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Pecan Growing in Florida
G. H. Blackmon, Agricultural Experiment Station, Gainesville
I am sure that there are not very many
of you who are interested personally in
growing pecans in the southern part of
the state, because of the unsuccessful
production of the tree, but you are inter
ested in horticulture, in a general way, as
it affects Florida, and this paper is pre
pared in a general way, because it takes
into account the horticultural crop that
is grown particularly in the northern and
due to the coming into bearing age of as
many trees as there are now, and the in
creased yield of those in bearing.
On the other hand, as time goes on,
there will be more information about pe
can varieties and orchard management
and it is naturally to be expected that
there will be a greater per tree yield in
the future than there has been in the past.
It may seem, therefore, that the pecan is
destined to hold a prominent place in
Florida horticulture, especially is it an im
western part of the state.
The average annual production of
pecans in Florida, as given by the
United States Department of Agricul
ture, amounts to about 1,150,000 pounds.
portant horticultural crop of the north
ern and western parts of the state.
In 1909 there was an estimated yield of
307,000 pounds, therefore, there has been
an increase in production of about 274
location
Pecan trees will make satisfactory
growth and produce some nuts in practi
cally all parts of Florida when on fertile,
well-drained soil; but all parts of the state
are not adapted to extensive nut produc
tion. The commercial pecan area, as in
dicated above, is the western and north
ern part of the state, extending south
ward to about the latitude of Gainesville.
per cent in twenty years.
The 1925 United States Agricultural
Census showed 594,000 pecan trees in
Florida, 206,000 of which were of bear
ing age. To this figure should be added
the plantings that have been made since
1925, which will doubtless increase the
number to considerably over 600,000.
There are at this time much less than
Just why pecan trees do not yield any bet
ter in South Florida than they do is prob
ably due to climatic and soil conditions,
also to the fact that there are other suc
cessfully grown crops to which attention
half the total number of pecan trees in
Florida of bearing age—therefore, with
the same kind of care and attention that
the trees have been receiving, the nut ton
has been given and none has been paid to
nage should be greatly increased in Flor
ida during the next ten to twenty years,
pecans and no suitable varieties have been
introduced.
95
96
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
The best soil on which to plant pecan
trees is a well-drained, sandy loam, under
laid with a porous clay subsoil, eighteen
to twenty-four inches below the surface.
Such a soil will permit proper root devel
opment and at the same time be retentive
of moistttre and plant food, so that it
will be possible to build and maintain soil
fertility to its fullest extent—therefore,
one should be careful to select land that
is sufficiently well-drained and suitably
located before setting trees. It is an ex
pensive proposition to try and correct
drainage and hardpan conditions, espec
ially when such a procedure is not always
successful.
STARTING THE ORCHARD
Since pecan trees do not come true to
the type of seed planted, it is necessary to
grow seedlings and bud or graft them to
the desired varieties. Therefore, the most
economical procedure to follow in secur
ing trees of the desired varieties is to pur
chase them from reputable nurseries, who
can be depended upon for furnishing trees
true to name.
TRANSPLANTING
The soil should be put in good condi
tion, by plowing under all vegetation and
thoroughly disking. New land should be
cultivated a year or two before setting
trees. Stalce the field, spacing the trees
not less than fifty feet apart each way,
and in some soils a greater distance
should! be used. If a planting board is
used at the time the stakes are lined up
and spaced it saves much time in properly
setting trees as to depth and alignment.
The holes should be dug large and deep
enough to admit the root system without
crowding and binding. The same general
rule as to depth of soil on the trees ap
plies as with other deciduous fruit and
nuts; that is, the trees should be set one
and one-half to two inches deeper than
the ground line shows that they grew in
the nursery, so that, when the soil set
tles around the roots, they will still be as
deep as they were in the nursery. It is
advisable to use the fresh, mellow top soil
around the roots instead of the soil from
the bottom of the hole.
Well grown 4 to 5 foot and 5 to 6
foot trees with strong root systems will
give good results and make vigorous
growth when properly planted and cut,
back one-third to one-half, properly fer
tilized and cultivated during subsequent
years. Trees of the 3 to 4 foot size and
smaller may be used satisfactorily in ex
tensive plantings, if the price of the larger
grades is prohibitive, but these should be
vigorous, stocky and well developed, and
should be cut back about one-third of
the growing top. • Trees are set during
the dormant season of December to
March, the earlier the better, as they will
become better established in the new lo
cation by the time growth starts in the
spring, thus insuring a more successful
life.
CULTIVATION AND FERTILIZATION
Pecan orchards require careful atten
tion to cultivation and fertilization. The
grower who can economically produce ad
equate crops of pecan nuts, in the future,
is going to be the one who will make a
profit out of the enterprise.
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Since humus in the soil is important in
successful
pecan
growing, a system of
cultivation should be practiced that will
add organic material to the soil. This can
be accomplished by the straight cover-
crop
clean
cultivation
system,
or
the
growing of cover crops in connection
with the growing of cash crops between
the tree rows.
Cotton, corn, truck crops,
small fruits, pears and Satsuma oranges
are used as intercrops in pecan orchards,
according to the section of the pecan belt
under consideration.
The intercrop should not be planted
closer than six feet on each side of the
tree row after setting, gradually widening
the strip from year to year until all the
space is allotted to the trees. Fruit trees
for interplanting should not be set closer
than twenty-five feet to the pecan trees.
