I wish I had grafted more Kanza!

     Back in 1995, we grafted a 3 acre block of Kanza trees. Since we are surrounded by 8000 acres of native pecan trees,  I wasn't too worried that grafting a solid 3 acres to one cultivar would create a pollination problem.
     Now it is 15 years later, and we just recorded an average of 1050 lbs/ acre from this Kanza block on the first picking.  There are still nuts out there (probably 200-300 lbs/acre) that we'll get when we run the harvester over the grove for a second time. 
    The yield in 2010 was great but check out the kernel quality of freshly cracked Kanza nuts (photo above). Kanza may be the best shelling cultivar available for growing in the north. Kernel halves practically fall out of the shell after running the nuts through a Meyer pecan cracker. 
    I'm grafting more Kanza next spring!