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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Pecan Cultivars that ripened by mid-October

Chetopa, 10 Oct. 2014
Dooley, 10 Oct. 2014
Giles, 10 Oct. 2014
Greenriver, 14 Oct 2014
Lakota, 14 Oct. 2014
Oswego, 14 Oct. 2014
    The rain started late last week and by Monday evening nearly 9 inches (228 mm) fell in total. Between the rain and the dark skies, I was unable to photographic several cultivars that split shuck by October 10. However, the sun popped out today and I was able to record shuck-split photos for the 3 cultivars that ripened last Friday and three more cultivars that ripened over the wet and deary weekend.
    Last week, I checked on shuck split and found that Chetopa, Dooley and Giles had ripened (photos at right and below).  The photos reveal that all three of these cultivars are susceptible to pecan scab but the infections did not prevent normal shuck split.
   This week, Greenriver, Lakota, and Oswego opened their shucks (photos below). Note how nice and clean the shucks of these three scab-resistant cultivars appear in the photos.
   When I was looking for a cluster of Oswego nuts to photograph, I came across a cluster that contained a double nut (photo at bottom of post). Twin nuts originate as two fused pistillate flowers that share a common shuck wall but have separate stigmas and ovaries. At harvest, the twin nuts fall as a pair fused only at the very base of the shell. They often break apart during mechanical harvest.