We've had 9 inches of rain over the past week and I've found it hard to get out in the grove to look at pecan trees and take photos. Fortunately, the sun popped out today and I was able to take a quick look around a portion of my orchard. The nuts on most cultivars are fully sized with Kanza and Hark at full water stage. My oldest Hark tree has a trunk about 7 inches in diameter and has developed a nice full canopy (photo at right). This tree is located right next to a couple of Kanza trees so its easy to compare these two scab resistant cultivars.
As a young tree, Hark is easier to train than Kanza. Hark seems to have a more naturally spreading growth habit and produces fewer stalked buds than Kanza. As you know, stalked buds grow into narrow-angled branches that are prone to wind breakage. Although Kanza is not a terribly hard tree to train, I do need to keep a close look out for stalked buds during the early years of tree development.
The 2018 crop load on Hark appears to be very similar to my adjacent Kanza trees. The nut yield won't be limb breaking but the 2018 crop appears "good" on both these cultivars. In fact, Kanza and Hark have the best nut set of any cultivars growing on my farm this year. Hark set nuts mainly in clusters of three (photo at left). This cluster size is similar to Kanza and to Major, a parent of both Kanza and Hark.
With plenty of moisture available to fill out kernels, I'll be anxious to compare the nut quality of Kanza and Hark this coming Fall.
