For someone new to pecans, what would you recommend for zone 6B? And which nursery? Thanks.
Need to know specifically your location (or the nearest metropolitan area) from you, Laura. A zone sort of helps but it’s not definitive enough information.
Dax
Thanks, Dax. Northern Maryland, near I-83, about 15 miles south of the Pennsylvania line.
You have 164 frost free days as an average, annually.
You have plenty of summer heat and plenty of winter cold to grow pecans. In fact you have awesome heating degree days conditions and cooling degree days to grow pecans.
Based on the frost free days you need to select cultivars that fill their nuts in 165 days or less. Your two best selections for flowering compatibility and maturation are ‘Hark’ and ‘Mullahy’. I graft both of these or you could get a really large ‘Hark’ from John at Nolin River Nursery spring of 2018. I’ve been sending John scionwood of Hark. You may call John to ask he grafts some Mullahy this spring as a request, for you.
The difference among John and I is that I bench graft one-year whips and sell them 3-months after they’ve proven good callousing and stayed alive. Whereas John has large seedling rootstocks in the ground that he grafts onto and gets phenomenal growth in a year. Then he hires backhoe guys to dig his roots. My grafts are 15 dollars + shipping and Johns will be something like 50 - 80 dollars + shipping.
Dax
1 Like
Thank you very much, Dax. That is tremendously helpful. I’ll give it some thought on which route I want to go. Much appreciated. After reviewing your earlier posts on Hark, I am definitely interested. But I have never grafted.
My trees are 1 ft. approximately and John’s are 4-6’ tall.
If you haven’t grafted you’d spend a ton less just buying trees. Pecans are not the easiest to graft (wood is extremely hard) and getting a good connection is always important (no gaps between scion and rootstock when tied together and mending/callousing.)
I’m on ebay as conifers825
I’ll begin to sell usually the 2nd thru the 4th week of June.
Dax
1 Like
Thanks!
Sure thing.
Dax
Just going to add my two cents to this. I have one pecan tree. As far as I can tell it was probably planted sometime in 1916 and is now probably 40 ft tall and 4-5 (maybe more as I have not taken a tape measure to it) ft in diameter. It was taller but hurricane rita came through and knocked down a BUNCH of branches. No clue what variety it is as I do not know much about the named cultivars. It does give out a good helping of pecans, probably every other year. This last year between what the squirrels missed and what got lost in the grass I harvested two gallon size ziploc bags full of pecans. I am eventually going to probably remove it because if it ever comes down it will probably take out both my house and the neighbors next doors house along with anything else in the way.
I had two beautiful Ash trees in my front yard that I had to remove because of the Ash Borers got to them. I love pecans, I used to have a neighbor in Mississippi that had a bunch of them and let me have as many as I wanted. Dax, is there a pecan tree that grows well in the 6a Zone?
1 Like
Hi Bob,
SE Ohio 6a is most likely going to be ‘Hark’ and ‘Mullahy’ again. You probably don’t have enough summer days to mature ‘Kanza’. Go to Google and search: Dave’s Garden Frost Free Dates and let me know what come up. You’re going to need about 185-190 days for Kanza. It’s basically a nut that needs two weeks more than my climate has. I have 170 and it’s exactly what ‘Hark’ needs.
The calculator at Dave’s Garden isn’t nearly as accurate as post 92 up above, but it let’s me know from my data what you should or shouldn’t grow.
Dax
1 Like
Looks like I’m out of it a bit 160-166 depending on what chart used.
I would try Hark and Mullahy. You’ll know in 5-8 years if Hark matures completely. My guess is it will with no problem.
If it doesn’t, you bark graft something other on it.
Dax
Hi Dax,
Will you be selling on EBay this year? Interested in the Iowa Pecan you mentioned.
Thank you,
Darshan
Hello Darshan,
I have one Iowa I grafted last year. 6-8" plant not including the pot.
I switched to a completely new system this year. Two weeks ago I potted everything into tall tree pots which means I am not going to sell this year, but next year. I didn’t think there would be a demand for Iowa so I didn’t graft any this year.
I can go put your name and screen-name on it right now. If that suits you, send a message whenever you’re ready to receive it next year and I’ll get it right out to you.
Next year, I will remove it from the container and send it mostly bareroot.
15$ bucks for the tree plus shipping (probably 9-12 dollars depending where you live.) It’ll ship in a Priority mail tube box.
Best regards, thanks.
Dax
P.s. members will get a 15$ - 20$ (large graft) price however my price will be slightly higher for the general public. If and when anyone finds me on ebay (conifers825), write a note stating who you are on the group. For example, I am Barkslip. I will get your price adjusted prior to purchase. And really I’d like to skip ebay altogether so they don’t take our money… using paypal alone. Appreciate it.
1 Like
I’ll take it! Thanks for all the info you have shared about northern pecans, Hark, Mullahy, Warren 346 etc.,
Does Hark split shuck earlier than Kanza in your area?
Darshan
Yes, 2-weeks earlier I believe. Kanza if much smaller than Hark here. If grown in the northern pecan belt, they’re the same kernel size within 100ths of a gram.
Here is Kanza grown in Kansas and Hark
You’re most welcome, Darshan. Your tree is tagged.
Dax
1 Like
Hi Dax,
What other grafted pecans will you have available for sale this coming winter?
Darshan
1 Like
I have Hark, Kanza, Goosepond, P-3 ( I think is the name), Nof’s Early, (had to toss 20 Mullahy) because one guy involved in the scions thinks he gave me a wood off of a seedling of Mullahy & I had a difficult year this year. I may have a few Mullahy from late grafts this year but a lot of the rootstocks are a carrot-root. I have a few ‘Selbher’ shellbark hickory, a few James Hican.
I hope next-year is really good and those grafts will be available in 2019.
Dax
2 Likes
What do you use for pecan root stock and the meaning of carrot-root? What are the pollination requirements of Selbher Shellbark and James Hican. Thank you!
Darshan
2 Likes