Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: GSF on November 26, 2014, 08:57:15 am

Title: Pecans?
Post by: GSF on November 26, 2014, 08:57:15 am
For those of you who have pecan trees - Did anyone get a crop this year? I bet we didn't get but about 70 pounds off of 10 trees.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: BeeMaster2 on November 26, 2014, 01:10:00 pm
Gary,
I only a have a couple of small pecan trees. No matter how much the trees produce, we never get any. The squirrels always get them before they are ripe. Just hoping when they are larger, they will out produce the squirrels. I have a neighbor that sits in his back yard where he has a large pecan tree and with a BB gun removes large numbers of the varmints and they still clean him out. He does get some but nothing like he would without the squirrels.
Jim
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: asprince on November 26, 2014, 10:04:22 pm
I own about 10 mature trees and there is not a single nut. Some years they produce a bumper crop.

Steve
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: RC on November 27, 2014, 09:11:15 am
I made very few pecans this year. Last year was light, but not this bad.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: asprince on November 27, 2014, 10:20:47 am
The price nearly killed me but I bought some shelled pecans yesterday.for some pecan pies. $12 per pound, shelled halves.


Steve
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jayj200 on November 27, 2014, 10:28:21 am
I love fresh Pecans cant get enough
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Joe D on November 29, 2014, 01:08:39 am
We generally get a good many, not a lot last year and less this year.  Squirrels got all but a couple of handfuls this year.





Joe
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: 10framer on November 29, 2014, 11:08:03 pm
jim, tell your neighbor i have what he needs.....squirrel dog pups.   you can't beat the price because i'm giving them away.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: BeeMaster2 on December 01, 2014, 12:50:24 am
jim, tell your neighbor i have what he needs.....squirrel dog pups.   you can't beat the price because i'm giving them away.
10,
I will tell him but I doubt if he will take you up on it. He enjoyed the target practice.
Jim
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: 10framer on December 01, 2014, 01:17:04 am
the dog just trees them, he still gets to shoot.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jalentour on December 03, 2014, 07:57:55 pm
Gary,
I discovered 2 wild pecan trees on my property when were building a deck in the woods.
The nuts are rounder than the ones my uncle brought me from Mobile.  Not quite as tasty either.  I picked up a grocery paper bag full, could have picked up many more.  If anyone knows anything about these midwest pecans and how to prepare them let me know.  They are sitting in my garage now.
Joe
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: GSF on December 04, 2014, 04:03:04 pm
Joe, around here we refer to them as "seed" trees. I have a couple that I know is seed trees. Nothing at all wrong with the nut, just not the same looking as the parent tree. My experience has taught me the smaller the better tasting.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: asprince on December 07, 2014, 12:51:39 pm
Seedlings also fetch a higher price on the market. So I am told.................

Steve 
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Dallasbeek on January 06, 2015, 01:21:49 pm
I've heard pecan trees produce a good crop every third year.  Last year I didn't get even one nut.  Squirrels ate what were there while they were still green.  I have two very mature trees (over 100 years old, accoding to an arborist).  I got about 50-75 pounds from them this year.  A storm in early October took out much of the top of one tree, so I lost a lot of immature nuts -- probably half the crop of that tree.  One year I picked up over 250 pounds of nuts, then stopped picking them up 'cause I didn't have any place to put them.  This year I gave away bags of pecans to anybody that would take them (unshelled) and gave about a pound of shelled pecans to our kids and neighbors.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jalentour on January 07, 2015, 04:56:50 pm
These pecans have the husk still on them, they were mostly blown off early.  I have them sitting (still) in the garage on a window screen. 
The taste is still bitter, I thought they were bitter because they weren't mature.
Is there anything else I should be doing or should I feed them to the deer?  Plant them?  Eat?
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Dallasbeek on January 07, 2015, 06:01:34 pm
Yes, they are immature.  When pecans are ready, the husk splits open and the nut falls out.  Even then, it's best to let it dry out a little so the "meat" firms up.  Feed them to wildlife.  They'll never be good to eat.  And they probably won't germinate.  If they did, all you'd have is a throwback to the rootstock on which your variety was grafted.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jalentour on January 08, 2015, 11:07:46 am
Dallas,
Thanks for the info.  Wildlife food it is.
As to your graft comment: 
I'm not sure they are grafted.  I believe they are wild.  Based on their location (hillside) and age 30-40+ years.  There has not been a homestead or farm at this location in over 100 years, maybe longer.  I'd like to know more about them.  If they are wild, will they ever have nuts that taste good?
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Dallasbeek on January 08, 2015, 11:38:11 am
Oh, yeah!  I have found the smaller nuts have more flavor.  But, being hard-shelled, it's a lot more work to get to that flavor.  The real native pecans here in Texas bear nuts about the size of a marble and have a shell so hard you have to use a hammer to break it, but the meat is very tasty.  One pf my trees have nuts that usually breakwhen they fall on a hard surface.  The other has harder-shelled nuts -- not native, but more like native in that respect, but maybe twice the size of a native. 

