The ones that look most promising are Lakota, Kanza, Amling, McMillan, Gafford, and Headquarters. Amling and Gafford are the only type 1 pollinators, while the others are type 2. I understand that I would need a type 1 and a type 2 to cross pollinate.

Thoughts?

Lakota is even newer. I don't have experience growing it but have entertained the notion.

Scott

Lucky, thanks for the tip on Rock Bridge nursery. Looks like they really have a good selection of trees - just about everything I was looking for. But, their prices - wow, they are really expensive. Wonder if they'd be any cheaper if the trees were picked up. I'll get in contact with them. I'm also looking at a few other nurseries, but most haven't updated their websites for the new season.

Olpea, how long did it take to get that first nut? Do you have other trees for pollination? Looks like pecan trees grow pretty fast, which is what I had read. Similar to the growth of black walnut, I suppose.

For a homeowner it's nice to have a pecan that doesn't alternate bear. That's usually the varieties that have low to moderate yields. I took out one tree that overset terribly resulting in poorly filled nuts. The next yr it set almost nothing. So every other yr I got a lot of lousy nuts alternating with almost nothing. I think this variety was Mahan so late maturity probably contributed to poor nut fill.

In middle TN it might also be important to chose an early maturing variety.

I'm thinking I purchased that Major pecan tree around 07. I planted it but after a couple years decided to move it to its current location. It set it back considerably when I moved it.

The "new" pecan tree in the picture grew so fast because I grafted it on a pecan rootstock that was well established. Normally freshly planted pecans don't grow near that fast here. Peaches grow fast, but not pecans.

None of my planted pecans are shedding pollen (i.e. catkins) yet, so I think the older Major pecan must have gotten pollinated by some wild pecan.

I'll offer another recommendation for Kanza. My wife's relatives have an 80 acre pecan orchard. They say Kanza is very scab resistant and their heaviest producer. Their exact words, "It produces like crazy."

Kanza alternate bears. That's part of what goes along with heavy production. But according to the Alabama info it maintains good nut quality in the on yrs. It's also freeze tolerant which they say is important in northern Alabama and therefore probably middle TN.

The trouble with pecans is that it takes ~40 yrs to fully evaluate a pecan cultivar. That is to know how they do as a mature tree both disease wise and nut yield and quality wise. That time frame isn't an exaggeration. Very much more difficult than fruit trees. Kanza hasn't been around long enough to fully evaluate. Same can be said for most of the other candidates.

http://cgru.usda.gov/carya/pecans/kanza.htm

Sweet, my name is on the Kanza release document. I had forgotten that detail. Doesn't mean I really know that much about it but I was part of the team testing short season pecans.

Fruitnut,

My wife's uncle hasn't mentioned the alternate bearing of Kanza in SE KS. They mostly have 4 varieties - Kanza, Giles, Pawnee, and Maramec (as I recall). They have a spattering of other varieties, as well as a few native pecans, but most of their planting is of the 4.

My understanding is that most pecan cultivars in general are alternate bearing, but they haven't experienced much of that. Every year they haul 1500 lb. bags out by the semi load.

They planted the grove in the early 80s. It took them a long time to get the initial crop, but they've been harvesting consistently now for quite a few years.

I saw your name as one of the testers of Kanza. Pretty cool.

I'm kinda in the mood to test about five pounds of Kanza right now!

WLH, Adams 5 appears to be an excellent choice, but I could find no one who is selling it.

Anyone have recommendations on any other vendors?