Kanza will need crop load thinning

   By the first day of August, pecans have gained enough size to be clearly visible on the tree. Looking at my Kanza trees, I could already see limbs weighted down with an immense crop (photo at right). More than 80% of the Kanza tree's terminals are supporting a nut cluster with each cluster containing 4 to 6 nuts. Left alone until fall, these trees will produce a huge crop of poorly filled nuts and will not be able to produce a sufficient number of pistillate flowers next year. It is a lose - lose situation. Poor quality nuts in the Fall and no crop next year.

   To avoid these problems, I plan to shake my Kanza trees this summer to significantly reduce the crop load. As you may recall, I  thinned the nut crop on all my Kanza tree last year and had great results.

    Crop load regulation works best when the nuts achieve between 3/4 and full water stage. At that point in nut development, the nuts are heavy enough to be removed by shaking but have not yet invested a lot of tree energy into filling the kernel.

   As the pecan near full size, I start cutting open pecans to check for nut development. Pictured at right is a Kanza nut I pulled from the tree today. The nuts seem smaller than usual this year, most likely due to the extended dry spell we suffered through the months of June and July.

   To check on nut development, the nut must be sliced open in a very specific manner. First, hold the nut so that you are looking at the stem end. Note that the stem scar is oval in shape.  (photo at left)   

   Place a knife across the short width of the oval (photo at right) and slice the nut open the entire length of the nut. As you cut, liquid endosperm will leak out of the nut.   

 

   Once the nut is opened you should be able to see the two sides of kernel (photo at left). They appear as empty voids because all the liquid endosperm has dripped out. As of August 1, my Kanza nuts are a little more than 1/2 water stage. That's not quite full enough to start shaking. I'll check again in a few days. Since I can shake all my Kanza trees in one day, I'll wait until full water stage to start this summer's nut thinning.