I anticipated that Ricky. Dave at Rockbridgetrees does custom grafting. Might also be worth getting some scionwood to Ernie Grimo to see if he is interested in propagating it.
Yeah that would be great.
Dax says he can provide a stick or two of OC-6.
That is great news
Hi again. So regarding the possible dichotomy flip for pecans, what do you think the odds are that it will happen? In some places Iād like to plant, I only have enough room for 3 trees so I have to be careful with pollination.
It is ādichogamyā, not ādichotomyā. Iāve made the same mistake.
Flipping dichogamy only happens with significant changes in winter chill hours. Since you are planting far northern varieties to start with, it is highly unlikely your climate will induce any changes to dichogamy.
Have you found a source for trees? Also, you may have an option to get Seneca later this year. It would fit well with Warren 346, Lucas, and Campbell NC-4. Seneca is early Protandrous. You can easily find the release document online.
Ah I see. Yes, i bought a snaps, warren, deerstand and Campbell nc-4 from grimo coming this spring, with deerstand being the only protogynous cultivar. I forgot to get a lucas from him. I am also on rockbridgeās waiting list for 2 earlton grafts. Theyāre the only places Iāve found selling ultra northern grafted trees. Do you know how many days Seneca takes to mature? Iām hoping Dave Hughes will be grafting some.
Seneca was bred from 2 of Doug Campbellās selections. It is fully hardy and will mature pecans in your climate. It is not currently available anywhere. Iām trying to get a few trees grafted this spring.
You might call Grimo and see if he has a Lucas. If so, you would get one more from your list.
So i checked on the grimo website and he is out of lucas. Rockbridge is also out of lucas. Hopefully i will be able to get a few next year. So out of all these cultivars, what pair do you think would be best to plant the most of in terms of nut size and productivity?
Warren, Lucas, Campbell NC-4, and Seneca would be most productive caveat that all will be small pecans as they are far northern varieties.
Do you think the earlton would be worth growing here too? I also see that seneca can have scab problems, so do you think Iād have issues with that here within the next few years or ever in the foreseeable future? Iām not sure how far north scab can be a problem.
Scab usually is not bad once above Kentucky. Donāt take that to the bank, scab is a very adaptable organism.
Yes, Earlton is worth a trial in your climate. Key feature is very early maturity.
Im thinking ill plant more earlton since it seems they are larger nuts than lucas. I want to thank you for the information youāve provided, its very helpful. Hopefully dave Hughes will be able to graft a oc-6 pecan this year as well.
Sorry to bother, but would you be able to let me know on this thread if/when dax is able to get some meat pecan scionwood to rockbridge?
I have OC-6 in the refrigerator received today. I will contact Dave at Rockbridge and see if he can do the honors.
Awesome news
So I was looking into the seneca and earlton pecans and I see they are from Texas and Kansas. These climates seem to have a lot less chill hours than where the other ultra northern cultivars like lucas and Campbell come from. Do you think I would have more of a problem with seneca and earlton when it comes to dichogamy?
Look instead where the parents and grandparents came from. For example, Seneca is a cross of two of R.D. Campbellās varieties. Now look at where R.D. Campbell grew pecans.
Ah I see now. So the earlton parents are greenriver and pawnee, which originate farther south than the seneca parents.
Greenriver was found in the same woods where Major originated. Pawnee is from a cross of Mohawk X Starking Hardy Giant, in other words a southern variety crossed with a northern variety. Crossing Greenriver X Pawnee would push the genetics toward hardiness and early maturity.
Varieties are available that are hardy through zone 5 and parts of zone 4. Surviving winter is pretty much a non-issue. What is a problem is finding varieties that mature nuts in 150 or so growing days. Look closely at Earlton and you will find it matures in about 145 days. Given the northern genetics, it will be very cold hardy and given how early it matures, it should be viable in your climate.
One thing you donāt want is to plant trees grafted on southern source rootstocks. Rockbridge uses rootstocks such as Giles, Major, and other northern varieties.