Nut Trees

Nuts are the one staple crop you can grow on trees: real protein and fat, storable for a year without processing. The 7 species here — from American hazelnut (a 12-foot shrub that crops in 3–4 years) to pecan and shagbark hickory (60-foot giants worth a 10-year wait) — cover USDA zones 3–10, and 3 of them are North American natives.

Almost every nut tree is wind-pollinated and partially or fully self-sterile, so the standing rule is: plant two, and not two grafted copies of the same cultivar. Give them room — a mature walnut or pecan wants 40+ feet — and read the guide's notes before siting: black walnut secretes juglone, which kills tomatoes, apples and many ornamentals inside its root zone.

Squirrels, not diseases, are the main harvest competition; chestnut is the exception, where blight history decides which species you can plant. 4 are in stock at a nursery right now — the terracotta price tags go straight to those product pages, not to a search.