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Pecan
Pecan
How to sow pecan: Transplant sapling
Sun requirement for pecan: Plant in Full Sun
The Pecan is a large, deciduous species of Hickory tree native to Mexico and the southeastern United States. When mature, it is 22-30 m tall and wide. Pecan trees produce nuts of the same name. Pecan nuts, along with other hickory nuts, are actually a type of fruit known as a "drupe" that has a single stone or pit surrounded by a husk. The fruit inside the husk is edible and has a rich buttery flavor. Pecan trees need hot, humid summers. Various cultivars need between 100-1200 chilling hours at temperatures below 7.2° C. Pecans require at least two different pecan cultivars nearby for pollination. Choosing cultivars for pollination is a little more tricky than with other fruit and nut trees because pecan trees bloom and shed pollen at different times. Type I trees shed pollen first and receive pollen later, Type II trees bloom and receive pollen first and shed pollen later. Cross-pollination is most successful with at least one cultivar of each type. Some self-pollinating cultivars exist. Trees benefit greatly from pruning and zinc applications. Pecans will bear fruit in 6-10 years and can live for up to 300 years.
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Pecan facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
4000cm × 2300cmRow Spacing
2400cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For pecan, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 140 days at its best temperature, about 2800 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your pecan will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Photos
Photos
Pecan crops
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 140 to 210 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Carya illinoensis (Wangenh.) C. Koch
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Hamamelidae Juglandales Juglandaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -1 °C, rest: -20 °C |
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
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