tree guilds for oaks and pecans

I see quite a bit of information on fruit tree guilds, but I'm planning to start my forest garden where there are established oaks and pecans. What would be good companions for these? Anyone have any recommendations?

Pecan are in the Carya genus so guilds that work well in this genus could work for pecan. As for what to plant, comfrey is used a lot. I would also look for plants that are nitrogen-fixing like clover. How much sunlight can reach the ground? That will impact what can grow there.

T, thank you! The area will get some morning sun and some afternoon sun. I'll just have to see what clover does, but my comfrey does quite well under fruit trees with a little shade.

I don't know if it's because these plants work well with oak trees or they just like my climate, but I'm bordered by a forest that is mostly oak trees. The understory and edges are blackberries, wild grapes, greenbrier, honeysuckle, ferns, and sweet gum trees. I planted passionflower (or maypop) a couple of years ago, and it's growing well. I hope to plant some medicinal root crops soon to see how they do.

Mark Shepherd’s Restoration Agriculture is largely about restoring and “updating” oak savannah ecosystems in ways that are profitable to harvest from. It is based around his Wisconsin climate, but has many applications to other regions.

In my NW California climate, I intend to have Oregon White Oaks, chestnuts, or lindens, as the northern canopy trees in my guilds, with plants of descending height southwards, such larger fruit trees (apple, mulberry, standard stone and pear), mid size trees (semi dwarfs) vines (grape, kiwi, hops), shrubs (blueberries, elderberries, hazelnuts), and groundcovers of strawberries, herbs etc. I have a dozen or so walnuts as well to plant that will get their own jugalone tolerant guilds.

Has any one heard of pecan trees flourishing in Europe, and in that case, what area? Pecans are quite uncommon for us Europeans, and the nuts available in the shop are from the US, really tasty! But as I said, uncommon here. Was wondering about growing these trees in Europe... Any ideas?

I just found a resource that will be helpful to anyone growing pecans and oaks. It's a PDF by the University of Wisconsin's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. The chart includes guilds for hickory, pecan, white oak, hazelnut, black walnut, hackberry, and a variety of fruit trees.

Here's the link - Forest-Garden-Guilds.pdf

Leigh Tate wrote:I just found a resource that will be helpful to anyone growing pecans and oaks. It's a PDF by the University of Wisconsin's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. The chart includes guilds for hickory, pecan, white oak, hazelnut, black walnut, hackberry, and a variety of fruit trees.

Here's the link - Forest-Garden-Guilds.pdf

Nice list. Are there desert hackberries in Wisconsin?

Lana Weldon wrote:Has any one heard of pecan trees flourishing in Europe, and in that case, what area? Pecans are quite uncommon for us Europeans, and the nuts available in the shop are from the US, really tasty! But as I said, uncommon here. Was wondering about growing these trees in Europe... Any ideas?

They grow perfectly fine in Central Europe, or in the lowlands at least. The most important thing is that the summers are warm as the nuts need heat to mature, they can handle very low winter temperatures otherwise. I don't know if they are pecans but hickories otherwise are grown in Central Europe for their lumber. I think shagbark hickories are likely going to be the best alternative to pecans, their nuts are considered to be rivaling in taste. They aren't sold commercially due to it being much harder to successfully shell them with machines compared to pecans due to the layout and how the nutmeat is laid out on the inside. Also they are much harder to crack. But again I think if you aren't at too high of an altitude then pecans should be able to do decent in Central Europe.

Edit: Thought you said Central Europe for some reason, and not just Europe. Pecans of course do great in Southern Europe.

Anton Jacobski Hedman wrote:

Lana Weldon wrote:Has any one heard of pecan trees flourishing in Europe, and in that case, what area? Pecans are quite uncommon for us Europeans, and the nuts available in the shop are from the US, really tasty! But as I said, uncommon here. Was wondering about growing these trees in Europe... Any ideas?

They grow perfectly fine in Central Europe, or in the lowlands at least. The most important thing is that the summers are warm as the nuts need heat to mature, they can handle very low winter temperatures otherwise. I don't know if they are pecans but hickories otherwise are grown in Central Europe for their lumber. I think shagbark hickories are likely going to be the best alternative to pecans, their nuts are considered to be rivaling in taste. They aren't sold commercially due to it being much harder to successfully shell them with machines compared to pecans due to the layout and how the nutmeat is laid out on the inside. Also they are much harder to crack. But again I think if you aren't at too high of an altitude then pecans should be able to do decent in Central Europe.

Look up "ultra northern pecans" otherwise, these are pecans that have been selected from the northernmost natural range growing pecans. They have smaller sized nuts but are still easy to crack and can grow perfectly well and ripen as far north as Ontario in Canada. That should make them for sure safe to grow in Central Europe. I heard that it is not impossible to get ahold of seeds of these trees.