I’m in zone 5, so I’m mainly looking at the early varieties. The temperature that would stop nut maturation process should be 26F and below, right? What about a light freeze 27-32F at which I’m expecting leaves would fall down, can it continue maturation process after that, for instance, if it needs a couple more weeks to mature completely?
Within some limits, yes, a pecan can mature even after leaf fall. But! If it freezes, all stop, don’t pass go. Frozen pecans will die and fall from the tree as inedible mush. Zone 5 would suggest somewhere north of Moline IL. If so, only ultra northern varieties have a chance of maturing. That puts you back to Warren 346, Lucas, OC-6, and similar.
I have an unusual occurrence this year with Sumner pecan grafted 2024/04/24. My tree has a cluster of 3 nuts maturing. This is on a branch that was heavily pruned for scionwood back in February. One of the remaining spurs grew a branch with a cluster of female flowers which are developing. I have many other pecan trees up to 5 years old that have not yet produced a flower cluster. It is normal for some varieties to produce nuts only after 7 to 9 years from graft/transplant.
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From my experience I would say yes. My Sumner produced 15 or so nuts after only 3 years and then produced small amounts for the next 3-5 years. It was planted as not much more than as a whip. The 14 year Stuart has never produced. Maybe the Stuart was not a grafted tree.
I believe the word is precocious. Meaning that certain cultivars produce at an earlier age than others. Precocity seems (to me) to vary much more in pecan tree varieties than other fruit tree varieties. I would certainly say that it is normal for some pecans varieties to produce after 7 to 9 years. It just happens. The way that I look at it it is not necessarily when you have the first crop but when you have the first meaningly sized crop.
I am not absolute certain that I follow your statement though. I take it that you are saying that that you grafted a seedling tree with a Sumner scion and then had a cluster of 3 nuts the following year!? How old was your seedling? Why would you prune a branch for scion wood after only one year? It grew that much?
Sumner is a precocious tree as advertised and in my experience that is true. My Sumner nuts are average in size and thin walled. Industry seems to prefer the thin walled nuts but I wonder if they are lacking in durability.
I grafted Sumner on a 3 year old seedling last spring with 2 scions both of which took and grew about 4 feet tall. I cut one of them back for scionwood this spring leaving the other stem growing. The stem I cut back now has a cluster of nuts developing.
Lakota is far more precocious than Sumner, meaning it produces harvestable crops after just 5 or 6 years.
You should do really good with pecans since you are serious. In my view you have to be ultra serious to succeed with pecans. I can say without a doubt that I was not serious enough when I first started. Should have waited until I could purchase better varieties. Too many mistakes.
That’s good to hear. Of the three varieties you sent me I got Kanza and Lakota to take.
How precocious is Oswego?
I don’t know for sure re Oswego. Would expect it to be around 7 years for first significant production.
Hey, for several time, I work here in Germany to find pecans for Mid Europe, which grow and bear nuts. I got scions of different sorts from Wes Rice in the last years.
I find nuts on my selections of Lucas, James Early and James Pecan.
Also at one seedling tree
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Some of my lower limbs are almost touching the ground. I know that its normal for pecan limbs to droop but it annoys me to no end. Does folks here prune their limbs in the summer to remedy this?
I fertilized the trees in early may after realizing that I had missed fertilizing in late winter/early spring. Does it hurt to additionally fertilize in the summer months?
You can fertilize trees right now with no problems given your location in Tennessee. Don’t fertilize past the middle of July with a qualified exception of trees that produce a heavy crop can be fertilized in October to help build reserves before winter.
Yes, prune lower limbs on pecan. Yes, they always droop, it is literally in the DNA. I recall my ag teacher 50 years ago telling us that he cut low limbs from a pecan tree so he could mow the lawn. 3 years later, limbs were again dragging the ground. Trees benefit from better air flow after removing low limbs.
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Several years ago I had a discussion with a pecan grower from Clarksdale, MS. He informed me that Tennessee is really too far north for commercial pecans. I remember asking him which state was leading in pecan sales. He replied Georgia.
Just what price per pound could I expect to pay if I were to travel to Clarksdale to purchase top quality pecans (Stuart would be okay) from a commercial grower? Lets say a 100 pound sack full in late October.
If you purchase pecans anywhere these days, you will pay minimum of $3/pound. Very good quality pecans will run $6/lb. If you purchase from one of the tourist traps, expect to pay $8/pound regardless of quality.
Also, he is wrong re TN being too far north. Good quality pecans can be produced so long as the right varieties are chosen to plant. I’m growing about 30 varieties total here in Iron City though admittedly I planted some that are adapted much further north.
This weekend I visited my trees near Karlsruhe, Germany.
Here the small fruits of the nuts.
The larger is a seedling tree, the smaller one are " Kanza"
I hope to see ripen nuts in end of October.
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Well actually it was more than just several years ago more like many years ago as in back in the 90’s. Quite possible he was right at the time because that was before the newer varieties of pecans. I’m sure there were never any commercial pecans in my neck of the woods back then.
There were commercial plantings of pecan, here in western Kentucky, that I’m aware of, as early as 1960; possibly earlier. Also significant stands of native pecan along the Green and Ohio Rivers.
Major, Posey, Greenriver and other superior northern pecan cultivars have been grown and propagated in the Upper South & Midwest since the very early 1900s.
leaf miners of some sort
xylella can sometimes look similar
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How consistent from year to year are pecan trees in your area?
Back early 2000’s I purchased something like 3 pounds of nice Stuarts from a roadside stand just outside of Memphis. The seller said the pecans came from Western Kentucky. Never could understand why someone would need to bring pecans from that far to sell here, Should have asked. Looking back back I’m guessing that he had a surplus that year and just happened to be near Memphis and decided to profit. Never have thought that the pecans were from a real commercial planting though. Have not seen any roadside stands selling pecans since.
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The most northern commercial pecan grove currently in operation is in Missouri the best I recall. They have all northern varieties with yearly production that is a bit over half as much as a well managed gulf coast pecan grove.
John Brittain told me about selling several thousand grafted trees to a grower in eastern KY. I did not ask details but my impression was the guy had committed to just over 100 acres of trees. At 30 trees per acre X 100 acres, he was planting around 3000 trees.
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