USDA 63-16-182 resulted from a cross of Mohawk and Starking Hardy Giant and is a full sibling of Pawnee. We grafted 63-16-182 into a block of trees that also included USDA 64-6-502, now known as Lakota. Lakota resulted from a cross of Mahan and Major. With these two scab-resistant cultivars established at the same time in the same location, its only logical to compare them. Lets first look at nut quality.
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63-16-182 Lakota
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Nut wt. % kernel Nut wt. % kernel
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2010 6.51 60.02 8.81 58.22
2011 5.74 59.68 7.36 56.92
2012 6.31 58.35 7.68 58.67
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USDA 63-16-182 is a long, narrow nut that weights less, on average, than the wider, more-blocky Lakota cultivar (photo at right). The shape (long instead of blocky) and the extremely high % kernel of USDA 63-16-182 makes this clone very susceptible to shell breakage during mechanical harvest. Kernel color of USDA 63-16-182 is not consistently straw-colored. Darker kernels often appear in cracked samples or kernels may display dark blotches (photo above).
In terms of yield, a comparison with Lakota is also useful. During the early years of production (2001-2006), USDA 63-16-182 produced, on average, 245 lbs/acre. Lakota trees of the same age in the same block averaged 400 lbs/acre. In 2007, we loss the crop to the Easter Freeze. Later in the December 2007, we suffered an ice storm that severely damaged our orchard. USDA 63-16-182 was among the hardest hit cultivars by ice with over 75% limb loss (photo at right). In contrast, Lakota trees lost between 31% and 50% of their canopy limbs. Since the ice storm, the yield of these trees reflect the differences between USDA 63-16-182 and Lakota in terms of the severity of canopy loss, rate of yield recovery since the ice storm, and overall productivity.------------------------------------
Yield (lbs/acre)
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63-16-182 Lakota
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2008 0 246
2009 0 710
2010 87 1081
2011 271 1428
2012 881 1694
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USDA 63-16-182 ripens about 6 days before Pawnee at our location. That's about the same time as Peruque and 3 weeks earlier than Lakota. The early ripening characteristic of USDA 63-16-182 makes this clone adaptable to many northern pecan growing areas but that advantage is overshadowed by numerous deficiencies we've observed in kernel quality, tree productivity, harvest-ability, and tolerance to extreme weather conditions. Simply stated, USDA 63-16-182 is a clone I would not include in my orchard.
