I want to Play Squirrel

I've been reading about how pecans will grow up from having been buried by a squirrel. Well, I have a bag of pecans and it occurred to me that I could spread them in the area I want to have a tree grow in, then bury them, like a squirrel and hope for a tree.

So my (really dumb) question is, how deep do squirrels bury nuts? Yes, this is a strange request, but it's a strange idea anyway.

In this article it says to plant 2” deep but I have seen Blue Jays just barely get them covered and they sprout. Here’s the link http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation/speciality/seed.shtml

Hastur, I'm not sure if pecan trees run true to seed. I have experience with pears, apples, plums, and black walnuts. None of the seeds from these trees run true to seed. In other words if you plant a seed from one of the trees I mentioned it will not produce the same parent. You could wind up with something very different. Do some research, I wouldn't be surprised if the same is true for pecans. In the long run you might be happier picking a variety you like from a nursery or tree catalog. You would be sent a little tree which would be just like the parent that it was grafted from. I wish you good luck and happy hunting.

lol I'm a total squirrel! Yeah, if you want a pecan tree to grow and bear fruit, the best odds would be to buy one at the nursery. But if you just want to plant stuff, go for it! One thing I have noticed about the real squirrels is that when they see a distrurbed area in "their" territory, they dig it up. To see if it's anything good, I guess. So it might be interesting to keep an eye on your plantings early on, even before they would sprout, to see if the other squirrels are interested.

A couple of things about your bag of nuts - How old are they? Of course, the whole point of plants making nuts is that it's a pretty secure place for the future new plants to hang out until they are ready to grow. But it is possible that they dry out, and won't be as viable.

Also, there's some quirky stuff about nuts produced when the tree is under stress. I can't remember exactly the whole deal, and if our wacky weather this year would count as stress here, but what happens is the nuts germinate way early, still on the tree, and then die, and then of course aren't viable when planted. Sort of a plant miscarriage, I guess.

Have fun!

I know where several seedling pecan trees are. The nuts are tiny but very good. They're a lot better than none at all but are a lot of extra work to shell. Modern varieties are bred for size, yield and thin shells. Also it is very good to choose a disease resistant type suited to your climate. I think if you want quality nuts in quantity, the grafted ones are a wiser choice. Pecans are weak in hurricane winds so even if you just want a shade tree, there are better choices. TAMU has some recommendations.

I'm debating planting 2 more trees this winter. I'm 58 years old and want something to bear at a young age which for pecans is 7-8 years with good care. I already have 2 trees and 1 bore its' first nuts this year. Yaaay! It had 8 and the $%^&* squirrels got 7.

I'll be honest that this is more of a curiousity thing than anything. I'm already budgetting for a ton of different fruit trees for spring. This just seemed like something fun to see if it would work.

Don't remind me about the squirrels! I planted some corn a while back and came out to see that all the lovely corn mounds had been distrurbed - guess who came to investigate. And the tomatoes over the summer. I'm way into trying to figure out a way to scare the little blighters off without doing any damage to my area. Twiggybuds, I swear you are lucky to have gotten one nut from them.

We had a volunteer pecan tree come up in the corner of our chicken pen. It had small nuts, but they were plentiful and VERY GOOD!

If you don't like the pecans that are produced you could graft onto it.

I've sprouted them by putting some in a large drainable pot of damp dirt and leave it outside all winter. I think it was April or May (later than I expected) when they sprouted and I planted a couple, then the squirrel found the above ground sprout and dug down and stole the nut so the sprout died. I have one growing in a pot but I'm not sure why. I think it would be much better to buy 2 grafted trees and plant them properly. Nuts much sooner and high quality nuts too. You and the squirrel would be much happier.

*grumbles somthing incomprehensible about happy squirrels*

I ordered a Melrose and Sumter to go with my big Desirable and Gloria Grande. I always plant twice as much as I need in the garden for insurance so maybe it will work with the pecans. I'm going to follow the recommendations for fertilizer now that I know they can produce.

I think the seedlings are more disease resistant. The ones I've eaten are extremely fat with oil, very tasty.