I’d like to know, how the difference works genetically, because there doesn’t seem to be a continuum in the shell sizes. At least from what I observe - an obvious jump between seedlings of trees in physical proximity.
Crosses between pecans with large and small nuts show that small nut size is highly dominant. Conner evaluated crosses of Elliott X Desirable. One out of @60 seedlings produced medium large nuts. All the rest were small with quite a bit of size variation. Pecan and walnut are 2nd cousins so most of the findings should be true in both families. My personal experience is that large good quality black walnuts intercrossed tend to produce seedlings that make similar nuts to the parents. My ex-mil has a 25 year old seedling from Thomas that is at least as good and maybe a bit better.
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That’s been my experience with other walnuts as well.
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Georgia is all about Pecans of course. And in these parts old orchards are still dominated by “Stuart” {and seedling}. But new plantings are dominated by oily Elliot and Desirable.
Quite a lot of orchards tried Folkert to save the paper shell sweet meat segment. But it is not as care free as first thought. Ashamed as personally Sumner, the old paper shell standby is my favorite.
Just up the road a piece is the birthplace of the recent Excel. A mutant of Desirable with a superb large kernel. But dang it loves to stay in it’s shell…lol
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We have one large walnut tree, a seedling, that we call “Revenge On Mice” I also call it a fuel type. Most years it produces something that is too close to a black walnut in terms of shell thickness and ease of shelling. Decent size, very high oil content, great taste and a shell that can make the fabled 3mm margin and copies the core.They never crack at the joint line. We often just leave them on the ground so the mice are kept busy up in the orchard… And sometimes we add a few in a package for friends or family as a prank. On the upside, it won’t get moldy even if left out in mud and rain. 
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dannytoro1, Excel is not a mutant Desirable. It is thought to be a seedling of Pierce X Success. It is not one I would generally recommend due to problems with very limber limbs which prevent shaking. Also has problems with overbearing and alternate bearing.
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You should tell UGA and Andy Clough who introduced it and patented it.
https://pecanbreeding.uga.edu/cultivars/alphabetical-list/excel.html
I’m literally 6 miles from the orchard it came from.
Call Andy and ask. He will tell you Pierce X Success. He also patented Eclipse which is a USDA selection. In other words, his patent is invalid.
“GA seedling (Pierce County) suspected to be Pierce x Success. Type II. 45 nuts/lb. 49% kernel. Excel has a unique combination of large nut size, excellent scab resistance, and early harvest date, about October 7. Kernels are bright, but kernel percentage is only moderate as shells are thick. Yields are high, but alternate bearing and overbearing may be a problem on older trees. Excel is recommended for commercial and low input planting, for growers with shakers or access to hedging machines to reduce the excessive crop load. In 2013, I observed enough scab to consider lowering Excel into the “Good” resistance category rather than “Excellent”, but the scab was only in one location and did not recur in 2014, so for the time being, I still consider scab resistance excellent on Excel. Excel is pollinated by Creek, Desirable, Gafford, Caddo, and Cape Fear.”
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I had not heard of alternate bearing on it. Not surprised though. Pecans can have such different habits at different ages. Also the first time I heard of Excel being a product of old heritage lines.
I would never grow Excel here since it really needs to be machine cracked.
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I spoke with Jason Burkett about Excel 2 years ago while standing beside a tree loaded with nuts. He literally said “I want to get rid of it”. Specific faults he listed were overbearing, poorly filled nuts, and most of all the problem with shaking given the very flexible limbs. It also suffers from a lot of limb breakage under heavy fruit load. As a younger tree, it looks pretty good. As a 20+ year old tree, it looks pretty bad. Auburn has Excel trees grafted in 2000, 2008, and 2012.
With the above said, I still have an Excel tree purchased in 2011 from Gary Underwood in Robertsdale Alabama. I also have a Surprise and a Pawnee but wouldn’t give you a plugged nickel for either.
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@Fusion_power Have a question for you. If I graft onto and existing already fruiting walnut, does that speed up the time for the graft to fruit. Or would it still take the same amount of time as grafting onto a not fruiting less mature tree.
For most trees, a transition occurs from juvenile growth to adult reproductive phase. Once a tree has transitioned, it stays in reproductive phase with a caveat it can be forced back to juvenile with some specific steps. Scionwood is usually taken from reproductive phase tissue meaning it is already primed and prepared to produce fruit. So grafting onto either a fruiting or non-fruiting mature tree will generally take the same amount of time to bear fruit because the controlling tissue is the scionwood which is presumed already in reproductive phase.
Where this varies is when mature reproductive scions are grafted on juvenile seedlings. Production will usually not occur until the rootstock reaches a size large enough to store reserves over winter for fruit to mature the next growing season. It is important to push rootstocks to grow rapidly because it produces a large enough root system faster thereby enabling early production. With both pecan and walnut, I’ve had nuts produced in 5 to 7 years after grafting on established seedling rootstocks. Grafted on a larger more mature tree, production is much sooner, usually 3 to 5 years.
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