Time for Fall fertilization

    If you can believe the National Weather Service we have a 80% chance of receiving a light Fall shower tonight. So today, I thought it wold be the perfect time to make our annual fall fertilizer application (photo above). We spread 100 lbs of urea per acre using conventional fertilizer spreading equipment. With this urea application, we added 46 lbs of nitrogen to each acre of pecan trees.
    As pecan trees prepare to move into winter dormancy, they produce a flush of new root growth. These actively growing roots aggressively take up the added nitrogen and store it in woody tissues to be mobilized next spring. With a ready supply of nitrogen, the tree will make vigorous new shoots and ample pistillate flowers next year.
   We have been making a Fall fertilizer application in addition to the regular Spring application for over a decade and have seen an overall increase in nut production and a decrease in alternate bearing.

Pecan cultivar shuck-split: October 2, 2017

Faith, 2 Oct. 2017

    The weather man is predicting an extended wet period starting in a couple of days. So today, I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the sunshine and check pecan cultivars for shuck-split. I found 13 cultivars with newly split shucks (photos at right and below).  As you look over the photos, keep these observations in mind.

Gardner, 2 Oct. 2017

 1) Peruque and USDA 75-8-9 should have shuck split last week but serious scab infections delayed shuck opening. Both cultivars are almost completely black with scab lesions.
 2) I couldn't resist taking a photo of a very large Pawnee nut cluster. There are 9 nuts in the photo below. The average Pawnee nut cluster has 4 pecans this year.

Pawnee, 2 Oct. 2017

 3) Jayhawk has a very heavy nut set this year. The photo below shows 3 Jayhawk clusters all hanging from a single limb. With this much nut set in 2017, the 2018 Jayhawk crop will be light or non-existent.

Jayhawk, 2 Oct. 2017

Eclipse, 2 Oct. 2017

Major, 2 Oct 2017

Mandan, 2 Oct. 2017

Peruque, 2 Oct. 2017

USDA 61-1-15, 2 Oct 2017

USDA 61-1-X, 2 Oct. 2017

USDA 75-8-9, 2 Oct. 2017

Waccamaw, 2 Oct. 2017

Yates 68, 2 Oct. 2017

Pecan cultivars that split shucks in late September

Osage, 28 Sept. 2017

   I spent a sunny afternoon looking over our pecan crop and photographing pecan cultivars that have split open their shucks since last week. I found 12 cultivars fully ripe (photo as right and below).
    As you look over the photos you can spot the cultivars that are susceptible to pecan scab. The 12 pecan cultivars that ripened this week can be broken down into three categories when it comes to pecan scab; resistant, susceptible but clean, and susceptible with scab lesions. The "susceptible but clean" cultivars are mildly susceptible to scab allowing our fungicide spray program to completely control the disease. The "susceptible with scab lesions" have a greater degree of susceptibility to scab infection and our spray program did not provide perfect control. Below is a list of the cultivars that ripened this week divided into the three scab susceptibility categories.

Resistant:   Norton, Osage, Shepherd

Susceptible but clean:  City Park, James, Posey, Surecrop, USDA 75-8-5

Susceptible with scab lesions: Canton, Colby, Witte, USDA 64-11-17

Norton, 28 Sept. 2017

James, 28 Sept. 2017

Colby, 28 Sept. 2017

 

City Park, 28 Sept. 2017

Canton, 28 Sept. 2017

Posey, 28 Sept. 2017

Shepherd, 28 Oct. 2017

 

Surecrop, 28 Sept. 2017

Witte, 28 Sept. 2017

USDA 64-11-17, 28 Sept. 2017

USDA 75-8-5, 28 Sept. 2017

More early ripening pecans split shuck

KT143 (Pawnee x Major)

    Yesterday, I spent the day in a hydraulic lift evaluating the nuts of pecan trees in our pecan breeding trial. I found 14 pecan hybrids that had split shuck since my last trip thru the orchard (Sept. 20)  As I traveled down the row of pecan crosses, I came to tree KT143. This tree has a special place in the history of our pecan breeding project. KT143 was the very first tree in the planting to start bearing pecans and has produced a crop every year since. KT143 is the result of a cross between Pawnee and Major. The nut appears to be scab resistant and the shucks opened before either parent this year (photo above).

    Of course, its whats inside the shell that counts when evaluating pecan hybrids. My records from previous years tell me that KT143 averages 7.52 g/nut and produces 54.8% kernel. From a practical point of view, I measured the 2017 crop and found it would drop out of a pecan sizer as a number 15 (15/16 inch).  As you can see from the photo above, the kernels have wide dorsal grooves meaning the kernels will drop free of all shell fragments when cracked. We currently have this clone under advanced testing in a new planting at the Pecan Experiment Field.