up here isn't ready (ripe) until September for instance and sugar maple, yellow birch in October. Winter stratifies the seed and they don't need to be hard frozen, just near freezing for a few days or weeks. You can look it up on the USDA websites.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Piston

So when should I collect the nut?  Would I just put it in a pot?  Should I leave it outside?  I'm a rookie with this stuff  ;)
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

SwampDonkey

Timing is everything, not only in collection but to get ahead of the animals. :D And if your burying the nuts outside this fall, which I would recommend, you'll have rodents with nut sonar and range finders digging for them. :D

I would look at USDA info for your region as to when to collect and how to plant.

I know with butternut, I just collect them when they fall off the trees from a frost and take a dibble bar that fall and poke 2" holes in the mud and watch them come to life next summer. I find new plants around the back yard and the woodlot often times that I've poked in the ground sometime. Some in the yard the squirrels have buried or they just fell off the tree and sprouted where thay landed. The woodlot ones are all my planting because there are no mature butternut anywhere near there for 3 miles.

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

chain

Shag-bark and scaly-bark are important 'leave' trees in our woods. The luna and regal moths feed off the leaves of hickory as well as the bark offers protection for some birds and bats...the bark serves as an important refuge for the endangered Indiana bat. Lots of plus's for these hickories; squirrels,  mice, white-tailed deer feed off the nuts and buds. One of the best smoker and charcoal wood available.

Piston

How long does it take a hickory to start getting the 'scaly' bark? 
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

thecfarm

I have one of them on my land. It's right beside the woods road. I can remember my Father showing it to me as a child.He never said where it came from. I had a local Forester come up to the veggie stand and he knew my Father and asked me about it. Told him still there in the same place.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

clww

Our mountains on the western side of the state are loaded with them. :)
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

Ironwood

I cut some hickory in my understory for some rustic furniture. One "sapling" was in the shadow of a HUGE old red oak. 2 1/2"-3" diameter 50-60 years old  :o COOL, just hanging out waiting for it's "time" to release, to late I chopped it, but COOL!
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

SwampDonkey

Wish we could get some up here for some projects. Not so much furniture, but projects with a wooden framework like sleds and some tool wood. Trouble is, ash is pretty much the king of tool and ski/snow utility wood up here. Roy Underhill was on yesterday and his show was dedicated to hickory wood. He preferred fast grown hickory as it was less prone to failure in tool wood. Since it is an open grain wood, the faster grown is denser. It's all about the latewood. ;)

clww, I've been in those mountains. :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

Something is killing the hickory trees for some reason .I have no idea what it is.

Last spring I tripped a hunderd footer dead one that was a tad over 3 feet at the cut and left nearly 6 feet of stump .Growth rings were about 230-250 .I saved the logs which I hope to mill if I ever get my bandsaw done .

Great firewood of course and nice lumber but a tad hard on tooling .You about have to use carbide cutters .Being of the pecan family it looks the same to me but the real experts can tell the difference .

There about a half dozen or so dead ones in the woods next to me that I'll get when I find the time .I'm still up to my hip pockets in dead ash though at the moment .

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