By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

Earlier this year, Georgia appeared primed for a bumper pecan
crop. But a soggy summer left the crop looking a little scabby
and expectations dropped.

Growers were betting on a large pecan crop (about 130 million
pounds) in early spring, said Darrell Sparks, pecan
horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. But several negative
factors over the summer combined to hurt the crop that is still
expected to be good.

Fungus problem

A fungal disease called scab hit the crop hard this summer.
Scab, which thrives in moist conditions, first develops on the
leaves and moves to the shucks that cover the pecan shell. It
can turn the shucks black and prevent the nut inside from
maturing properly, or not at all. It lowers pecan yields and
quality if left untreated by growers.

Georgia growers must spray their orchards with fungicides to
control scab. Heavy and numerous summer rains prevented many
growers from spraying enough to control scab. One pecan orchard
in Dougherty County received 43 rains over this growing season,
Sparks said.

The heavy amount of rain Georgia’s pecan orchards had over this
summer was similar to the amounts received in the summers of
1989 and 1991, he said. Both summers weren’t good for pecan
growing.

Scab wasn’t the only thing that hindered this year’s crop. It
seems this year was just one of those years.

Dropped

Pecans literally dropped out of the trees.

It’s natural for pecan trees to throw off developing fruits.
This allows trees to concentrate on developing the remaining
fruits into good quality pecans. Trees generally shed fruit
about four times each year.

But the June drop this year for the Desirable pecan variety, one
of Georgia’s most popular varieties, was excessive, he said.

“This kind of drop for Desirables only happens about once every
nine years,” he said.

Other pecan varieties include Schley, Stuart, Elliott and
Sumner.

Split

Heavy rains in early August hurt the crop in another way. Pecans
were in a crucial stage of development. Rains forced too much
moisture into the developing nuts and in some cases split them,
causing them to fall undeveloped and useless from trees, he
said. This excessive water split drop happens about once every
seven years, he said.

What’s left of the pecan crop is in fair to good condition,
according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service.

Harvest has started for early-maturing varieties and will
continue through December. Nut quality is expected to be good,
and Georgia growers will harvest an average crop, Sparks said,
which is about 90 million pounds. Last year, Georgia produced
only 45 million pounds.

Dougherty County, with about 15,200 acres of pecan trees, is
considered the hub of Georgia pecan production.

“Most of the hulls are just now starting to open up,” said Lenny
Wells, Dougherty County extension coordinator. “In another month
we’ll be pretty hard into picking.”

Worth about $75 million a year, Georgia produces about half of
the total pecans grown in the United States.