Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Pecan budbreak advancing slowly

Leaf burst on Greenriver 17 April 2013
   I checked on our pecan trees today and found that bud development is progressing but at a very slow pace (photo at right). The weather this year has been wild. We get 2-3 days of warm, spring-like temperatures then we plunge right back into the cold of late winter. Luckly, the temperatures have stayed above 30 F and we haven't observed any cold injury to emerging buds.
    
Leaf burst on Osage 17 April 2013
    As bud development continues, you can start to pick out those cultivars that shed pollen early (protandrous flowering). Catkins on the Osage cultivar are plainly visible (photo at left). Compare the protandrous flowering habit exhibited by Osage buds to the emerging buds of the protogynous flowering Grennriver cultivar pictured above. The catkins on Greenriver have yet to make their appearance.

Bud elongation on Kanza 17 April 2013
     Kanza and most of our other pecan cultivars are still in the bud elongation stage of development (photo at left).   Chetopa, Giles, Norton, Niblack, and Jayhawk were all in the bud elongation stage.