A map shows the counties in Texas that are infected with weevil.

Exploring the Origin of the Pecan Weevil Quarantine

Dear Readers, After 31 years of service with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, which has included over 360 Pecan South articles, I will be retiring at the end of August 2019 which makes this my last article in Pecan South. Over the 31 years, I have tried to provide timely and useful information for producers and...

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An orchard in fall.

A Year in Review

It may sound cliché, but time has a way of marching right on by when you’re busy having fun. This past year has been full of many firsts. The American Pecan Council (APC) was established in 2016, but like any endeavor built from the ground up, it has taken a couple years to establish a...

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An up-close view of nematodes emerging from an infected wax moth larva. The wax moth larva is orange, thick, and rounded like a worm. It is split in the half and that's where the nematodes are emerging from in a petri dish. The nematodes are white half-moon slivers.

Pheromones Give Nematodes a Boost in Controlling Pests

BYRON, GEORGIA, July 25, 2019—Beneficial nematodes are used as biological control agents to fight a variety of insect pests that severely damage crops. However, in many cases the nematodes don’t measure up to other control methods such as certain chemical pesticides. A recent Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study, published in The Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, shows...

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A satellite image of the USDA ARS Pecan Breeding and Genetics Program in Brownwood.

Family Trees: Generations & Propagations

Time gets divided into generations in our families and the social context of our culture. Some generational generalizations (Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, Gen Z) are media hype, but some patterns are appropriate to recognize to maintain what functions well in our communities. The culture of trees carries the previous generations’ fingerprints in the even-aged...

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