Lenny Wells
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The never-ending array of challenges each pecan crop presents continues with the 2021 pecan crop. From the beginning this year’s crop has appeared late and short. The intermittently cold spring pushed budbreak back and greatly slowed the progression of foliage expansion, and thus flowering and crop development by at least 10 days. This may have…
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As predicted we are seeing a banner year for water stage fruit split. We are currently seeing nut drop from water split even on varieties on which we don’t normally see it (such as Desirable). It has been abnormally wet this growing season and especially through the late water stage and early shell hardening phase…
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Now that Pawnees have shell hardened and we approach shell hardening on most other varieties in the next week, it is time to start thinking seriously about managing stink bugs and weevils. Prior to shell hardening these pests simply knock nuts off the trees as they feed or lay eggs. Going forward after shell hardening,…
Posted in: Insect Management -
We’re into late summer and seeing some leaf scorching out there. The two most common types I have had calls on this week have been from the scorching of young trees from heat stress. On older trees we are seeing a fair amount of terminal die back (Neofusicoccum). I went back and looked at the…
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I just returned from the Texas Pecan Growers Conference. The pecan estimate from the meeting is found below: Alabama : 2 million Arizona: 38 million Arkansas: 3 million California: 5 million Florida: 2 million Georgia: 82 million Kansas: 2 million Louisiana: 8 million Miss: 1 million Missouri: 1 million New Mex: 96 million Oklahoma: 13…
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Much of the following is a post from 2017 but timely for our situation at the moment: Pecan scab is enjoying ideal weather in much of Georgia at this time. This has kept most growers busy trying to keep the trees sprayed between rain showers. A common question we get during such conditions is “how long does…
Posted in: Disease -
The article found at the link below describes the hard time Western pecan growers are having getting enough good-quality irrigation water this year. This emphasizes the importance of managing the water we have here in the Southeast wisely. You should be at 45-50% of your irrigation system’s full capacity in July for nut sizing. If…
Posted in: Environmental