A very seasoned and veteran pecan grower told me this week, “I’ve always believed if anything shut down the pecan industry it would be a hurricane.” One would expect hurricane damage in Augusta to come from an Atlantic storm, not a storm from the Gulf of Mexico.

I want to acknowledge that there are more orchards I HAVE NOT observed than I HAVE observed. I have been traveling around since a week ago Monday and wanted to share the perspective in Southeast Georgia. As Dr. Wells has stated, the corridor of damage is very long and wide. For Southeast Georgia, damage is extremely heavy in Atkinson/Coffee/Bacon Counties then straight north to Soperton, Vidalia and Lyons. The eye wall looks to have traveled between/around GA Hwy 19 and U.S. 221 to Dublin until turning towards Augusta. There is also significant pecan damage further east of the path. Throughout Appling County and Reidsville you could find orchards that survived. It changes from more consistent 60%(+) tree loss to varying 30% to 70% tree loss on that eastern edge.

The damage, as you know, is mature trees, particularly very old trees. Douglas and Alma do not have a significant amount of older orchards as they do younger orchards. If you follow U.S. 221 north, we have consistent and tree loss/pecan damage throughout Montgomery and Toombs counties. Even in Emanuel County there were orchards with 75% tree loss. I live on the western side of the eye and was not able to drive east the day after the storm. On Monday, the roads were clear enough to drive east. Here are some photos of the damage in the represented area. Thanks to county agents for the drone shots you will see. Some agents have a drone. The UGA Emergency Management Team also has a drone that is helping assess damage.

Before and After

Maybe the most telling photo. This orchard in Uvalda is the site of a replicated hedging and irrigation trial that Dr. Wells is leading at Ponder Farm. The row on the right is the trial which is ‘Cape Fear’. The row on the left is ‘Sumner’. Montgomery County Agent Lauren Stanley and I took the season’s final leaf and soil data on September 25th. The protocol is to wait for harvest to get nut samples. I generally do not have bad feelings about storms. On the way out, I had a feeling I should have a photo for comparison. These orchards ended up being 3 miles east of the eye-wall with winds between 82mph and 109mph.

Appling County

On the east side of the hurricane, damage was variable from 30% to 75% or more tree loss. The eye-wall traveled closer to the west side of Appling county. Below Graham, we have 80 – 90% tree loss.

Atkinson-Coffee County

In east Georgia, some of the heaviest winds were picked up at the Douglas airport. This orchard is between Douglas and Pearson. Both old and large orchards throughout this farm of ‘Desirable’, ‘Gloria Grande’ and ‘Sumner.’

Burke County

Pecan orchards throughout Burke County were hit very hard. This is very far from where the hurricane hit land in Florida. Two sites specifically are the UGA Midville Research Station and our 2024 East Georgia Field Day location. 90% tree loss at each location. The East Georgia Field Day location was 20-year-old ‘Caddo’ and ‘Creek’ alternate hedged. The Midville Research station was an old, non-irrigated pecan orchard located at the entrance.

Candler County

Though significant, I find less damage as we move east toward Statesboro. Candler County has alot of pecan orchards and growers. Sites north of I-16 resemble what we normally see in orchards close to the hurricane impact of 20 – 30% lost trees. Both of these orchards are >50-year-old trees from two different growers.

Dodge – Telfair – Laurens Counties

This area represents the west side of the eye. Cadwell had significant tree loss. Between Eastman and Abbeville, we saw 30% tree loss. The photo in Telfair is essentially a state-wide representation of large trees on the ground with small trees remaining.

Emanuel / Treutlen Counties

These images represent three growers from 5 or 6 orchards we visited. The tree loss here is around 60% to 90%. These are mostly older orchards, all on the east side of the county. The Treutlen County orchard is on the Emanuel/Truetlen county line below Adrian which sustained 90% tree loss greater than 40 years-old.

Evans County

The very east side of hurricane damage is around Claxton. I visited Evans Count on Oct 29th where we looked at this orchard of ‘Sumner’ and found a representative 20% tree loss with half the crop on the ground and half the crop still in the tree. Initially, the orchard looks harvestable if you have small equipment. However, every pecan on the ground had no quality as it fell off too early. In the tree, we have a pecan on every branch. My concern is how much wind damage has affected what still remains in the tree.

Jefferson County

Right below Augusta was significant pecan loss. The two orchards below are two different growers, one with 90% tree loss. The other has two orchards with atleast 40% tree loss in each.

Jenkins County

One orchard in the county sustained greater than 90% tree loss. All other orchards sustained 20 – 30% tree loss. We did find an orchard that can likely be harvested (to a degree). Nuts on the ground were accessible with marketable nuts. You see many nuts in the trees. However, these are heavily bruised. There is alot of concern that they will open properly.

Montgomery County

Three different orchards from one grower exhibited 80% loss of trees > 10 years old. This i the most significant loss for one grower and as a county that I can find in East Georgia.

Richmond County

In the Augusta territory, this orchard lost almost all 6 – 10 year old trees and atleast 50% of old trees.

Tatnall County

Severe damage south and southwest of Reidsville pictured below from five different orchards and two growers. I did not make it to Glennville, however. Thankfully, east of Reidsville looked much better in terms of tree loss.

Toombs County

Like Montgomery County, Toombs suffered severe pecan tree loss. Alot of orchards and growers in this region as well. These photos are south of Vidalia and Lyons. North on U.S. 1 sustained significant tree loss as well.

Pierce County

This photo is the orchard representing the site of our 2024 Southeast GA Pecan Field Day. We were not able to make it to the very back of orchard. 60% tree loss of trees older 50 years.

Washington County

As mentioned above, the east side of Washington County was hit hard. We have a number of old orchards from Davisboro to Augusta.