Shellers Recap ’09 Crop, Hear Good Nutritional News

The National Pecan Shellers Association gathered for its Mid-Winter Meeting, Feb. 18-20, in New Orleans just as the city was winding down from a two-week celebration encompassing Mardi Gras and a Super Bowl victory for the Saints. However, some of the shellers were not feeling very victorious about their 2009 pecan-buying season as export markets…

The drought of this past year and previous years is but a distant memory today in most folk’s minds as many completed harvest in and around rain events. It is hard to believe exactly how dry 2009 really was. When you get to doubting how dry it really was, all you need to do is…

When pecan trees crowd they should be cut down, attached to a tractor with a chain, pulled to an open space, cut into small pieces, piled, allowed to dry for one year, and burned. This is a simple operation. A team of 3 men can thin one acre per day if trunks are less than…

In the Southeast, the number one enemy of pecans is the fungus disease pecan scab. Growers were painfully reminded in the 2009 season of the severity and damage caused by this disease. In 2007, an on-year crop but a very dry season, Georgia produced 150 million pounds of pecans. In 2009, an on-year crop but…

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, February 17, 201—Growers using Headline® fungicide may be eligible to receive $75 per gallon back on purchases from authorized BASF retailers made by May 15, 2010. “Growers always want to get the most out of every acre,” said Reed Barrett, Market Manager for BASF. “In these economic times, it’s also important to…

Change is inevitable. As General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army once noted, “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” During the last century, the pecan industry has experienced a number of changes — the change from hand to mechanical cracking, the grafting of better-yielding varieties, the introduction of…

By way of some background information, we started renovating or converting many of our old orchards to new varieties as many as 20 years ago. The orchards we are farming were planted in the early 20th century, around 1920, give or take. Of course, without the fertilizer, pest control and irrigation methods of today, they…

Well, we made it through Christmas and we rang in a new year, although I’m sure a few were sleeping when the ball fell in Times Square. This year we not only started a new year but a new decade as well. Some of the events of the last decade included multiple hurricanes, record drought,…

Kenneth Pape of Seguin, Texas, may have the largest collection of nutcrackers in the world and his collection is now showcased in his Nutcracker Museum, one of the biggest attractions in this small town about 30 miles east of San Antonio. Seguin is rich in pecan tradition and the Pape family is responsible for much…

As pecan growers enter the 2010 pecan year, it is good to outline management practices that may need to be used and develop plans. The 2007, 2008 and 2009 early markets were less than ideal as far as prices to grower. The 2009 crop started out great, but 4 months of drought followed by way…

This is a topic I have written about several times in the past for this column, but every year I receive questions concerning the use of dormant oils on pecan so I will rerun again. Horticultural oils have been used in agriculture for over 100 years to control various soft bodied insects such as scale,…

We are considered to be a small grower. We have a ‘Maramec’ orchard that produced slightly over 20,000 pounds in 2009 with a potential of 40,000 pounds annually when the smaller trees mature. Although small, I take pecan production very seriously. Our orchard is primarily random. I began grafting existing sprouts in 1979. The annual…

An annual application of fertilizer is one practice that separates intensively managed commercial pecan orchards from many native groves and dooryard plantings. Pecan trees will bear nuts with no supplemental fertilizer in many of those settings, and occasionally will make fantastic crops, but producing pecans consistently and profitably requires that the nutritional needs of the…

We are into February now and many of us did not really finish harvest and clean up until at least mid-January if not later. This creates a short off season for us to do those things in the orchard that we need to before spring comes. With all the chill hours that the eastern part…

Over the last several years, agriculture has faced many challenges. Among these has been increased scrutiny resulting from various foodborne illnesses in multiple crops. Fortunately for us, pecans have been spared the brunt of this abuse so far. While many feel that food safety and the prevention of contamination are problems that only shellers and…

Have you ever found a native tree that produced great, flavorful nuts every year and wanted to make more of them? Do you have a lot of native pecan trees that produce few or poor nuts and wished you could switch them to another variety? Well, all of that is possible and late winter to…

As I sit at my desk writing this month’s column, there is a cold, steady rain falling outside. It is Sunday morning and the first day off I have had since mid-October. I have been enjoying the fire in the living room fireplace, a cup of coffee with my wife, our new dog Pepper at…

Texas Oncology has developed a tasty and simple holiday recipe for Holly Jolly Biscotti, which showcases the peak-season flavors of Texas citrus and pecans. Packed with healthy ingredients, this Italian-inspired, twice-baked cookie is a delicious and nutritious way to promote a good-for-you diet throughout the holidays not just for yourself, but everyone on your gift…

Recent outbreaks of foodborne illness involving peanuts and pistachios have put a spotlight on issues related to food safety and nut crops. The general consensus among food safety experts prior to these outbreaks was that nuts, especially tree nuts, are relatively unlikely to harbor bacterial pathogens, mainly because of their low moisture content. But as…

NEWBURG, Ore., Dec. 18 (UPI)—Willamette Filbert Growers of Newberg, Oregon, has recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of shelled hazelnuts because of a risk of salmonella, federal officials said. Salmonella was found in a production lot at the facility where the nuts were shelled, the U.S Food and Drug Administration said in a release Friday. No illnesses…

In case you are thinking that you recently read an article on pecan weevil in this column, you’re right; see the September 2009 issue, Page 24. The reason that prompted this second article on pecan weevil in only a few months is that over the last six weeks I have heard numerous complaints on late…

Congratulations to all pecan growers who had a great crop on a big “on” year. Most of us did not fare so well. We had a terrible year in 2008 with a short crop and terrible prices, so we were all expecting this to be a comeback year. The crop looked great throughout much of…

The distance from the old to the new is not far—only about 100 yards or so—but visitors to Royalty Pecan Farm this fall surely think they’ve arrived at a completely different place. And they have, in some ways. The new Welcome Center at Royalty Pecan Farm officially opened on Oct. 1, a beautiful new building…