Nut Development: 12 August 2013

    This summer I've been posting a photo of nut development for three cultivars each Monday. Between rain drops I pulled another sample of Osage, Kanza, and Maramec (photo at right). The Osage nut has reached full water stage, while the Kanza kernel has developed 3/4 water. Maramec nuts are now 1/2 water stage. We've had  another week of cool wet weather since the last time I cut open pecans, so they continue to develop about 2 weeks behind normal.

    When I was pulling nut samples, I yanked an entire 6 nut cluster of Kanza nuts off the tree in my attempt to remove just a single nut . That's when I thought, "Wouldn't it be interesting to see if all 6 nuts in a cluster were developing at the same rate?" So I carefully sliced through each nut to reveal the stage of kernel development (photo at left).
   Even though I found variation in nut size within this nut cluster, it is amazing to see how consistent the nut development process occurs. All six nuts still have just a tad more kernel extension to accomplish before they reach full water stage.