Unfortunately, pecan wood is very brittle, so it's not used much for furniture.  The trees are messy because they drop long tassles (pollen-bearing) and tiny flowers in the spring, then immature nuts that stain my pool purple, then the nuts and cases that contained the nuts, then leaves.  They are also self-pruning, dropping limbs a good part of the year.  Not an ideal home landscape tree, but many of us love them and they are the state tree of Texas and a couple of other states.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Dallasbeek on January 08, 2015, 12:59:55 pm
Jvalentour,

After thinking about yoir location, etc., I looked up more info on pecans.  We have maybe hundred of varieties in Texas, but it seems that in Indiana it's a bit different.  Varieties there are limited.  For pecans to be productive, most varieties require cross-pollination.  So you have to have two trees in the area, first of all.  Since you have some immature nuts, I assume there's more than one tree.  Some varieties can't mature before cold weather, so you might never get a good crop of nuts.  I'll try to give you a link here.  If the situation is hopeless, pecan-smoked meat is great, so wood chips from fallen or pruned limbs can be useful.  Good luck with your tree



http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/agcomm/newscolumns/archives/ITG/2011/March/110303ITG.html
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jalentour on January 08, 2015, 01:47:16 pm
Dallas,
Thanks!
Joe
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: hivebuilder on February 27, 2015, 12:05:52 am
here in northeast ks. we have a tree that looks like a pecan and has round nuts that are similar in construction to a pecan .but --it is a bitternut tree and is not edible by people .
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: OldMech on February 27, 2015, 01:35:56 am
wrap aluminum, around the trunk, except for one spot. In that spot push a double edge razor into the bark..... CAREFULLY!   Each afternoon around dinner time...    Pick up squirrels, skin, gut, (gut already started) and place on barby set to GRILL..........
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: jayj200 on February 28, 2015, 10:20:22 am
wrap aluminum, around the trunk, except for one spot. In that spot push a double edge razor into the bark..... CAREFULLY!   Each afternoon around dinner time...    Pick up squirrels, skin, gut, (gut already started) and place on barby set to GRILL..........

your teasing me. does that work?
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: OldMech on February 28, 2015, 02:53:19 pm
works on peach and apple trees. WIll also work on rafters that rats use to travel.
   Squirrels can "jump" upward and clear a couple feet of covered tree if they are chased, but allowed to go up on their own they will take the path of least resistance.  If you ever watch a squirrel climb a tree, they keep their body against the trunk. My best luck with apple trees was pushing the blades in deeply, leaving about 1/4 inch at the bottom and 1/2 inch sticking out at the top. They will see it, but have no way to understand how sharp it is. When they figure it out, its too late, but be warned, it "is" messy.  You also dont want kids etc around that might lean up against the tree, there is some liability involved in using this method. Like setting a mouse trap shotgun for other critters. If PEOPLE step into the trap the repercussions can be ugly.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Joe D on March 01, 2015, 06:53:34 pm
Some of these animal rights people would put you under the jail if caught.  But sounds like a good idea.




Joe
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Kathyp on March 01, 2015, 07:43:13 pm
Oh my very favorite pie. Maybe someone will be really really industrious  make 1 for bud 7. Hint, hint. 😃
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Joe D on March 02, 2015, 07:32:17 pm
Never heard of a squirrel pie, Kathy.  But then if he ran over the razor blade a time or two it might be minced meat pie.



A home made pecan pie is hard to beat.



Joe

I haven't heard about Bud 7 yet, haven't got to be here as much the last several months.  Was thinking about giving Bud a holler.
Title: Re: Pecans?
Post by: Kathyp on March 02, 2015, 09:19:41 pm
LOL Joe

pecan pie, not squirrel pie.

although, I'll try anything once.........