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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Kanza - Quality kernels at any size

    I admit, I am a fan of the Kanza pecan cultivar. One of the reasons I'm such a fan is that Kanza seems to produce quality kernels even under the most severe growing conditions.
   All the nuts in photo at right are all collected from Kanza trees this year. On the left side of the photo are nuts and kernels collected from trees growing in the Neosho River flood plain (Osage silty clay soil).  On the right side are smaller Kanza nuts produced by trees grown on a "second bottom" or Cherokee silt loam soil.  Previously, I wrote how soil type and position in the landscape influenced water stress intensity this past summer. In this case, a serious lack of water for trees growing on the second bottom site led to a dramatic reduction in nut size. However, the nice thing about Kanza is that regardless of nut size, kernels are always bright and plump.