Root suckers must be removed every year unless you want a
pincushion on your hands. For best yields, allow only three
or four main trunks to develop. If you want to increase
your filbert population, leaving propagation to the
nut-burying squirrels won't suffice, although you'll see
plenty of them around. Instead, let a sucker grow for a
year on the parent plant. The next spring, take a knife and
make a one-inch-long slit in the bark about six inches from
the tip of the sucker. Then arch the sucker so the tip
touches the ground. Stake it down so it can't pull itself
loose, Bury the cut part of the sucker, from which roots
will sprout. Use good compost, and leave the actual tip of
the sucker exposed to grow as the plant. Water it well.
Early in the second year cut the new plant free and
transplant to a permanent location. You have just "layered"
your first plant. Most willowy bushes and trees can be
propagated in the same way.
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HICKORY
There are several varieties here, and they're all cousins
of the pecan. Treat the tree as you would a beechnut or a
pecan. It's got a bear of a taproot, three to five feet
long even on a young transplant, so be prepared to dig
halfway to China when setting it in. Give it the best soil
and compost possible, but no manure. It needs no pruning
except to have the top cut back by 25 percent on planting.
If you hope to get good eating hickory nuts and not just a
beautiful tree, get the shagbark variety. And if you can't
get hickory stock - as is often the case because it makes a
difficult and chancy transplant—find a supply of
fresh-fallen nuts on your next outing in hickory country,
and plant those. Plant plenty, for few will survive,
but plant!
PECAN
Most of the above nut trees prefer the northern half of the
country. Pecans are their southern counterpart and usually
grow where cotton will. They need a long, hot growing
season in order to yield.
Like all trees, pecans need deep soil, rich and well
drained. And they have the deep taproot as well, which
means you'll be digging again. Try five feet. Taproots on
all trees must be buried absolutely vertical all the way.
Don't try to rattail the tip into a curve or U-shape-you'd
be better off saving yourself the time and trouble and
throwing the tree away.
Cut back about 40 percent on planting. Fertilize well and
protect the trunk from sun-scald. Very little pruning is
necessary once the tree is growing, although usually the
lower limbs are removed.
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