What about USDA 63-16-182?

  During the Annual Meeting of the KNGA there was a lot of discussion about a USDA clone known as 63-16-182 (photo at left). It seems that down in Georgia, a grower had found a tree of this clone and assumed he had discovered a superior chance seedling. The grower then applied for, and received a patent for this clone calling it "Eclipse". Genetic tests of trees grafted to 63-16-182 and to Eclipse revealed that the trees are genetically identical. Regardless of the name, we have had this clone under test at the pecan Experiment Field since the mid 90's.
    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
              -----------------------     -----------------------
              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
--------------------------------------------------------------

    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.

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                Yield (lbs/acre)
           ---------------------------
           63-16-182    Lakota
------------------------------------
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.

Pecan Nut Evaluations

    Last Saturday, the Kansas Nut Growers Association met for their Annual Meeting. The highlight of the meeting was huge display of pecan cultivars (photo above). Each nut sample was cracked and the percent kernel determined. Growers inspected the samples carefully looking at nuts size and percent kernel. The impact of the 2012 drought was easily seen as many cultivars produced smaller than average nuts. However, there were some surprises as some cultivars were still able to produce quality nuts in spite of the dry weather.
   In future posts, I'll be sharing some interesting observations I made when looking over this year's nut samples.
  

Trimming last year's bark graft

    Last summer I top-worked a pecan tree using a bark graft and I showed you every step I took from placing the graft to mid-summer tree training. You can review those steps by clicking on the following posts.

1. Top working with a bark graft
2. Bark graft bursting
3. Training a new bark graft
4. Summer training a bark graft
5. Painting a bark graft

   Since only fresh air could cure my cabin fever,  I decided to go out this afternoon and show you how I  make some important trimming cuts on one-year-old bark grafts.

    My first step is to use a knife to peel into the bark of the stock on the opposite side of the trunk from the scion (photo at left). This gives me some idea how far the stock has died back. The green and cream-colored area is live bark. The cinnamon-colored area is dead tissue. This bark graft is somewhat unusual in that the bark didn't die back farther down the stem. In any case, I now know where I can make an angled cut on the stock to speed the healing over process.

    I like to cut the stock off on least a 30 degree angle (photo at right). This cut will help the tree callus over the wound much faster and will help build a stronger graft union. If  the bark had died back farther down the stock, I would trimmed the tree at a steeper angle to remove all the dead tissue on the top of the stock. With the size of the root system under this tree, I wouldn't be surprised to see this graft healed over by the end of the summer.

    The graft is not the only part of this tree that needs trimming. As you can see in the photo at left, I always like to leave some nurse limbs on a top-worked the tree to help feed the root system with leaf-manufactured carbohydrates. However, you can also see that several of these side limbs have produced shoots that are growing straight up toward the sun (photo at left). These shoots need to be pruned off to help focus all the tree's energy on pushing the new graft.

    I removed about one third of the shoots on the side branches (photo at right). In making my pruning cuts, I concentrated on removing upward growing shoots leaving shoots that where growing laterally. With less direct competition, this graft is now ready to grow vigorously when spring arrives.

Canton: An early-ripening, native pecan

  We've been going over some of our yield data and the results for Canton caught my attention (photos below). Canton is an early-ripening cultivar that was discovered as a native seedling growing near Canton Missouri in the Mississippi River floodplain (NE Missouri). What caught my attention was the consistent and increasing productivity of this cultivar ever since the Dec 2007 ice storm.

Canton shuck split, 7 Sept 2012

   Take a look at our recorded yields (lbs/acre) for our Canton trees spaced 42 ft. by 42 ft. apart (or 24 trees/acre). The trees were grafted in 1986.

        Year          Yield (lbs/acre)
        -------        ------------------
        2008                 1184
        2009                 1112
        2010                 1556
        2011                 2108
        2012                 2476

    The nuts produced produced by Canton trees amount to good quality native pecans (80 nuts/lb and 48.7% kernel)(photo at left). Here's the numbers from the last 5 years.
  
      Year      nuts/lb  % kernel
       -----      --------  -----------
       2008      69.4        48.9
       2009      86.2        48.9
       2010      86.2        45.4
       2011      76.0        49.9
       2012      86.7        50.5

    Canton produces a strong tree, resistant to wind and ice breakage. This cultivar is moderately susceptible to pecan scab and should be treated with a fungicide for best yield results. If you are growing pecans in a region were length of growing season is a major limiting factor, I would recommend grafting Canton to provide you with consistent nut production.  In areas with a little longer growing season, we have better cultivar choices such as Pawnee, Kanza, or Lakota.