With temperatures hitting the 80's (>27 C) a few days ago, everyone is talking about Spring arriving early this year. So today, I went out to the pecan grove to see if I could find any signs of bud growth on our trees. The vast majority of pecan cultivars I inspected were still fully dormant. The Pawnee and Posey twigs pictured above are just two examples of cultivars with dormant buds. On the other hand, Mohawk buds have started to split open the outer bud scale (crack in the scale marked by red arrow). To get a closer look at the Mohawk bud click on the photo for a full screen photo.
Outer scale split is the very first indication of pecan bud swell. It also marks the time when pecan roots start their spring flush of new growth. In just a couple of weeks we should see all pecan cultivars start bud expansion. In five weeks time, I'll be grafting trees.
