i thought that stinkbugs are the primary cause for the little black spots on pecan kernels. I’ve seen some of that but not this year.
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I’m glad to hear you say that, then…
Dax
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There are plenty of soybean fields around me and I’ve just read that soybeans are a magnet for stinkbugs so your probably right.
Anything that kills the kernel at the water stage results in a rotten pecan at harvest. Water stage is usually 2 months before pecans naturally fall to the ground. Stinkbugs and pecan weevils both cause damage to developing pecans. Stinkbugs usually cause the black spots on the kernel that taste very bitter if bitten into.
Kernel fuzz is usually a combination of genetics and drought. Stuart is known for kernel fuzz when it is water stressed.
Drought stress also causes “sticktight” pecans that don’t separate from the husk. If you cut open a sticktight, it will often have a kernel that is flat and lacking in oil.
Ask yourself if your pecan tree had significant drought stress this year. If so, that is the likely cause of several of the above kernel quality issues.
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Somebody liked this post of mine from 2015 yesterday evening. I haven’t changed my mind apparently:
No need to debate me. It’s a preference thing. I was never intending to debate to begin with, friends.
Dax
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F_p sent me a sampler of pecans last week - really nice. I’ll be attempting to graft the Florence pecan into my collection this coming spring.
2022 was a dismal year for pecans here… we’ve been in severe drought conditions most of the summer. Had significant nut abortion during late July/August. Following that, a high percentage of nuts that held on until normal nut drop time are ‘sticktights’ - shuck will not detach, nuts are hung in the tree - and most that fall or are knocked out have shriveled, unfilled kernels. I’d hazard a guess that less than 25% of the crop set managed to fill, split shucks, and drop normally - and this is a drought-related issue, not a pecan scab or insect pest problem.
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Cliffie England told me about the drought at his place in TN. It was droughty here too. He doesn’t think some at least of his kaki grafts will be alive next year because of the drought.
Onto Fred and I. I got off the phone literally when you posted and said, 'you told me about “Stuarts” being said in the south as common folk talk. “Yes”/‘Yes’ Fred said. Anyways, Dax (I felt compelled to ask him)
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Dax, 25% of the pecan trees planted and growing in the south are still Stuart. Many are abandoned today, but the trees are still out there growing. When I was in Ag class in 1975, the only pecan variety we studied by name was Stuart. The first pecan tree I purchased about that same time was a Stuart. We all knew and referred to Stuart pecans and we understood it to be a specific variety. It got so embedded in the region that people growing a few pecan trees would plant only Stuart. The all time record high production for a 65 year old tree belongs to Stuart. We can talk about any other variety, but when it comes to production for a 65 year old tree, no other variety is even close.
The paradigm changed starting about 1960 when newer varieties came to market and when Stuart first showed significant scab susceptibility. Before that, it was bulletproof and reliably productive. There are other historic varieties such as Pabst, Alley, etc. Each had a time and day where it was popular but then fell to the wayside as newer varieties came along. Stuart endured and still produces heavy crops for people who spray with fungicides and insecticides.
I’ve bought them.
Okay, much regards, now.
Dax
I’m in a bit of an anal New Year mode today getting some pecans weighed. These pecans are dried out after sitting in my kitchen since October. These pecans were harvested (with permission) from the trees at Auburn’s EV Smith farm. Florence was harvested from the tree on the edge of Shoals Creek between Florence and Killen Alabama. The tree is actually on public land, but the guy who lives in the house and who planted the seedling 30 years ago helped me gather them.
