To many city folks, one of the most surprising parts of pecan farming is the fact that the harvest season often extends well into the winter months. This week, pecan harvesters could be seen buzzing around local native pecan groves still gathering the crop. This is the time of year for "second harvest". During second harvest, native trees that did not release all their pecans when shook the first time (in Nov.) are shook again. Then the entire grove is harvested again to capture newly fallen nuts and pecans missed during the first pass of the harvesters. At the Pecan Experiment Field, our native plots yielded 1530 lbs/ac during the first harvest with an additional 406 lbs/acre collected during the second harvest. Harvesting the pecan grove twice definitely pays for itself.
