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| Kanza, 6 Sept. 2018 |
This fall I'm taking the time to closely compare the performance of Hark to Kanza. As readers of this blog know, Kanza is my favorite pecan cultivar because it produces high quality kernels, is scab resistant, and produces good pecan crops annually. Hark is a relatively new cultivar that has shown great promise. In comparison to Kanza, Hark has similar nut size, kernel quality, ripening date, and scab resistance. The importance of Hark is that it is protandrous and would be a prefect pollen partner for Kanza, a protogynous cultivar. However, being a new cultivar, Hark does not have a long track record of performance. How will a 40-year-old Hark tree perform? It will be decades before we find out.
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| Hark, 6 Sept. 2018 |
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Today, I stopped by my Kanza and Hark trees to check on their kernel development. Seeing a good crop of pecans on both cultivars gets me excited for the coming harvest season.
I pulled a cluster of Kanza nuts off a tree then collected a similar cluster from a Hark tree. Holding both clusters in my hand (Kanza on left, Hark on right), I photographed the nuts to give you a good idea about the size of these nuts. In the photo above, it looks like Hark is a little larger than Kanza.
I cut a nut from each cultivar to check on nut development (photo above). The shells inside reveal that the nuts are very close in size. But note the thicker shuck on Hark. This is why Hark looks bigger than Kanza while still green and hanging on the tree. I also noted that Kanza is a little behind Hark terms of kernel filling. However, with all the moisture we've received the past few weeks, both cultivars should have no problem packing the inside of the shell with kernel.
