What's eating my pignut hickory?

Pignut hickory has a thin, bitter husk and relatively small nut that somewhat reduces crop pest pressure compared to large-nutted hickories, but squirrels still harvest it eagerly. Hickory shuckworm, fall webworm, and hickory bark beetle are the main concerns. Deer browse young shoots and saplings in winter and early spring, which can be severe in high-deer areas.

Larvae bore through the thin husk and occasionally into the nut itself; infested nuts may abort or fail to dehisce cleanly. Pheromone trap monitoring from June; single spinosad or carbaryl application at peak flight; clean up dropped nuts to break the cycle.

Silken webs at branch tips shelter feeding caterpillars through late summer; repeated defoliation weakens trees more than a single outbreak. Remove and destroy webs while small; apply Bt into open tents; healthy mature trees rarely require chemical control.

Deer browse terminal shoots and rub antlers on smooth young bark in autumn; heavy browse pressure on saplings causes forked, shrubby growth instead of a straight leader. Install individual tree tubes or wire cages (5 ft minimum) on young trees; apply deer repellent sprays from October–March; fence the planting perimeter where deer pressure is high.