Pecan pollination chart

General Fruit Growing
61

One of the things I had to spend time learning is that just because a pecan is reasonably good and reasonably productive, that does not mean it is good enough to release as a commercial or even a homeowner variety. Even highly selected varieties such as the 29 released by USDA have only resulted in 4 that are highly accepted commercially, Pawnee, Kanza, Caddo, and Creek. Each of them has limitations, Pawnee with scab susceptibility, Creek with tendency to overbear, Kanza with size, and Caddo with size and disease/pest concerns. It is worth noting that two of these are ā€œaccidentsā€ where a supposed controlled pollination was actually with another variety. Creek was originally thought to be Mohawk X Starking Hardy Giant but turned out to be Mohawk X Western. Caddo was thought to be Brooks X Alley, but turned out to be Brooks X Schley.

With all that said, the pecan tree growing in Florence, AL is arguably good enough to make it as a homeowner tree. I donā€™t think it would work commercially because it is only 58 nuts per pound.

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62

Hello !

Iā€™m in france and I will try to plant pecan trees.

Here, I can have only this cultivar :
https://www.desmallekamp.nl/images/PDF/Pecan%20en%20Hickorynoten%20eng.pdf

I think itā€™s not possible to have nuts here, we have long period with no frost (sometimes near one year) but not strong heating in summerā€¦ But year by year, the temperature is hotter and hotterā€¦

I try to make a choice with ultra northern cultivar, who rippens very earlyā€¦

I think carlson 3 / warren 346 (itā€™s different type but i donā€™t found information about flowering period)
And snaps / martzan (the same problem)

And the couple peruque/lucas (pollination is ok) but they look not very earlier.

With the cultivar in the link, do you found a better choice ?

https://www.desmallekamp.nl/images/PDF/Pecan%20en%20Hickorynoten%20eng.pdf

Thank you !!

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63

Lucas - protogynous
Kanza - protogynous
Warren 346 - protandrous
Campbell NC4 - protandrous

These should be near the top of your list. They will pollinate each other and should be adapted to your climate. If you have opportunity in the future, get Hark.

Look at the varieties in this list to help make decisions. Northern Pecans: Pecan Cultivars

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Iā€™ve see that kanza is cold tolerant, if it would say ok for fresh summer it could be a good choice (very adapted for my climate)

It could help you, a list of plant who grow in my garden :
ukrainian tabacco ā€œspectrumā€ make more than 2 meters in my garden, and make a lot of flower and good seeds (that i can use for the next year)
Itā€™s ok for a lot of pumpkins.
Itā€™s ok for cumcumber, and tomatoes, but fresh humidity could kill tomatoes rapidly, if no problem with humidity, if they are under a roof, I can have the last cherry tomatoes sometimes in decemberā€¦
But if i grow melone, a lot of time iā€™ve melone with cumcumber taste, because fresh summer.
I can have nerium oleander, no problem with frost (only each 10-20 years) but with only a few flowers, summer is too cold for floweringā€¦
Sometimes Dandelion, daisy, roses and other species could have flowers all the winterā€¦

And the frost record is -20Ā° in 1982.

And this year, iā€™ve calculate 480 cooling degree days, iā€™ve see itā€™s often ask.

Thanks for your help !

Here, iā€™ve this average weather :

image

Hello, after talking with a man in Nederlands who have pecans with a colder weather than mine (-1,5/2Ā°C relative, 2,7/3,6Ā°F) and one more month of frost than me (sometimes 2-4 more) I will test :

Deerstand
Lucas
Campbell NC-4
Carlson 3
Snaps

Itā€™s OK for pollination ?

I hesitate to replace one of this tree by james early, but I donā€™t found information about itā€¦

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Sorry Iā€™m new and I canā€™t post more than 3 messages, I respond hereā€¦

Deerstand is type 1, James Early is type 1, I want to replace campbell NC-4 by James Early but not sure, I donā€™t found information if itā€™s a good pollinator, but Iā€™ve information from netherland that campbell NC-4 have some problems with late frost, and James Early is very early, like warren 346ā€¦

For the 5 cultivars, I know the type but I donā€™t know if the flowering is at ā€œthe sameā€ time.

I found a man who have ā€œlucasā€ in extrem north Nederlands (53,4Ā° north latitude) who give nuts ! And a seedling pant who give nuts !

With a colder climate that mineā€¦ It look not impossible here !

He have other variety, deerstand, campbell nc-4, and itā€™s very limited, but he could have night frost in juneā€¦ Here Iā€™ve last night frost in may, and itā€™s very occasionalyā€¦ In march or april it could be OK, and first frost in end october (rarely) often mid november to end december now, sometimes not before februaryā€¦

He say that when the weather is fresh but no frost, the nut can stand on the tree, and when itā€™s ok they fall (Iā€™ve some difficulty to have this information on north american forum, because you have no mild winter, when the frost arrive, it too lateā€¦

Lucas seem to accomadate with fresh summer.

Thank you !

For information, the weather where Lucas give nuts in Netherlands : (I canā€™t post image now !)

66

Lucas and Carlson #3 are type 2 protogynous. Campbell NC4 and Snaps are type 1 protandrous. These should be acceptable in terms of pollination compatibility. I do not have information about which type for Deerstand or James Early.

67

I uploaded a new copy of the pollination spreadsheet. This version adds minor details such as Western Schley and Riverside having Longfellow as one parent. I also tweaked the maturity dates of a few varieties with more accurate information. Please see the first post in this thread for the link.

