Green Horizons

Pecan research at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry (UMCA), conducted primarily at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC), New Franklin, MO, is another opportunity for the Center to assist Missouri landowners with profitable nut crops. Native pecans grown in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois (Upper South) tend to have a higher oil content compared to pecans grown in the Southwest and Southeast United States. The higher oil content gives Missouri’s pecans a richer, sweeter flavor than Southern pecans, potentially commanding a higher price at grocers, specialty retail vendor or wholesale outlets.

Since 1995, a large collection of pecan cultivars have been planted at HARC to catalog several descriptors, including date of nut maturity, nut size, percent kernel and nut yield. Drawing from collaborative pecan research efforts conducted at Kansas State University and the Pecan Experiment Field Station in Chetopa, KS, nut tree specialists have developed initial recommendations based on growing season climatic zones of the tri-state region. The recommended climatic zone was chosen for each cultivar based primarily on length of growing season required to mature the nuts, but modified by such variables as relative winter hardiness for each cultivar. This will assist pecan growers in choosing proven cultivars that will provide consistently profitable nut yields.

Following is a sample of data from 2005 showing a selection of cultivars and appropriate zones for Missouri, Kansas and Illinois, as indicated by the map.

Note: Recommendations may change as trees mature and come into full commercial production.

Project Team: Ken Hunt, UMCA; Bill Reid, Kansas State University

Three-state map showing selection zones for choosing appropriate northern pecan cultivars.

Nut yield in Pecan Cultivar Trial, Fall 2005. Location: Silt-loam soil near Sulfur Creek bottom, along edge of Missouri River floodplain, New Franklin, Mo. (Trees, age 10 from graft, are not irrigated.)
Cultivar	Mean yield (lbs.)	Recommended Zone(s)
Colby	8.9	2,3
USDA 64-11-17	7.4	3,4
James	6.4	2,3
Kussman	6.1	2,3
Posey	6.1	2,3,4
Shepherd	3.9	2,3,4
Peruque	3.6	2,3,4
Witte	3.7	2,3
Kanza	3.5	3,4,5
Norton	2.3	2,3
Goosepond	2.2	2,3,
USDA 62-1-15	2.0	3,4
Canton	1.8	2,3
USDA 64-15-85		3,4
Ste. Genevieve	1.3	4,5
Warren #346	1.0	1