Native Plants

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Friday - July 03, 2009

From: Lubbock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Can a pecan tree be kept from producing for a season?
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Can a pecan tree be kept from producing for a season?

ANSWER:

Well, I think this is the first time that Mr. Smarty Plants has been asked how to stop a tree from producing desirable fruit. I can find you lots of information about keeping the pecan trees healthy (fertilization, watering, protecting from insects and diseases, etc.). Here are some links to pecan tree care from Arizona Cooperative Extension Service, Alabama Pecan Growers Association, and Texas Pecan; and, I suppose if you didn't follow the guidelines for keeping your trees healthy, you might see a reduction in the size or the quality of the crop of pecans. Nut production on pecan trees (as well as other nut trees) is generally cyclical with some years producing large crops and alternate years producing very few fruits. The US Forest Service says that Carya illinoinensis (pecan) produces a good crop at intervals of 1 to 3 years. However, I don't know of any way, short of cutting it down, to completely stop the tree from producing for a season.

From the Image Gallery

Pecan
Carya illinoinensis