During the first two or three years it is
advisable to run a harrow on each side
of the tree row once every two or three
weeks or oftener, if necessary, through
out the growing season to keep down
weeds and grass, to assist the young trees
in getting started in the new location by
maintaining a moisture supply and to
prevent vining cover crops from climbing
the trees and cutting off light and air.
In this connection, growers should exer
cise care to prevent throwing too much
dirt to the trees, thus giving the appear
ance of being on ridges or mounds, and
producing unfavorable results.
The cover crop system is the ideal way
to cultivate pecan orchards in Florida
when it is possible to do so. In bearing
orchards, this system is recommended to
be the one to use exclusively.
7—Horti
97
The soil should be turned completely or
thoroughly disked about three or four
inches or just deep enough to cover all
vegetation and to meet the requirements
in the program recommended in the con
trol of insects aitd diseases. Deep plow
ing near the trees is not to be recom
mended. A dust mulch should be cre
ated and maintained during the dry
spring months and during the latter part
of August and
September.
A winter
cover crop should be planted in Septem
ber or October.
Austrian winter peas
and hairy vetch are giving good results
as winter legumes, the peas somewhat
better, and oats or rye as non-legumes,
while Crotalaria sericea is proving to be
one of the best legumes to be used as a
summer crop in pecan orchards.
Sum
mer cover crops that are favored hosts
of the green stink bug should not be
planted in bearing orchards, as this pest
punctures the nuts and causes kernel-spot.
Pecan trees grown in Florida must be
fertilized to give the best results. The
plant food may be supplied in,stable ma
nure or commercial fertilizers.
Stable
manure is always good to use, but since
there is generally such a small supply on
many farms, it is often cheaper to buy
the plant food in commercial fertilizer,
and grow the organic material in the
form of cover crops.
Good results are apparently being ob
tained by using a mixture that will anal
yze about six per cent ammonia, eight per
cent phosphoric acid and four per cent
potash (6-8-4) on young trees and one
with about four per cent ammonia and
the same in phosphoric acid and potash
(4-8-4) on bearing ones. It is advisable
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
to have from one-fourth to t>ne-third of
the ammonia in a readily available form,
and the remaining portion slowly avail
able sources. The phosphoric acid and
potash apparently may come from the
commonly used materials.
Newly set trees should receive from
one and a half to two pounds each, in
creasing this amount as the trees become
older and larger at the rate of about one
pound per year, for the first six to eight
years—after that age apply fifteen
pounds per tree, increasing at least two
to three pounds per year, depending on
size and amount of nuts being produced.
During years of light crop yields, the
trees generally do not require as much
fertilizer as those of heavy crops.
The fertilizer should be applied to
young trees once each year during the last
of February or first half of March, scat
tering over an area slightly greater than
the spread of the branches and then
worked into the soil, to about one or two
feet of the trunk of the tree. While one
application of fertilizer, as indicated
above, is generally made to bearing trees,
it is often advisable to make a second one
in the last of June or the first of July,
when there is an excessively heavy crop
of nuts being carried.
It is apparent
that, when trees have attained a large size
and the branches cover most of the area,
that it is advisable to broadcast the fer
tilizer over the entire orchard soil area.
There is a great opportunity for devel
opment along the line of economical pe
can production to such an extent that the
nuts can be placed with the consumer in
sufficient quantities as to encourage con
stant consumption. The market possibil
ities have not been touched. A prelimi
nary report on Marketing of Pecans, Sep
tember, 1929, by the Bureau of Agricul
tural Economics, United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, states on page two
that (for the United States) : "In the 5year period 1924-25 to 1928-29 the ap
parent consumption of all pecans (unshelled and shelled) on an unshelled basis
has averaged 0.31 pounds per capita."
Therefore it is apparent that, with proper
co-operative marketing facilities, the con
suming masses can absorb a much greater
pecan tonnage than is being produced at
the present time.
W. L. Drew, Eagle Lake: You speak
of production decreasing as you go down
into the state. Is it true that it increases
as you go beyond the state into central
Georgia?
uniform annual production in the pecan
G. H. Blackmon: You take the north
ern and western part of the State of
seem to be favorable for that resting pe
Florida, the production is practically the
same per tree average per year as Central
Georgia's, so there seems to be as good
belt of Florida as in Georgia.
The con
ditions there seem to be very similar. In
other words, the tree seems to require a
certain
resting
period,
and
conditions
riod, although it does not get as cold
in Northern and Western Florida as in
Georgia, yet the conditions seem to be
sufficient to induce that resting period.
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
W. L. Drew: I was once closely associated with another, in the pecan industry
at Monticello but I was talking with a
nurseryman of hxgh standing, and he told
me that they felt the conditions for grow-
99
G. H. Blackmon: It seems to be a malnutritional trouble that can be caused by
a number of factors that win cause Iack
of nourishment that the tree wil, take
,
,
,
„ ,
.,.
ing pecans were superior around Albany, "P' SUch as Iack of fertlllt^ hard-pan,
and as you go into Georgia than they
were in the northern part of the state.
That is why I asked. At that time we
were much troubled with Rosette. I have
lost track of the whole situation, but what
has been the outcome of Rosette and what
has been known about it?
hard w.ater table or rocks> or anything
that wil1 Prevent root development or
prevent proper nourishment being taken
UP- It is not a disease caused by an organism, but is what we call a physiolog-
ical trouble. It is purely a mal-nutritional trouble.