Please! If you live far enough south that they can survive winter, plant some of the Southeast US native pecans. If you've never eaten one of the little slim striped native pecans, you don't know what you're missing, they're so much sweeter and brighter-flavored than the big tan-hulled ones. Of course, you don't really plant pecans for yourself, you plant them for your kids and grandkids. I've tried for two years to get them to grow here without success, even though I'm too old to likely see any results. I may try again this fall, not for me or mine, but for whoever ends up with this place down the road. It would be an incredible gift to leave for others.
Yeah, pecans are a long term investment. And even bareroot they are not cheap. Luckily around here I have friends and relatives that have big trees on their property. And they aren't really my favorite nut, I prefer almonds. They ultimately end up as great shade also, another reason to plant one.
Gaston, make sure where you plant them is well drained. Pecan's don't like to sit in moist soil. Cold isn't really a factor unless you live somewhere with arctic temps. They can take some chill, but they can't take moisture sitting on their roots.
Hmmm, that sounds like a great idea! It would make a lovely gift for some friends, who bought their first place a couple years ago and now have a baby daughter running around it. Where might I procure seed to grow from, and how would I care for it? Would it be possible to get one going and healthy over here, and transplant into their ground later? Oh yeah, and is middle TN far enough south?
You order a bareroot pecan. Don't even try to raise one from seed. You should have no trouble growing one in Tennessee. Contact the local nurseries and plan on buying one from late December to end of January...I know that's not a pleasant time to be digging a hole but it's the best time and cheapest to be planting a pecan. You are buying grafted stock, make sure if you have a preference for a certain pecan you mention it when you order. Usually the caliper of the stock is about a half inch, so this tree has a few years behind it already. You pay more for larger caliper stock. They are not very pretty when they are young. It takes them a few years to develop into a real tree. And they seem to have more trunk than root when bareroot, but if you buy one from a reputable nursery, they should replace it if it doesn't establish. And keep those roots well drained, but don't not water them, they need water to establish, but once they take off, they are a tree for generations to come, and require very little maintenance.
I ordered a little pecan tree TWICE ... these were the "normal" (not wild) pecans ... first little tree was about 1' tall ... I planted it in the wrong place; where we live, we are on a long, slanting very gradual slope ... (in northern Arkansas). I didn't know at the time ... but planted the little tree at the TOP of the slope. Not a good move ... ground is thin there and who knows where it turns to ROCK, but I suspect not far underneath. Although it was planted in "old garden dirt," (from the garden kept by the people who lived here before us), it just never took root, dried up, turned into nothing more than a dead stick. (we have hard weather to start trees in ... nice in spring and early summer, but late summer (like now) very little rain and lots of heat. Ground turns to ROCK and stays that way about 1-1/2 to 2 months. Everything dries up. Including the little trees with imperfect, baby roots. I must admit, too, I am no good at watering baby trees in drought-time. The other one got planted out in a field of grass; again, over the hottest part of summer, it died. So... to get into the ADVICE part of this message, best luck I've had, has been planting in part shade; the shade from the peak of the house has kept a Wolf River apple tree doing pretty good, for instance. Even shade from another small tree is better than nothing. It helps with the dryness problem. But don't pecans like HEAT? In Louisiana, for instance, they grow big beautiful pecan trees easily. I've got a hazelnut tree growing here (in shade of the house!)
Not when they've just been planted. You have to supply water, during the growing season, but also drainage. These are babies...you have to make sure they've become established before you can walk away from them. Actually planting on the top of the slope was a good move, but you have to supply water for young trees during the first year or two. Heat is fine once they are established. Your climate is a lot like it is here. and first or second year trees need water. If you can't water baby trees during drought...then don't plant them. But they only need one or two years of outside watering to put roots down and find their own depending on your water table, but you need to learn to read them. Pecans can take the heat once they are established. Hazelnuts are rare around here.
Thanks for the tip, Gardener. Truthfully, I don't think I'll be able to get them to grow here, the lot has been filled and is so hard that the roots of the crabapples and maples run along the top of the ground. That's largely why I posted this, so that the younger set would think about what they could leave behind. Most of us don't think about such until we're older ... me included.
Yeah, planting trees is something all young people should be turned on to. I am living with a black walnut that my brother and I fight over who planted the nut, back in 1962 (I was twelve and he was eleven.), But it doesn't really matter anymore it's a nice big shade tree now.
