Weather this year yields bad results for state pecan crop

Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 8, 2009

Charles Gastrell, a regular reader of this column, called a few days ago asking about nearby pecan retailers.

Evidently, Gastrell has a tradition of packaging and sending pecans to his family and friends at Christmas. Gastrell’s inquiry, in addition to questions about pecans from several others, prompted me to write about pecans. Plus, early November is generally when pecans start to fall and gatherers start filling those buckets.

John C. Coccaro is county Extension director. Write to him at 1100-C Grove St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or call 601-636-5442. E-mail him at jcoccaro@ext.msstate.edu.

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In our phone conversation, Gastrell recalled a time 70-plus years ago when he and his father went by boat to graft some scion wood onto native pecan rootstock to obtain the pecan tree varieties they desired. It happened to be during a time when their land was inundated by floodwaters. Pecan-tree grafting was much more common on small rural farms then. 

Though fewer individuals know how to graft today, the ones who do are responsible for the vast increases in both the quality and quantity of pecans produced in the country. In fact, experts in the pecan industry guesstimate Mississippi’s pecan producers will harvest between 3 million and 5 million pounds of pecans this year, and the U.S. total will be over 300 million pounds — a huge increase over last year. 

I wanted to get a better idea from a local pecan producer about how he felt about this year’s crop, so I placed a call up to Cary to my friend Mike Lamensdorf. He operates several well-kept orchards near the small Delta town just 30 minutes north of Vicksburg.

He advised me that the crop this year appears large, but he is somewhat concerned about overall quality. My personal knowledge about how diligently Lamensdorf manages his crop tells me that the pecans from his orchard should be the best available. Nonetheless, weather conditions this year have been favorable for diseases and insect problems.

It is very likely that unprotected or unsprayed trees, which would probably include most backyard pecans, got hammered this year with pecan scab, bacterial leaf scorch or anthrac-nose. Also, black aphids and stinkbugs or even mites might have adversely affected pecans in our area. 

Back in August, Bobby Flanagan reported some local pecan trees had lost all of their leaves. Jamie Howington’s orchard just across the river in Louisiana lost leaves early, too. Typically, this type problem is brought on by stress resulting from multiple factors. With unmanaged stress it may be difficult to tell exactly what happened without intensive diagnostic work.

Keeping pecan trees disease- and insect-free requires a great deal of care and expense. Commercial producers like Lamensdorf understand that well. Homeowners are generally advised to treat backyard pecan trees as they would any other shade tree and accept the fact that their pecan trees won’t be very productive in certain years.

The rest of us can follow the lead of Gastrell and seek out retailers to purchase our pecans. They make great gifts, and are a healthy addition to our diets.