Growing a pecan tree

[mandieg4]

According to Walter Reeves (aka The Georgia Gardener) the pecan production is directly related to the number of leaves the tree had the year before. Which I guess makes since because to figure out how much zinc you need to fertilize with you send in the leaves to to be tested.

 

[~gd]

Bend TX Bend boosters consider the Jumbo Hollis, a tree whose name is derived from its unusually large fruit and its first owner - Thomas I. Hollis, to be the world's most productive pecan tree. When other native pecan trees averaged 70 to 80 nuts per pound, Jumbo's averaged 33. At the 1904 World's Fair, Jumbo Hollis pecans won the bronze medal for being the largest displayed. The tree's record year was 1919, when it produced 1,015 pounds of nuts. _from Wiki.....

 

[clkingtx]

I am certainly not an expert, but both my neighbors have pecan trees. We noticed a few years ago that our big tree in our back yard had two different types of leaves, it was actually 2 trees. A nut must have fallen by the original tree(a redbud), because we now have a pecan tree taller than our house that produced the first time that year(growing right with the redbud). I get small pecan trees popping up in my flowerbeds, in my front yard, and in my back yard all the time. I have one about a foot high in one garden bed now. A month or so ago, one sprouted and grew about a foot or so where it fell inside my garden cart that had a little dirt in it. The pecans around here sure want to grow! As to the quality of nuts, I guess it would depend on the parent nuts, but our pecans taste really good, and they are a pretty good size.

Carrie

 

[justusnak]

I am certainly not an expert, but both my neighbors have pecan trees. We noticed a few years ago that our big tree in our back yard had two different types of leaves, it was actually 2 trees. A nut must have fallen by the original tree(a redbud), because we now have a pecan tree taller than our house that produced the first time that year(growing right with the redbud). I get small pecan trees popping up in my flowerbeds, in my front yard, and in my back yard all the time. I have one about a foot high in one garden bed now. A month or so ago, one sprouted and grew about a foot or so where it fell inside my garden cart that had a little dirt in it. The pecans around here sure want to grow! As to the quality of nuts, I guess it would depend on the parent nuts, but our pecans taste really good, and they are a pretty good size.

Carrie

Hey Carrie.....How about in the fall, you dig up a few of those volunteers...and send them here to Indiana....I would gladly "volunteer" to be the nut tester...and see if the grew as well once transplanted to another state. Say, maybe 3 or 4 of those little ones, bare root?

 

[i_am2bz]

I am certainly not an expert, but both my neighbors have pecan trees. We noticed a few years ago that our big tree in our back yard had two different types of leaves, it was actually 2 trees. A nut must have fallen by the original tree(a redbud), because we now have a pecan tree taller than our house that produced the first time that year(growing right with the redbud). I get small pecan trees popping up in my flowerbeds, in my front yard, and in my back yard all the time. I have one about a foot high in one garden bed now. A month or so ago, one sprouted and grew about a foot or so where it fell inside my garden cart that had a little dirt in it. The pecans around here sure want to grow! As to the quality of nuts, I guess it would depend on the parent nuts, but our pecans taste really good, and they are a pretty good size.

Carrie

Hey Carrie.....How about in the fall, you dig up a few of those volunteers...and send them here to Indiana....I would gladly "volunteer" to be the nut tester...and see if the grew as well once transplanted to another state. Say, maybe 3 or 4 of those little ones, bare root?

Hey, no fair!! I was going to ask Carrie to send some to me!!!!

 

[clkingtx]

I guess maybe Texas has just the perfect climate for growing nuts? The red oaks in our front yard have dozens of baby red oaks all around them, too. We have to yank up many each year out of the flower bed! They are cute though when they start to change colors.

The problem with transplanting, is the tap root grows way deeper than the plant is tall(at least that has been my experience with the babies), and they don't do too well if you can't get all the taproot. I have tried several times giving small trees to my mom who just lives a town away. Haven't had good results so far. The way I read to grow pecan trees from seed is to get a 5 gallon bucket, poke some drainage holes in it, fill it with dirt, and bury a handful of pecans in it. Let it sit over the winter, and the next spring they should(at least some of them) sprout. Something about the cold temperatures stratifying(is that the right word?) the nut so it is ready to sprout when conditions are good.

Carrie