Over the past month I have been showing you the development of pecan kernel inside the nuts of three cultivars: Osage, Kanza, and Maramec. My first post showed all three cultivars in the water stage on
August 3rd. Then I showed you how these pecans were filling kernel on
August 10th, followed 10 days later with a post on
August 20th. Another 10 days have passed and its time to see how things have progressed (photo above). Remember, we finally got some
much needed rainfall during the weekend of August 24-25-26 and kernel filling is now much improved. Osage and Kanza are now tightly packed with kernel. The late maturing Maramec nut seems to be still working on the kernel filling process. With the remnants of tropical storm Isaac predicted to graze our area this weekend, the additional rainfall should allow all cultivars to develop full kernels.
To make it easy to see how pecan kernel developed over the month of August, I've patched together the photos from August 10, 20 and 30 (see below). In every photo, Osage is on the left, Kanza in the center and Maramec on the right.
Its interesting to note that the 1.7 inches of rain that fell last weekend not only helped pack out the kernel of all nuts but it also caused the shuck of the Kanza and Maramec nuts to thicken significantly. It is likely that the rain came too late in the development of the Osage nut to effect the shuck of this early ripening pecan.
