Could a desirable pecan variety be grafted on larger bitter pecan trees successfully? I have several bitter pecan trees on my property and was wondering if grafting was an option, or if I’m better off removing them.
Presuming you are talking about Bitternut Hickory, it can be grafted over to pecan, but is problematic because pecan grows faster than bitternut and will always over-grow the rootstock. This tends to limit production of pecans. One advantage of this graft is that Bitternut is a bit more cold tolerant than Pecan.
Note that Bitternut readily crosses with Pecan. If Lucky cares to weigh in, he has Pleas Hican which is a bitcan. Also note the details about Major pecan which has introgressed genetics probably from a Bitternut hickory.
Bitter pecan - C.aquatica, or bitternut hickory C.cordiformis?
I have no experience with C.aquatica, but have a few native C.cordiformis growing on the farm here.
Pecan should be compatible with both, I suppose. Not sure how much overgrowth of pecan on bitternut understock is an issue… I’ll defer to those who have done it or seen them years down the road, but I do remember reading, years ago, that someone down in southern middle TN had had good success grafting ‘Greenriver’ pecan to bitternut understocks, and having them be productive.
As f_p says, genetic analysis at TAMU/USDA Pecan Breeding program suggests that ‘Major’ pecan may have had a bitternutXshagbark ancestor not far back in its pedigree.
‘Pleas’ - or whatever this grafted bitcan I’ve got access to - produces a large thin-shelled nut that resembles a slightly flattened bitternut with faint stripes indicating the pecan influence. Cracks out pretty nicely, with a kernel that looks very much like bitternut… and usually has astringency… maybe less than bitternut, but enough to be off-putting to me. Ripens early to mid-September here, and most years, 90+% of nuts are weevil-infested.
Don Cobb sent me some ‘Abbott’ bitcan nuts many years ago… looked far more like pecan than does Pleas; I don’t recall astringency in the one or two that I ate. I’ve either lost, killed, or removed the few Abbott seedlings I grew…
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I wonder what these taste like in cookies
Chocolate is pretty harsh in cocoa powder,
but with some butter since the fat binds to tannin it is better in the finished product
I could be wrong so I hope I am not sounding like I know just curious if it would work
I know people soak walnut husk in alcohol for a drink I never tried
if they can enjoy that , and it is good I have high hopes for stuff like bitter nut soaked in spirits
(a lot of bitter things are made into liquor’s reading the drunken botanist (about liquor history)
Lucky_P
When they crossed these did they ever back cross to pecan to have less Bitternut in it’s pedigree
There are several crosses and back crosses that have been made over the years though I am not aware of a serious breeding program. It has mostly been motivated amateurs. The most work I am aware of is with shagbark hybrids where a few varieties such as Burton and its offspring Dooley Burton are available. There was one a few years ago that was touted as 1/8 hickory and 7/8 pecan.
In interesting trivia, the best flavored hickory I’ve ever eaten was a pure Mockernut (Carya Tomentosa) that grows near one of the stops on the Natchez Trace. If I could get that flavor in a pecan…
There are two pecan varieties that are often noted for having hickory flavor.
https://pecanbreeding.uga.edu/cultivars/alphabetical-list/farley.html
https://pecanbreeding.uga.edu/cultivars/alphabetical-list/elliott.html
It would be very interesting to get some of the hicans DNA tested so we could understand more about their hybrid heritage.
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