Pecan trees

[Wireman]

OK, got the chickens going - never had to give away eggs before :) NOW, onto the Pecan trees. Anyone have any solid advice germane to this area to get these things producing like there's no tomorrow? I've done reading on the net and most of it is generic.

[Spartan]

How old is/are your tree(s)? Don't expect "production" until after 12 years.

[Wireman]

They are all older than that and producing, however they haven't really had any attention (no pruning, fertilizer, etc..). The previous property owner planted them during the late 70s and early 80s. I don't see any insect damage to them.

[Night Owl]

Pecan production goes in cycles and is dependant on the amount of water and nutrients you feed them.

[sfotw]

Benign neglect is what works for pecans.
Trim only enough to clear out underbrush, and create spacing for the crown of each tree. Other than that, lay down some compost at the dripline yearly.

[Spartan]

You may have noticed that pecan trees grow in creek/river bottoms. They need a lot of water -- two inches per week.

They need a nitrogen-rich fertilizer... compost would do well... before the leaf buds break open in the latter half of March and again late May/early June if the trees have a good set of nuts. Mature trees need zinc as a foliar spray every three weeks from April to mid-June.

You need to monitor your trees for diseases and insect pests... there's a lot of them that can hit you and it does not take long to loose your crop and weaken your trees. If you see signs, contact your county cooperative extension office for help.

Even with all this, remember that production is cyclical and no matter what you do it is up to God to influence the trees to decide to give you a bumper or a meager crop.

[engteach64]

Make sure if they all get healthy and straightened out, to let us know if you are selling any pecans. I know I love pecans, and some day want a tree of my own. Yum!

[dragonfly]

I have a tree and the ONLY thing I did was water well. I had TONS and TONS of pecans. I had over 13 30 gallon black trash bags of pecans last fall. We had to throw them out, because they had fallen on the yard where the dogs do their own business.

[JoAnn Purser]

We have several trees and try to prune them back every other year or the branches get too spindley and break from weather and weight of pecans.

We are going to spray them every two weeks starting spring (budbreak) to kill off case bearers so we may produce more yield this year. Texas A & M website posts when and what to spray. http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/b-5041.html

[engteach64]

Dragonfly~bring me some pecans, and I might even kiss your feet out of pure joy!:-*