The squirrels love shagbark nuts for the winter as they have a real hard nutshell and don’t rot. When the nuts are ripe the squirrels bite them off and pick them up off the ground just like acorns. The nuts are quite edible but you’ll need a vice and a hammer to get them out, this is why you don’t see them for sale anywhere.
Shagbarks are fairly common but are uber-slow growers that’s why you can’t transplant them from the wild easily and why they are so expensive, but valuable as trees go!
After reading up on them, Wisconsin is not REALLY an ideal setting for them, so I’m glad to have the one!
It won’t start producing nuts until long after I’m gone. The tree is maybe 12-15 feet tall right now - a skinny little runt, LOL!
Yeah, I’ve always been thankful I’ve never had the ‘calling’ to be a Nut Farmer. Fruit trees are enough work as it is!