By Lenny Wells, UGA Extension Pecan Specialist

At the Tri-State meeting, the Georgia crop (was estimated) at 130 million pounds. I don’t know if that is wrong or right. It is nearly impossible to put a number on Georgia’s crop because the calibration of its size is in such a state of flux.

We have acres of trees coming into and increasing their production every year, and we also have older orchards being phased out and left behind as market forces have their effect. I was asked for my estimate of the crop, and I refused and will continue to refuse to put a number on it. Any number would be pure speculation.

All I can say about it is that overall, it is larger than last year’s crop but not a limb-busting, huge crop. It looks to me to be a good, average crop at this point, which is really the sort of crop the industry needs.

Those who severely underestimate the numbers are either living in the past or refusing to face the facts that the size of our low, average and high crops are increasing. You don’t plant 10,000 new acres a year for nearly 10 years without an increase in production. Yes, we lost some acreage to hurricanes, but the numbers say that one year after Hurricane Michael we had more pecan acreage than before the storm and much of this acreage is already contributing to production.

The drop

Time passes quickly, folks. Still, those who overly inflate the numbers ignore the facts that not all of those orchards and trees will be productive or remain in pecan, nor will we make every nut we started out with this year due to the vagaries of working with mother nature.

So, what is going on in the orchards? We have had one of the largest Desirable drops I have ever seen. This variety is well known to drop 40% to 60% of its crop in June most years. Many want to chalk this up solely to pollination, which does contribute in some years, and think we can get around it with one or another foliar spray of some snake oil, but the fact of the matter is that this is deeply ingrained into the genetics of this variety.

Most varieties express alternate bearing by just not putting on a crop at all the year after a heavy crop. It seems to me that the drop is simply Desirable’s way of expressing its alternate or irregular bearing. The trees know what they can handle and Desirable puts them on and then drops them in June if it is needing an off year.

Also, bear in mind that often, even when it drops heavy, Desirable can surprise you at the end. I have also seen and heard about a fairly significant drop on Pawnee. Both of these varieties make up a significant part of Georgia’s production.

Photo by Lenny Wells, UGA Extension.

This appears to be perhaps the worst year for phylloxera that I have seen. We are seeing both leaf and stem phylloxera almost everywhere in the state, although to my eye it appears a little worse in middle Georgia. See Andrew’s last post for details on phylloxera.

Black aphids are beginning to rear their heads. I would not spray this early generation unless you see nymphs on the leaves. If all you see is winged adults, keep an eye on them but more than likely they will simply move in and out. Black aphid nymphs should be sprayed at any time. Don’t sleep on hickory shuckworms. Mid July and again, mid-August will be the time to treat for them. Pawnee probably needs an earlier treatment.

We are seeing a few foliar diseases beginning to start up. Though it is dry now, we were pretty wet up until 3-4 weeks ago and conditions were right for foliar diseases to move in. We are seeing some anthracnose and some Neofusicoccum out there. Both these diseases likely infected the leaves a month or more ago but it usually take that long after infection for symptoms to appear.

Anthracose will appear as random necrotic areas on the leaf and Neofusicoccum will begin at the terminal end of the leaflets and compound leaves, moving toward the base. The leaves often stick in the trees for a while and are starkly obvious as brown patches among the green. Eventually they will fall.

Sometimes we see Neofusicoccum associated with phylloxera galls as well. Anecdotal observation suggests that this fungus can be somewhat opportunistic in possibly entering through the wound of the gall but it by no means requires such a wound to establish.

Scab

Scab is apparent out there from the wet weather of a few weeks ago, though I have not observed it to be severe in most orchards. The current dry spell is helping us with scab, and I for one, would rather see a dry June and July as long as the wells are capable of running.

Despite the dry conditions, do not under any circumstances extend spray intervals for Desirable and Pawnee beyond two weeks. We still have enough nighttime humidity to drive scab on susceptible varieties. You may have opportunity to extend it for more moderately susceptible varieties, but I do not like to gamble this time of year.

The nuts will be at their most susceptible point from now through July. To play it safe stick to a two-week maximum interval during this time. If you choose to stretch it, watch the weather carefully and get in and spray before a rain when needed.

If you consider the fact that last year’s crop, which was off almost everywhere except middle Georgia and suffered the wrath of a major hurricane in deep south Georgia, came in officially at 108 million pounds, 130 million on an average crop may not be far off. But we have a long way yet to go.