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68

I updated the pecan pollination sheet with a few more parents identified via Genotyping over the past year. The updated version is at the same link as in the first post of this thread. Toss the old version and download the new to get the updated information.

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69

Thank you for all the work on the pollination chart. I wanted to ask you if a type 1 or 2 prefers to be pollinated by the other type or is all pollen the same if it is availabe? Yes I was the one who got Darell Sparks, Pecan Cultivars.

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There is a range of pollen maturity and a similar range of pistillate flower receptivity. The best I can tell in the area I live the range is from April 7th to May 15th. Some protandrous trees break buds early and others break buds late. Some protogynous trees break buds early and others break buds late. This has implications for pollination as an early protandrous paired with a late protogynous wonā€™t pollinate each other at all. A good example is Forkert which is a late protogynous making it difficult to find a good pollination partner. It turns out that Adams #5 is a late protandrous that happens to completely overlap with Forkert. So a general answer to your question is that a protandrous tree tends to be pollinated by a protogynous tree and vice versa, but because of bud break range, it is possible to have threesomes where a protandrous and two protogynous do a really good job pollinating each other. This means at least one of the protogynous varieties tends to pollinate the other protogynous variety.

In native stands, most of the pollination is protandrous pollinated by protogynous and vice versa. The purpose of this type of sexual dimorphism is to prevent a tree from self-pollinating. Even so, some protandrous varieties overlap pollen shed with pistillate receptivity such that they self-pollinate. Jackson and Starking Hardy Giant are good examples of protandrous varieties that overlap resulting in significant self-pollination. See the pollination chart column E for varieties with ā€œOā€ which means they overlap in some climates. The flip situation is relatively rare. A protogynous variety almost never overlaps pistillate receptivity with pollen shed. Mahan is an example of a homozygous protogynous variety that probably resulted from a self-pollinated protogynous parent.

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71

Hi, Barkslip,
Could you give me pollen shed and stigma receptivity data of Major pecan as well?
Thanks,
Baboly

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72

Major is type 1 protandrous with pollen shed lasting 7 days and pistillate receptivity lasting up to 10 days. Major does not usually overlap pollen shed with pistillate flower receptivity so rarely self-pollinates. Usual bud break date is typical of northern adapted pecan in being a few days after likelihood of frost.

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73

About 25 years ago I purchased two pecan trees from John Brittain. For pollination he recommended that, if I buy only two trees for my zone 6b location (SE PA), I get Peruque and Kanza, so I did. I just wanted to comment that it has proven to be a time-tested good recommendation. This year both mature trees are loaded with nuts, with the Peruque starting shuck split on October 5 and Kanza on October 14. Today (10/17) it took me about a half hour to gather all the Peruque nuts from the ground. I recommend this combination for consideration by other northern growers.

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74

Peruque is a sweet, little nut - ~90/lb, really thin shell with >60% kernel. Often splitting shuck as early as 15 Sept here, so definitely a good choice for a short-season location. Butā€¦ jays/crows hit it HARDā€¦ and itā€™s very pecan scab susceptible here.
I like it a lot, but most years here, itā€™s a near-total loss. I have one tree of it, but wonā€™t graft more.
Kanza, and itā€™s ā€˜motherā€™, Major, are probably the two most reliable pecans I have growing here.

75

Iā€™ve had a few bird holes, also pecan weevils (in PA I find this quite surprising, but I saw a couple of long-snotted adults so Iā€™m pretty sure), plus moderate scab (not too bad this year), But it is still shaping up to be one of my best harvests, and I am thankful!

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So I know this is a old thread. I did see people mentioning a pecan I bought and was wanting to get some information on it. The pecan I bought was Starks Hardy Giant Pecan which Stark Bros lists as self fertile and zone 5. I wanted to make sure that information is accurate that it will produce nuts by itself in zone 5. I live in Colorado if that makes a difference. I have talked to a few people at Stark Bros and they say it will produce by itself which the pollination chart seems to suggest.

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Almost all pecans that are self-fertile are actually protandrous but pistillate blooms overlap most of the pollen shed. Starking Hardy Giant fits this profile. In addition, it is very early maturity which makes it recommended for northern climates.

However, all pecans benefit from cross pollination. If you can fit in another tree, Lucas, Green River, and Oswego would be good choices for pollen compatibility. Lucas is similar in nut maturity so would probably be the best fit.

78

Picked up a 7 foot, 7 gal potted Pawnee on sale today. Need suggestions for a quick cropping type two to graft to it.

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You could use Kanza or possibly Lakota.

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At my momā€™s house in Oklahoma, was out in the back yard checking out her pecan tree I planted 6 years ago. To my surprise, I found these-

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I counted about 3 dozen husks on the tree. I imagine it got pollinated by a massive old pecan next door. I donā€™t even remember what variety it was when I bought it, other than it had a native American name like most of them. I got it at Atwoodā€™s, a local farm supply store. Maybe Comanche or Cherokee? Can you tell @Fusion_power or @Lucky_P which it might be by looking at these husks?

Also the treeā€™s leaves look a bit pale green, any advice on what kind of fertilizer to give it?

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81

Perhaps knowing what type of pecan you have is more important than knowing the variety.

Type I (protandrous) pecans have male flowers that release their pollen before their female flowers are receptive to pollen shed. Type II (protogynous) pecans release their pollen after their female flowers were receptive.