After 2 years my 2 acre pecan hobby is in the ground. Put in 7 hark and 4 major this weekend
29 trees. 7 Hark. 4 major 2 surecrop 2 hardy giant 14 Kanza and one shagbark hickory. Anyone got some pecans I can try and grow/graft?
Awesome.
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5 years and a kanza tree has a few nuts on it. Added some irrigation this year as the growth rate was significantly different depending on where and how much natural water they were getting.
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Looking good.
We’ve been without any measurable rain since the end of June… pecans here in the yard are aborting all their nuts at less than half size. I’ve not surveyed the pecans & hickories in the riparian bufferstrip down along the (now-dry) creek, but even if the pecans there manage to ripen, I’ll never be able to beat the crows and squirrels to them. I just hope the grafted & superior seedling hickories are able to fill their nuts.
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Noting the thick husks, slight suture wings, and distinctive black markings on the nuts, I’m guessing that is a hybrid with some hickory in the background.
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Should be a kanza tree
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Kanza is a hickory hybrid with Major as a parent. Major has a large introgression from bitternut on chromosome 8. Hickory Major (Fred Blankenship’s selection from Major seedlings) doubles down on the hickory traits with clamshell husks, slight suture wings, and more hickory traits on buds and limbs.
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What’s the nut quality and crackability like? The name makes it very hard to search
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Phlogopite, if you are referring to Kanza, it is a very good quality pecan. Production tends to be high. The pecans are small as compared with larger southern varieties, but Kanza is short season enough that it can mature a crop in parts of Kansas, parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. It is a good variety in North Alabama, North Georgia, North Mississippi, and northern parts of South Carolina.
Kanza had very good scab resistance until about 2 years ago when it started showing breakdown of resistance. Northern Pecans: Pecan Cultivars
If you want to know more about it, check out Bill Reid’s blog entries. He is very pro planting and growing Kanza for states where it is adapted.
Cracking characteristics are good and shelling out halves is excellent. Commercial crackers work very well. Hand crackers such as Gardner’s Master nut cracker work well. It is not as easy to crack as Schley, Forkert, or some others, but it is still in the good category.
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No, there’s tons of info on Kanza (in comparison anyway), I meant Blankeships Major Hickory
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How is your squirrel control?
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Fred’s Hickory Major is a selection he made from a group of Major seedlings selected based on the number lenticels on the stem. There are a couple of trees grafted in the Auburn grove though I have no idea how they got scionwood. My evaluation is that they are not adapted to the climate at Auburn but are likely highly adapted further north. They are not as productive as Kanza. The nuts and husks are clearly more hickory-like than Major which suggests either a backcross to hickory or a cross with another hybrid. Nut traits are most similar to a pecan.
If you want scionwood, I can see if available from Auburn or you might contact Fred and see if he can ship a few sticks.
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Nonexistent squirrel problem yet. They are content with the big hickory trees for now.
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Does anyone use a leaf blower in harvesting their pecans? Seems like that is an item that I could use not only on pecans but also in getting rid of oak leaves.
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Tractor mounted blowers are used by some pecan growers to blow leaves off of the nuts on the ground. Sweepers move the pecans into windrows where the harvester can pull them up and separate from debris.
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How long until you expect a decent harvest?
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Something like this leaf blower that this person is using on about 1:40. Hand held.
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Not sure. Only one tree with nuts this year. Hopefully a few more years an I’ll fill a 5 gallon bucket
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You should be getting more pecans in about 10 years than you will know what to do with. My trees took a big leap in production this year in about their 15th year. Keeping them fertilized helped.
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