Pecan harvest crows, hogs and drought
Here we are at D Day for our ‘Pawnee’ harvest and the crows have moved in by the hundreds. They are always a problem when the crop is short statewide. Last year we had only a few crows because there were pecans everywhere — not true this year. We have the all new Bird Guard...
Read moreBack door to China – A China/Vietnam trade mission
The U.S. pecan industry was invited to attend a seminar and tour of the newly created “free trade zones” on the China and Vietnam border. The tour was held on July 10-12, 2013, in Nanning, China. The commercial trade zones were developed as a result of a 2010 trade agreement (ASEAN) between China, Vietnam and...
Read moreA Season of Extremes
While growing up in Texas, I was used to hearing the phrase “If you don’t like the weather in Texas, wait five minutes — it’ll change!” A similar statement is credited to the legendary Will Rogers, “If you don’t like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it’ll change.” However, this summer many pecan...
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Tawny crazy ant confirmed in Texas commercial orchards
During July at the Texas Pecan Growers conference, it was brought to my attention by a producer that he had an unusually high number of ants in his orchard, which is located on the south side of Houston near Manvel, Texas. During August I made a visit to this orchard and unfortunately my suspicions were confirmed...
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The pecan cultivar trial at Friendship Pecans
A pecan cultivar trial inviting industry-wide cooperation has been established at Friendship Pecans near Albany, Georgia. Our hope is that as many of the most-promising selections from all over the U.S. as possible can be evaluated side-by-side in one location. The experiment, initially, will have 4 trees each of 160 selections in a randomized complete...
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