How to Grow Pecan Trees

When buying pecan trees you have a choice of bare root or container trees. Trees with roots wrapped in plastic and packed with sawdust should be treated as bare root. You never know how long bare root trees have been out of the ground unless you saw them dug from the ground, so buying container grown trees, although the they cost a little more, will give you a better chance for success. Seed grown trees can make a great landscaping tree, but they rarely have the same characteristics as the parent. Plant pecan trees away from your home or driveway because they become very large and they drop lots of fruit in the fall.

When planting pecan trees, plant at the same level as they were planted in the container or nursery. You can usually see the soil line on the trunk. Pecans are native to river and creek bottoms, but their enormous taproots will eventually find the moisture in our area. They don't like to stand in water, however, so the top 3-4 feet of soil should be well drained. The most productive trees are grafted to a rootstock that has certain desirable characteristics such as disease or pest resistance. You can easily see where the graft was done at the base of the tree. Do not bury the graft area when planting, or the tree may grow from the rootstock only. This may give you a tree with small or undesirable fruit. Pack the soil and moisten it well while planting to avoid leaving any air pockets around the roots. Cut bare root trees back by one-half. Container grown trees do not to be cut back unless they are placed in a low maintenance landscape. Keep weeds from around the base and water deeply every week for the first year.

Bare root trees should be planted no later than the end of January in most areas, because the trees have a difficult time getting established before spring. Well-rooted container grown trees can be planted until late spring if they have supplemental moisture. When visiting a nursery, give the container tree a slight tug to make sure the nursery didn't just recently put a bare root tree they didn't sell in a container. A well-rooted tree won't be easily moved and you can tell it has established roots.

Most of the time a pecan tree will be pollinated from other neighborhood trees as the pollen can travel on the wind as far as 1/4 mile. If you don't live close to other pecan trees you will need another tree for pollination. You will need both an early and late pollen shedding variety to get the best cross-pollination. Here are some recommended varieties for central Texas.

Early Pollen Shedding Varieties are Desirable, Cheyenne, and Cape Fear. Late Pollen Shedding Varieties are Choctaw and Forkert.

Trees should be trained so that a central leader emerges. Never top trees, as that will make an abundance of weak top growth. Leave the small lower branches on young trees as this helps the tree to withstand high winds.

Use only nitrogen (ammonium sulfate) for fertilizer applied at the base of the tree, without contacting the trunk, at the following rates: Year 1-1 cup in June, Year 2-1 cup in April, repeat in May and June, Years 3 and 4- 2 cups in April, repeat in May and June, Years 5-7 4 cups in April, repeat in May and June. For mature trees add 2 cups or 1 pound of nitrogen in late March. Apply 3-5 feet from the trunk extending out a few feet past the drip line.