Pecan

Thanks Darrel, you are extremely detailed as always. I think I’m going with Kanza. I called Mr. Hoffman and was able to get an order placed for a few pounds. His seed are pollinized by proven cold hardy cultivars. I plan to cull heavily if what has been reported is true regarding seedling vigor.

As an aside, my fall planted Syrup Mill is showing some signs of precocity.


This could just be arifact from the recent planting.

On a related note of late frosts, this is the first year I’ve seen persimmons blasted by late frosts (all my pecans dodged it). I think it was more the extremely warm Feb. Two of my persimmon cultivars got hit; however, they have fully recovered at this point. The below photo is from a few weeks back.

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I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. I too have a good bit of wet areas on my property. This makes a ton of sense, but the logistics of acquiring seeds pollinated by the two species would be very difficult. I guess you could bag and hand pollinate to ensure the genetics are there, but the amount of available seed would be very limited and expensive. Another route is to have either of the two hickories in a large field of just pecans. From what others have said regarding length of time to fruition of hickories this is no doubt “long term.” I guess grafting either of the two hickories as soon as possible using scion wood from an older tree would be the most logical step. There are quite a bit of hickories on my family property. I will have to keep my eyes peeled for C. Aquatica. Perhaps others here have access to C. Aquatica graft wood?

McAllister Hican sure favors the hickory portion

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What is the flavor like on Adams 5 pecan, and how well do the nuts crack? I have a couple of volunteer trees I plan to top-work. I’m trying to decide if I want Kanza on both or Adams 5 on one. My main concern in flavor. This is a no spray situation in South GA. I definitely do not want one of those cardboard pecans, which the small nuts generally taste better in my experience.

Adams #5 flavor is decent. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 as best, Elliott and Forkert run about 9 and Adams #5 about 8. Size on Adams #5 is 83 nuts per pound which is a bit on the small side.

This document is worth reading for info about rootstocks.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2327&context=usdaarsfacpub

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Darrel, I thought you and a few others may enjoy this http://www.caes.uga.edu/newswire/story.html?storyid=7558&story=UGA-Inventor

I’m looking forward to seeing the new cultivar.

Nice to see that. I spoke with DS a few times over the years. The last few emails I have from him show that his mental acuity is slipping. He has always been helpful which I have valued.

Most of the varieties he released overbear and most have relatively weak scab resistance. The possible exception is Huffman. I think Huffman has a lot of potential given current good scab resistance combined with large size and consistent yearly production.

Byrd combines a large nut with early maturity. This gives it very high appeal for the export market to China.

Morrill has potential because of extremely high percent kernel. I think it will be best adapted to the region from Albany south to central Florida. I have 2 trees, but am not counting on consistent production. I’ll use them for breeding work.

Tanner is a good pollinator for Forkert and has decent scab resistance. There are no other good pollinators for Forkert. This gives at least one very good reason to plant Tanner. It tends to overbear, but not so much as Morrill.

I don’t know anything about the new variety he plans to release. I had heard unofficially that there would be a release this year. A search of the patent database does not show a recent application. I’ll dig around online and see what turns up.

Consider emailing to ask if he has information that can be shared re the new variety.

Hey Darrel (or anyone who may have knowledge on this subject), are you guys experiencing a heat wave too? We are hitting temps in the 90’s for the next few days. I have a few more field grafts, but these temps are scary. I will probably wait until Saturday evening or Sunday in hopes of avoiding the hottest days.

Does your success rate for pecan and black walnut decline with temps in the high 80’s low 90’s? I understand patch budding can be done in hotter weather, but that is done lower on the tree in shade. I’m looking to top work.

Bill Totten once told me the optimum temperature for pecan grafting is ~86-87 degrees. Bill has been around a very long time. He’s the founder of ‘Hark’.

Dax

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Dax, it’s funny you say that. Doctor Lenny Wells told me that pecans “love heat.” This is rather unique in nuts IMO. I feel persimmon and pecan both love heat. Thankfully, we have tons of it down here.

