When I was collecting pecan samples from our cultivar trial last fall, I came across our Oswego trees and, frankly, I was little disappointed. The nuts were small and not that well filled (sample from Chetopa at right). It wasn't until I collected samples from our cultivar trial at New Madrid, MO that my faith in Oswego as a cultivar was restored (photo at right). The New Madrid sample had the size and kernel quality that spurred the naming of this seedling in the first place.
I've talked about the effects of
tree size and drought on nut size,
nut shape and quality in previous posts. Here we see similar results. The Oswego nut from New Madrid was produced by a tree that was irrigated all throughout last summer's heat and drought. In contrast, The Oswego nut from Chetopa was produced by a young tree that was not irrigated. I'm so glad I decided to set up multiple sites to test pecan cultivars.
