Planting and Growing

Before I start my series on Harvesting, I thought I would start with a little history and information.  Michael's parents are pecan farmers.  In the US we say it peh-kawhns.  Over here they say it as Pee-kens.  They buy the trees when they are between 6-18 months old and plant them in nice neat rows.  The rows help a lot when tending and harvesting them.  

One of the first things they have to do is fertilize them.  They mow around every tree and pile the grass up around the trunk.  

They also put the old pecan shells after they get sorted.  

They use this stuff called TwinN (I think that's what it is?!) which is a nitrogen bacteria to help pull nitrogen out of the air and feed it into the soil to that the tree can get it.  They do use a chemical fertilizer as well.  This comes in small pellets and they spread it on the mowed area beneath each tree every month in the spring and summer.  They don't need to in the winter as the trees loose their leaves and go dormant.  (Why they loose their leaves when it never gets cold I can't fathom.) Lastly they irrigate depending on the amount of rain they get.  Each tree has it's own spicket. (Aren't they special).  Depending on the type of tree, they start to produce nuts between 4-6 years of age.

They have Tensiometers that tell you how much moisture is in the soil.  They have two in each type of soil.  (They have two types on their farm, red and black.)  One tells the amount at 12"and the other at 24".  Yes they used inches, isn't that weird?  They use it for odd things like this and cloth/material.

They have approximately 500 tress on 23 acres of their land.  Oh did you know that their are different kinds of pecans?  Oh yes, several...  And if you look closely at the ones you buy in the stores, you will be able to find several mixed in together!  Kaye and David have 6 kinds.  The different types mature at different times (1 - 2 weeks apart) so it's easier to harvest.

They have 6 Apache trees, planted as a trial.  These are late developers and the trees don't yeild many nuts, adn they don't start yeilding till around their 6th year.  They also have 6 Lismore trees.  These are later developers but not as late as the Apache.  These nuts are easier to tell apart because they are really massive, but they don't taste as good.  They also don't yeild until they are around 6 years old. 

They have 50 Pawnee trees.  These are early developers and a good quality nut but still take 5-6 years before they yeild.  The Witchita number around 100, and mature right in the middle of the crops.  They have the best flavor but are very narrow and hard to 'peel' as the shell gets stuck in the crevices of the 'meat'.  They also take 6 years to yeild.  They have 100 Desirables.  These are the last to develop.  They are very pretty and are used a lot when people need whole pieces for decorations.  Kaye covers half of hers with dark chocolate and uses them as treats at parties and gifts for friends.  They do take 6 years to yeild as well.

Lastly are the Shoshone/Cheyenne.  They are really two different kinds of nut but they are so similar it is nearly impossible to tell them apart and they group them both together.  They have 250 of these trees.  They produce and early crop and you get a quick return on them as they produce at 4 years of age.

(Honestly, I can only tell of two kinds.  The lismores, and the non-lismores.  But that's me!)

Once the nuts start to mature, the branches are weighed down and sometimes touch the ground on the older, larger trees.