Hickory Nut meat is like paper

[Frank T]

I purchased an old farm house 4 years ago and just found a Hickory tree on the property last fall. The nuts had this same issue last year.

THis mature Hickory tree produces many-many nuts every fall but the meat in the nuts is like paper. The husk & nuts look normal sized and healthy, but when cracked open the meat is dry to the point you can almost blow the meat out of the shell. Does anyone know why this is happening? And how I can fix it?

Thanks
Frank T

[beenthere]

Sounds like an immature nut, that the meat inside didn't form completely.

No "fix" that I know of. I'd be surprised if all the nuts were without good meats.

However, last few years we have had worms in the hickory nuts that destroy the nut meats. Guess they are good for fishing, but not good for harvesting good nuts.

Your location in your bio would be a nice update to your profile to go along with your posts.  ;)

[LeeB]

Are you in a draught area? That will do it to them.

[Frank T]

Thanks for the responses.

Im in Eastern PA and not in a drought area. Last year my nephew and I picked all the nuts we could find and I cracked about 20 of them and they were all dried out so I threw them away. This year I picked about 10 and cracked 5 of them with the same results. There are no worm holes in any of the ones I cracked.

I just took a walk down there. The tree is actually two separate trunks that grow out of the same base. The diameter is about 24" on one and 20" on the other aprox 4 ft from the ground.
I just picked 10 nuts at different areas around the tree. Some were in the husk and some were not. I cracked all of them and they all had paper-like meat.

Again any suggestions would be welcome. Other than "wait until next year" Im not sure what to do.

Thanks
Frank