Thanks for the reassurance.

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My bark grafts are coming alive


This is a volunteer that popped up in my fruit orchard. I plan on using it for scion wood only, I’ll keep it bush form.

The above photo was a large tree. My zoom wasn’t cooperating in the brightness. This one I will let grow to full size.

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High moisture is needed when temps are high. I’ve done grafts at temps in the 80’s and 90’s with no problems so long as I put the grafts on right after heavy rain.

Thanks Darrel, that’s good to know. The new predictions for the next few days are saying 89. I went ahead and finished bark grafting those 3 trees this morning.

Edit: next Saturday the high is predicted to be 96, crazy weather.

Major grafting day yesterday. I got several trees grafted in between thunderstorms. I would have done more, but we had rain for about 4 hours which limited my time outdoors.

One graft that I put on about a week ago has opened a bud and is actively growing. I cut off the tops of several trees that were grafted at the same time to force buds to initiate growth.

I started several trays of Kanza pecans to produce seedlings. There are about 20 emerging seedlings this morning. The plan is to produce about 300 seedlings in pots to set out and grow to maturity. If I don’t like what they produce or if they are susceptible to scab, I will graft them to a named variety.

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Gary Fernald and I grafted yesterday as a push to get as much of the rarer scionwood set as possible. Each day and you’re ahead of me, the percentages are going to go down hill. It’s great weather though topping off at 80 most days but the trees have pushed a foot of growth or more on the in-ground 3-6’ rootstocks. So, time is running short!

I look to have 100% success of the 11 walnut and pecan rootstocks I planted three years ago that finally got scions on them. Four are heartnuts; (3) Hark, (1) Mullahy, (1) Kanza, (1) Porter or Grainger I forget which, and a Lake Icaria. Planted more F2 Hark seedlings from the ortet that I lifted from a raised bed and will be planting more of them when my rototiller comes out of the shop from being fixed. Got this whole new acre opened up but tire tracks are stopping me from getting much accomplished and I have 23 huge holes to fill with an empty wallet. Sure like to get the other F2 Hark’s in the ground but they’re doing well in my cool garage in the meantime.

All the other grafts I set in a raised bed all appear good. Maybe 30 of a combination of hickory/hican/pecan; and a couple dozen persimmons. Did all kinds of various graft techniques. When possible I did a 3-flap every time. That’s my go to.

Dax

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Thanks for the reply. Did not see it till now.

I do not have Eclipse but do have all the others down through Kanza plus Deerstand, Dumbell Lake, Snaps, Carlson 3,
Iowa, Green Island Beaver, Campbell NC4, Norton, Shepherd, Goosepond, Fisher, Mandan, Peruque, Colby, Gibson and Hirschi.

Its starting off cool this year…no cooling degrees yet. It has warmed up considerably over the last ten years or would not started the project.

Takes about 5 weeks for a graft to grow in this cooler climate. By June we get into the 90’s. All the Pecan grafts in the field are complete today. Still have a few Black Walnuts and Chestnuts to do.

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I gathered dichogamy information for Adams #5 this spring. It is definitely type 1 with first pollen shed about the 29th of April and last pollen shed about the 11th of May. Pistillate flower receptivity is from the 5th to the 9th which means Adams #5 is a strong overlap pollinator. It has a very high probability of self-pollinating. Cold late spring weather delayed most pecans about a week compared to normal pollination times. In a normal year, I would expect the dates to be earlier though still with strong overlap.

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I put on grafts of Lakota, Cherryle, and Fred Blankenship’s Hickory Major today. Tomorrow will get out to my land and do some of the 15 year old trees there.

I have scionwood for about 20 more cultivars that I want to get grafted.

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What kind of traps are you guys using for our bushy-tailed friends? I’m trialing some galvanized rat traps. My .22 and .22 magnum get used quite a bit, but I figure everything helps. I’m not interested in using flashing as a guard for each tree