How to grow pecan walnut
How to grow pecan walnut
The pecan (Carya illinoensis (Wangenh.) K.Koch, 1869) is a fruit tree of the Juglandaceae family cultivated mainly in North America for the harvesting of the fruits: pecans.
It is a tree that reaches a height that can touch the forty meters of height if it finds a climate particularly favorable to its needs. The plant is dioecious with male and female flowers, which hatch in spring and with anemophilous pollination. The fruits are walnuts with a smooth and thin shell, varying in size depending on the variety, with a pleasant taste kernel. As soon as the walnut reaches the right degree of ripeness, the husk opens up letting it fall to the ground. In this sheet we will see how to grow pecan walnut and the necessary technical and agronomic measures.
Although the pecan tree is native to North America, it adapts smoothly to both different climates and terrain.
It is a species that bears rigid winters without being affected in a particular way but is sensitive to late spring frosts that can inhibit, in a more or less consistent way, its fructification.
However it adapts to different pedoclimatic environments, provided they are warm, due to the high length of the vegetative period. It is deciduous and resists well, as mentioned, at low winter temperatures (up to -10 ° C).
The pecan walnut prefers alluvial soils well endowed with organic substances but, even if productivity decreases, it is able to adapt even to poorer soils. It grows and adapts better, soils tendentially acidic where it can provide more productions than those grown in calcareous soils. However, it is a species that does not require large quantities of water to grow well but does not tolerate drought for too prolonged periods. It requires particular attention as regards pruning, which must favor the emission of a good branching in the basal part of the plant.
The pecan nut has many varieties (about 500) that are distinguished in oriental (suitable for hot-humid climates) or western (better resist drought). Some varieties of American origin and cultivated in Italy are: Kiowa, Wichita and Shoshoni. The pecan nut is propagated by grafting.
The Pecan is bred with a full-winded vase shape; the sixth must be very large (m 6-8 x 6-8) due to the large size that the adult plant takes.
The walnut harvest takes place between October and November and for plants with high extensions can also be done by machine.