Pecan Trees

Help....If a pecan tree grows on it's own from a pecan....will it bear nuts, or does it have to be grafted? Thanks! Jo

It will bear nuts - but it's something of a crapshoot as to what nut quality will be like - may be comparable, better, or less desirable than that of the nut it grew from.

You'll probably be waiting somewhere between 10-20 years (or more) for that seedling pecan to reach maturity and begin producing nuts, whereas you'll cut that time in half with a grafted selection - and you know, up front, what the nuts will be like.
All named varieties were a seedling at one point in time - may have been a chance seedling that someone noticed producing superior quality nuts, or it may have been the result of a planned mating - in which case it probably had some full-sibs that didn't make the grade.

Oops. I left out another important detail - you've gotta have at least two pecan trees with compatible pollen shed/nutlet flower receptivity patterns in order to set crops of nuts.
While both male(catkins) and female(nutlet) flowers are present on each tree, they're typically not present or mature at the same time, so most pecans are not self-fertile; they require another tree with compatible bloom times.
With grafted varieties, you can choose selections with known bloom periods in order to accomplish that task, but with seedlings, again, it's a crapshoot - so you'd probably need to plant at least 3 or 4 in order to ensure adequate pollenation - unless there are other pecans in the nearby vicinity - like within a half mile or so of your tree - with no large blocks of other deciduous trees to block the pollen flow - they are wind-pollenated.

Some of my old seedling pecan trees have better nuts than the cultivars. However, sometimes they have lots of nuts and sometimes they may go a couple of years and not have any.

WOW! Looks like a 71 YO woman like me should forget harvesting nuts in her lifetime from this baby! Thanks so much for the info. Jo

If nothing else, plant it for the shade. They make excellent shade trees. Even if you're not around by the time it matures somebody else will be and may appreciate it.

Good idea! Jo

Hi, Roadrunner! I planted some 2 ft tall pecans this year - they are also "nut grown" - I figure, if the nuts aren't edible by people's standards, there's probably still a lot of wildlife that will appreciate it - probably about the time I'm 70 something, myself! And I agree, they are beautiful trees. They will always remind me of Texas and Georgia and baking pecan pies and chocolate chip cookies with pecans in them with my first husband before he passed away. That was 20 years ago, and I'm quite happily remarried, but I guess I'm just a sentimental ol' gal. I promised myself when I left GA after he died that if I ever got a piece of dirt (in this case, lots of sand), that I would plant some pecan trees. It took a while, but I even found some that should be hardy here in the high desert of Nevada :-) Good luck!

Hey Karla...I hope we both live long enough to sit under these trees and visit! How about coming to the KY RU this year. Jo

Do you get enough rainfall in AZ and NM to grow pecans? Usually they like moist soil. Have you thought about growing any of the more drought tolerant hickories like mockernut or shagbark? They have tasty nuts that are also used in cooking from what I have read. I've never been fortunate enough to try them.

Pecans are a going business here in my area...as are Pistachios (sp). I have killed a Cottonwood tree this past year! But Elena in TN gave me a Golden Rain Tree...it has survived over 2 years in a container...I may plant it in the yard this week...I hope it doesn't die of shock!!

We have to water most things here though....even our cactus is thankful for a drink since we have been in a 3 year drought. Jo

We have a healthy well, close to 1,000 ft of irigation pipe (and growing) and 800 ft of garden hose... my dream is drip irrigation... maybe after a few years I can graft some "know cultivars" to my little tiny trees :-)

I went out beore 7 AM to waer my few little plants...and re-fill the watering thing I put out for the animals...I think the Javalina were through here the other night and turned it over...nasty things!! LOL Jo

kmom,
I've got a buddy in the Reno area who's growing pecans(and trying some hickories, as well) on his place - he's got a number of northern pecan seedlings I sent him, as well as a few grafted selections he purchased. I've not heard a progress report from him this spring - maybe I oughta drop him a line so I can perhaps give you some more encouragement.
You may need some of the northern/midwestern or far northern selections in order to get nut maturation - some of those far northern types will mature nuts in a 110 day growing season - but they'll be a lot smaller than the big Southern types you had in GA or TX.

The pecan trees I got from Stark Bros. are "Hardy Misouri Pecans". Supposed to do well in colder climates. And even if the chipmonks and squirrels get all the nuts, it will be worth it to just have a few of these lovely trees hanging around :-)

I'm 60 miles outside of Reno to the east. Colder but drier here. I work in Reno and Spring was a full month later at home than in Reno. We've been here less than a year, so I don't have much personal experience in how many days we really have in a growing season, but some years I'm thinking 110 days might be pushing it. But, if nothing else, it is always an adventure. I like attempting the impossible - I'm trying to recreate The South, and an English Cottage Garden - in the High Desert. Pecans fit right into all that.

There are some compromises that we are making for not moving Way South and East(we were going to move to TN, but for a number of reasons, didn't make it that far east; sold our TN property near Sparta last month). We traded giant palmeto bugs for scorpions, kudzu for bare sand with polka-dots of sage, summer humidity in the tripple digets for summer humidity in the single digets, too much water from Mother Nature for too little, and etc. But wisteria and pecans WILL grow here, even if I have to coddle them, and so will peaches and raspberries, so some of my favorites from Dixie are/will soon be growing here. Besides, everything/everyone in Nevada is a transplant except probably for Jack Rabbits, Tumble Weed and Sage Brush!

Thanks for the encouragement, Lucky_P! My husband thinks I'm absolutely nuts to be planting a tree that I may never see grow up (I'm going to plant some tiny oaks, too). Jo, I will think of you and your little pecan tree each time I water my little pecan trees :-)

Take care, everyone!

Those 'Hardy MO' pecans are a good northern strain, probably seedlings of Starking Hardy Giant &/or James, both of which originated in the Brunswick, MO area. Probably plenty hardy for you, and might mature nuts some years. If you're real dry, you may have to provide some supplemental irrigation - and particularly in years when they set nuts - inadequate moisture is one of the biggest obstacles to proper filling and maturation of pecans, once the nuts are set.