Pecans

[Lowdown3]

Anyone have pecans in a small to mid commercial sense? Anyone really good at producing pecans at home?

Tips for a new orchard?

[rockriver]

I have no commercial trees.
a few old trees and we planted 3 new ones. they are now about 7-8 ft tall.
I think it will be years before the new trees produce....
my only hint is this...
I have been "cleaning up" around my old ones and cutting grass right to trunk of old and new ones...
the ground around both trees is hard and packed and no cover... meaning no leaves or limbs or mulch of any kind.

rain has not been good and most of the rain we do get "runs off as ground is hard.

here's my half arse hint for whatever it may be worth...

I have just mulched 8ft diameter circles around the new trees about 6" deep with rough clippings/shavings.
I can already tell that the ground (under the mulch) is holding moisture a whole lot longer than surrounding area.

I will no longer rake and clean up around my older trees.. and will be adding 10-15' diameter mulch around the old trees in the next week or so. i hope this mulch (sponge) sitting on the ground will drastically increase water/nutrients to the roots so i can get me some nuts!

[motesjm]

To produce a meaningfu amount for commercial sale you'll need to get a good orchard maintenance plan in place...spraying for insects and fungus, soil conditioning and critter control.

Of course you can go any shade of gray you want with your program...mid to large commercial orchards use pull behind pto powered air drive sprayers, 100s of pounds of fertilizer per acre, ect...that will come out to a full time job before you know it.

A little of both will increase your yield, but for a small holder there is a point of diminishing returns. That's almost always when you start having to upgrade equipment.

As a point of reference, my dad has a very healthy 9 acre orchard. He had most picked up on halves, and then sold most of his half. He grossed about $2500 last year. Netted about $1500 after expenses. He had 3-4 days in orchard maintenance to get that crop. Not a bad hobby.

[Lowdown3]

This is roughly about 300 trees, some are now 10 years old. Some are smaller.

Just thinking long term.

Irrigation is in place, but we will likely supplement and change a few things.

Nothing else has been done to it in years. Cutting trees and bushes growing around some of the trees, that are trees themselves they have been growing so long!

Will eventually run some cows in that same area, trying the silovpasture deal.

[rockriver]

hmm...
lol..
I need to delete my post...
here I am nursing a few trees along and you guys are on another plane!

congratulations!!

[cpt_sfc]

I don't have pecan trees but hickory, fruit , grape vines. I had grown a long time, no nothing on them ,spindly weak. Sand humus soil good water but no nutrients . About 6 years ago I started putting the various junk fish my son caught and the varmints around the cabin, chicken coop etc. in post holes around the drip line of each tree within 2 years the tree trunk tripled in size and was full of fruit. I'm not in a zoned area. No proof but I can't help but think the organic material had something to do with it. My son was catching a lot of carp , ****** some really big . I don't eat this kind of fish but had to do something with them . I would eat them shtf era.