+Are Pecan Stocks Desirable for Hickory Scions?+
It would appear, therefore, that it is necessary for stocks to be at least as vigorous as the variety to which they are grafted, and to insure this it would seem to me that the northern pecan seeds, such as grow around Des Moines, Iowa, would be the proper seedling stock for almost any variety of hickory, as they outgrow bitternuts and shagbarks by quite a margin. I have only one Weschcke grafted on a pecan of this sort, and it makes much greater growth each year than does this variety grafted on the native bitternut stocks. However, it has not started to bear yet and the reason is that it is still very young, and is over-topped by plum brush and apple trees.
Since it requires about ten years here for a native bitternut to acquire the proper size of one-half inch to three-quarter inch diameter, which is about the size necessary for grafting, you have some idea of how slowly this native species grows. The forest trees, of which there seem to be thousands on my property, very seldom exceed a diameter of six inches, yet they appear to be very old trees. Occasionally we find one that reaches the diameter of a foot or more, and generally it is one that is located where it has plenty of space to grow, as in open pasture. The tree is rather easy to graft to many varieties of hickories. No doubt if it were grown in large numbers, in the proper soil, the time for producing seedling stock ready for nursery propagation could be cut down. But it appears more likely that some northern pecan seed can be found which will produce a hardy understock to furnish a seedling of sufficient vigor and size for propagating purposes in five years or less.
+Records of Bearing+
Our first successful grafting of Weschcke hickory on bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) was in 1927, but these grafts did not bear for about ten years. We know now that this was because there was a lack of pollen of the shagbark species to pollinate its blossoms. Now these trees are bearing profusely.
The second batch of grafts from the original Weschcke hickory, which grew near Fayette, Iowa, was made in 1934. One mature nut from grafts made that spring was gathered from the ground in the same year, about October 1, 1934, but it had been partly consumed by a squirrel. From that year to the present, these grafted trees produced each year and never failed to mature some edible nuts up to and including this year, when there is a very large crop (6-1/2 bushels). This, then, is the 15th consecutive crop of nuts of which I have a record. During two years we had such early fall frosts that the nuts were a little shriveled and not fully mature, but still edible. In other years there were some light crops, but there never has been a crop failure in all this time. The variation in bearing is also due in part to several late frosts which in the spring in some years killed back all the foliage and newly expanding buds. Yet new dormant buds opened, some of which had flowers, and so carried on the unbroken bearing record.
Last winter (1947-48) produced the most severe damage to exotic species of fruit and nut trees as well as ornamentals, including evergreens, ever recorded in this area; yet the grafted Weschcke hickory trees were so loaded down with nuts that I had to support the load by tying up branches to keep them off the ground. This tough winter caused almost every variety of apple tree to be barren, such as Wealthy, Northwestern Greening, Whitney Crab, Haralson and Malinda. Only two varieties, Lowland Raspberry and Hibernal, bore fair crops. Last winter killed outright (to the ground) most of my Thomas black walnuts, some of which were more than 25 years old, and damaged severely such other varieties as Ohio, Vandersloot, and Ten Eyck. The winter was responsible also for the killing of several seedling Chinese chestnuts which had survived ten years of our winters and yet others of these Chinese chestnuts are growing again from sprouts near the ground surface. The mulberries suffered greatly also, but in general the hickories of many varieties came through this winter, with very little damage, and most of them are bearing a few nuts. Even the wild hazels suffered differing amounts of damage and have only partial crops of nuts because of the effects of the winter.
In conclusion, keep in mind that these experiments and tests have been conducted in severe climatic conditions in the 45th parallel at River Falls, Wisconsin, 35 miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota, and that out of more than fifty varieties of hickories and pecans and their hybrids tested, only these two, Bridgewater and Weschcke hickory, (both thin-shelled easy-cracking varieties), have succeeded to a point which can be classed as commercial; the writer can now recommend these two varieties for propagation by nursery firms capable of undertaking the propagation of hickory nut trees, the sale of which to the public is a foregone conclusion.
By request of the secretary, Mr. Weschcke sent the following additional information on the Weschcke hickory:
About ten years ago I noticed that there was no pollen coming from this tree and yet from the very beginning, even when there was no other pollen available except the wild hickory pollen from the Carya cordiformis, the Weschcke hickory produced nuts. Thinking that it was due to parthenogenesis I bagged clusters of pistillate blossoms, and although setting nuts they all dropped off which is typical of non-pollenization. I then bagged groups of pistillate blossoms which I pollinized with different available pollens of the Carya ovata and these set nuts which started to grow, upon which I removed the bags. From this experiment I found that the Bridgewater did a very good job of pollenization and it became the tree that I considered as a compatible mate. Other trees that pollinate well are Kirkland, Deveaux and Glover; Beaver is not a good pollenizer and I have not experimented with Fairbanks to know whether it is satisfactory. The catkins grow vigorously on the Weschcke up to the time that the pollen sacs seem ready to open, then the catkin drops off. No pollen has ever matured that I know of. When dried from this state, they yield no pollen.