I am new her and stumbled upon the discussions about peacan. I would like to plant them in northern Germany, in direct vicinity to the coast.
The climate is moderate: not very cold in winters, very few days below 0 C, some frost but hardly any days with less than -5 C and only every few years -10 - -15 C for a very few days max.
But the summers are also not very hot - average in the low 20 Cs, only few days above 30 C.
We get 700-800 mm of rain each year, it’s very wet in the winters normally but also during summer. Plus the ground water level is not far from the surface (but changing due to the proximity to the sea, we are on sea level, so lack of water is not an issue for trees (if they can take it…)
Does anyone have a perspective/ experience if planting pecans makes sense here and what varieties would work best?
I dont think anyone will have your exact situation since pecans are a USA crop. The chill hours are variable but i think you can find some that will work for you
Hello and welcome Johannes. Here are previous threads with relevant posts.
For your area, ultra northern varieties would be best. Campbell NC4, Lucas, and Warren 346 should be first choice. You may also be able to grow Hark and Kanza though both may need a longer summer than your area provides.
A Dutch nursery has these varieties, also, a northern adapted rootstock will be needed.
27 to 31 inches of rain is fairly dry. That is a little more rain than we had this year. The temperatures seem heavenly 32F - 5F in the winter & In the summer 68F - 86F. Have no doubt pecans should be happy there. They will benefit from extra water.
Thanks all for your quick responses! It’s quite difficult to buy pecans here, what I can get my hands on are
Kanza
Peruque
Yates 127
Major
Carlson 3
Abbott
Burton
Yates 68
Deerstand
James
Snaps
Oswego
Busseron
McAllister
Not much overlap with the suggested list suggested, do you have any perspective on what of those would be the best choices?
Yes, thanks - most are sold out unfortunately… does anyone have experience with the very northern types such as Carlson, Deerstand and Snaps? Thought they might work even better…
Pecans need to dry in the shell at least a couple of weeks after shuck split. That drying can be on the tree or after harvest. They are soft and don’t taste good until the kernel dries out. Mine are still soft in the shell. I dry a few weeks indoors before trying to eat them.
My thought about pecans near the coast of northern Germany is that they will lack heat. Even the short season varieties may not get enough heat. But I’d have to see the climate data to give a better opinion.
We had a long hot summer. 30 days near 40C. 120 days above 30C. And my pecans are still not fully ripe.
I’d also wonder if the soil isn’t too wet from high water table.
Wes Rice’s books have the most information about ultra early pecans, I’ll see if I can locate my copies. In general, they produce smaller nuts in the range of 200 per kilogram, are harder to crack, and have a wide range of maturities. Carlson 3 and Deerstand are the best of the three varieties named. Carlson 3 is 163 nuts per kilogram where Deerstand is 222/kilogram. For comparison, Warren 346 is 211/kilogram, Campbell NC4 is 150/kilogram, and Lucas is 237/kilogram. For ultra northern locations, smaller nuts are more likely to mature. Also, Warren 346 is extremely early maturing.
I did a bit of reflecting and remembered that University of Nebraska Lincoln has a long standing pecan evaluation program. William (Bill) Gustafson used to be in charge of it. I don’t know if he is still there, but if so could probably shed more light than I can on growing pecans in extreme northern climates. An email might be worth the effort. wgustafson1@unl.edu
I visited Bill Gustafson in 2009 on a trip through Nebraska. He is a very knowledgeable man concerning pecans and walnuts. Best I recall, he is fluent in several languages possibly including German.
Aren’t successful pecan growers in northern areas considered to be outliers?
A commercial pecan grower near Clarksdale, Mississippi (100 mile south of me) back in the day told me that Tennessee is too cold for pecans. Tennessee is not a northern state. Yet I see that there are pecan orchards in much more northern states such as Kansas and Kentucky. I know that in the last 30 years or so that pecans are being bred for northern areas. Even so I would think that for northern states that the circumstances for successfully having pecan production is extremely strict.
Back in 2010 when I first got into planting pecan trees it was extremely difficult to purchase the newer varieties.
Kansas and KY are way hotter in summer than northern coastal Germany. That area of Germany is not far from London. London is cold by US standards. Hazel nuts would be a better crop by far in that area.
I planted 20 pecan trees this fall on a well drained south facing slope in 5b NY. I used 7 deerstand, 3 posey, 5 warren 346, and 5 Campbell nc4. I was unable to get Lucas or I would have gotten them instead of the posey. If they survive I’ll do a row of Lucas. Wish me luck.
It would all be for personal consumption/ friend’s & family, or most likely squirrels. I’m young so I’d figure I’d take the gamble. I see other people growing pecan in 5b but they have more cooling degree days than I.
Success in northern areas is far more likely with cultivars adapted to the climate. I suggested ultra northern varieties as optimum for Germany. They are far more likely to be productive in the given temperatures.
Pecans are native through much of the Mississippi river watershed including quite a bit of zone 5. Western Iowa and eastern Nebraska are native range. Several readily available native selections are from this area.
One problem is that current selections for northern regions make small - some would say too small - nuts. Everything I know about plant breeding says we can select for larger and earlier maturing varieties to extend the range into parts of southern Canada.
Some potential exists for dramatic changes in pecan production. Grauke documented a pecan tree in Mexico that matured nuts in June. What if we could pick up pecans at the beginning of summer instead of at the end?