The photo above shows five early-ripening cultivars. Warren 346 is fully packed with kernel with all the internal packing material compressed to a orange-brown color. Shepherd and Colby nuts are largely filled with kernel but the light color of the packing material indicates that nut fill is still progressing. The Osage nut has a kernel that still has several air gaps. However the color of the packing material indicates that kernel fill is nearly complete and we might be left with a poorly filled nut meat. Faith is typically an early maturing cultivar however this nut has a long way to go in filling out the inside of the shell.
The final group of cultivars represent pecans that typically ripen during the last two weeks of October. Mohawk is still in the water stage with only the slightest evidence of kernel deposition. Mohawk is also the latest ripening cultivar among these four pecans. Greenriver was still mostly water but the nut has developed a visible layer of kernel just inside the seed coat. Both City Park and Lakota have a visible layer of white kernel and a prominent layer of "gel" inside. This gel layer will soon solidify and become solid white kernel.
A pecan enters the final stages of nut maturation when the shuck begins to separate from the shell. This process starts at the apex of a nut and works towards the base. Of all the nuts I collected on September 1st, only Warren 346 showed the first signs of shuck separation (photo at right). Over all, nut development this year seems behind schedule. This is probably due to the cooler than normal summer we have experienced in 2015. However, plentiful rainfall during August should guarantee excellent kernel quality at harvest.