Carya hybrids — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Oil, Seed

Carbon Farming Solutions - Staple Crop: oil (The term staple crop typically refers to a food that is eaten routinely and accounts for a dominant part of people's diets in a particular region of the world).

Where to Find It

Hybrid origin.

The Carya (hickory) genus includes up to 19 species. Some are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

How to Identify

Carya hybrids is a deciduous Tree growing to 40 m (131ft) by 35 m (114ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 4. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil.

How to Grow

Propagation: Seed - requires a period of cold stratification. It is best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. Stored seed should be kept moist (but not wet) prior to sowing and should be sown in a cold frame as soon as possible. Where possible, sow 1 or 2 seeds only in each deep pot and thin to the best seedling. If you need to transplant the seedlings, then do this as soon as they are large enough to handle, once more using deep pots to accommodate the tap root. Put the plants into their permanent positions as soon as possible, preferably in their first summer, and give them some protection from the cold for at least the first winter. Seed can also be sown in situ so long as protection is given from mice etc and the seed is given some protection from cold (a plastic bottle with the top and bottom removed and a wire mesh top fitted to keep the mice out is ideal)

Medicinal Uses

See individual species.

Other Uses

Oil. See individual plant entries. A dynamic accumulator gathering minerals or nutrients from the soil and storing them in a more bioavailable form - used as fertilizer or to improve mulch.

Names & Synonyms

Carya hybrids. Hickory, Pignut, Pecan

Many. See individual species.