- Florenece 65/lb (normal 54 weighed 3 weeks after harvest)
- Gafford - 61/lb (normal 50)
- Kanza - 58/lb (normal 74)
- Lakota - 68/lb (normal 54)
- McMillan - 52/lb (normal 51)
- Zinner - 58/LB (normal 48)
What is interesting in this? Well, the Lakota are definitely light weight which reflects a severely overbearing tree. Gafford is also a bit low, as is Zinner. Kanza is a surprise much larger than normal. McMillian is almost exactly on point with 52 per pound. Why? We had a drought in mid-summer that affected these trees quite a bit. The combination of heavy loads of nuts along with water stress reduced nut sizes on all trees except Mcmillan and Kanza. Both McMillan and Kanza had normal loads as compared with the others that had excessive crops. What about Florence? It is a very good looking nut that when fresh harvested runs 54/LB. The most surprising thing about it is the overall size of a pack of nuts. They are very heavy relative to the nut size. In other words, the nut volume is lower for a given weight of nuts. This is not necessarily a good trait as densely packed pecans can be difficult to crack and shell. Fortunately, Florence appears to be an easy cracker. Good thing too, I’m going to graft several more trees next spring.
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Our Stuart’s produced really well this year. We’ve had them under an intense fertilization program for the past three years. Great nuts and the average tree produced 200-400 pounds. Not bad for 80-90 year old trees. Picked up about 4000 pounds but the prices were horrible. Drought pushed the nut drop back several weeks
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A person growing pecans in Holland writes to my friend about their 2022 harvest:
Last season we had a reasonable crop of Carlson, Snaps and Deerstand,
some other varieties did set fruit but the nuts were not fully grown or remained empty.
Lots of head scratching and second guessing with the smaller commercial pecan growers around here. When you can get a $1 per pound for the so called lesser varieties and spend a ton and getting $1.35 tops for improved varieties, it makes you wonder. One grower I know had over sixty cents a pound in his before he got his spraying bill and not counting irrigation. Best he got was a dollar and quarter a pound. Meanwhile we got 65 cents for seedlings and a dollar for Success, Sumner, Stuart, etc. We still lost money when you figure in the fertilizer bill was highest ever. If this continues, you’ll see lots of young orchards being cut down for pines or row crops. By the way, we made 100-400 pounds per tree on most of our older varieties.
Staziak, the contretemps with China caused a lot of grief for pecan growers by depressing prices. Combine that with record production in Mexico and ramping up production in a few other countries and you have a recipe for lots of pecan growers to go under financially. Average “cost” to produce pecans in the U.S. including all inputs, labor, and equipment runs about $2.20 per pound. That is just an average so some can get by a bit cheaper and some a bit higher.
I’m willing to bet Stuart was your best producer on a per tree basis. Also, guessing your trees are spaced about 7 or 8 per acre at that age.
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Hi, I would like to ask you something privately. Does that chat have that possibility? Or can you give me your email maybe? Tnx
Send whomever a private message by clicking on their icon. Then the box “Message”.
Hey I enjoyed this thread, just read it from the beginning. I don’t have any hard mast trees but oaks. 
I’m in technically zone 6A but I only look for plants that are hardy to 5A just for safety sake.
They produced 400-500 pounds per tree and they are spaced 60 feet apart. Also had good luck with Sucess, Moneymaker, and Cape Fear.
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Here is a photo of pecan seedlings in 5 gallon containers. The tallest are about 2 feet with most between 12 and 18 inches. This is not enough growth to make tree large enough to graft in less than 3 years. It is plenty of growth to make seedlings to set out on my land so they can grow into trees for grafting. There are 20 to 30 seedlings in each container.
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Howdy, is it possible to grow pecans in my area of New York? I’m in Z5b with 163 frost free days. I’m going to attach my hdd/cdd for Binghamton NY which is the closest city I could find. Reading through if I can grow them I would do deerstand for protogynous and lucus/snaps/Carlson 3 as the protandrous, unless you think Hark/Kanza or some other variety would work better for me. Any information/suggestions would be appreciated on this for my area. Also I would like try hican’s as well and I bought some javid’s Iranian almond on a whim. I plan to do all these on a south facing slope with good drainage.
Edit: no need to answer, I read back farther based on my cdd I see barkslip recommends NC-4/Mullahy and getting a correct rootstock.
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