How About Hickory Nut Hulls?

I have several Shagbark Hickory trees, and , as this is a mast year, I am up to my eye teeth in the hulls (enterprising squirrels have poached the nuts). Do the hulls break down resonably quickly, so that I can use them in the compost pile? How about as a mulch, mixed w/ leaves? I have to do something b/f I break my neck slipping on them!

I don't know about Shagbark Hickory, we have black walnut, and they take years to break down, I would do a small test batch, just to see how long it takes.

I assume you mean the outer skins. These probably contain a bit of juglone in them so I don't know .

I think your idea of using them as a mulch is a great one. I have no idea what the consistency of a hickory nut is, but if it is as hard as other nut shells (pecan or brazil nuts?) I'd say it would take quite a while to break down, unless you have a way of crushing them.

Indy, what is juglone?

The outer hulls are very thick and fleshy now, but they are pretty green. I assume they dry to a consistency more like other nuts, but I don't know. The whole nut is somewhat larger than a walnut; the squirrels break the shell which drops into 6 even pieces to take the meat (AND plant the nuts in my garden beds so I'm pulling seedlings forever!)

In case Indy doesn't make it back quickly - Jugulone is a substance found in walnuts and walnut trees that inhibits growth of other plants - kind of a natural way of eliminating the competition. That's why you'll seldom see anything growing near walnut trees. But if you try to compost walnut hulls or sawdust you can end up with a bunch of dead plants. There's a bunch of plants that do this - creosote bushes, I *think* sunflowers do too, not sure. They're known as "allelopathic" plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglone if you wanna know more....

I always learn something new on Dave's!!! How irritating that the squirrels bury them in my mulch.
Maybe I should just tuck the lot into the regular trash and hope the trash police don't spot-check. My town contracts out the collection and there is a strict policy about what you can put in the trash. We have to compost or burn whatever falls from the trees.

Jax4ever,

Hickory produces a bit of juglone, but in the following link it says that it is so little that it rarely is observed. [as a problem]

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/fruits/blkwalnt.htm

Okay, now it's your turn to educate me - hickory is related to walnut?

Yes, hickory, pecan, bitternut, and walnuts are in the same family. [juglandaceae]

Gotcha - every day, one more thing....!

Thanks!