Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Pecan cultivars that ripened in early October

Major, 4 Oct 2016
    I was back out in the orchard looking for more cultivars with split shucks. Today, I found just three. Major is one of our standard northern pecan cultivars and a cultivar that has been around since 1908. Jayhawk is a seedling of Giles and Yates 68 looks to be a hybrid of Major and Posey.
   The shucks of a Major nut split along the suture lines but hardly open up  (photo at right). It will take a hard freeze to kill the green shucks before Major nuts are released from the tree.
Jayhawk, 4 Oct 2016

    Jayhawk and Yates both yield well but their kernels have major defects. Jayhawk kernels are often mottled with light brown spots over the straw-colored nut meats. Yates 68 kernels turn dark quickly after harvest in a fashion similar to Posey.
Yates 68, 4 Oct 2016