The No. 1 reason Georgia-planted pecan trees die in their
first two years is that they
don’t get enough water.

Many homeowners forget that a newly planted pecan tree has a
very small root system. It
is extremely important that these small trees get ample moisture
on time every week. One
way to make sure the trees get enough water is to give them at
least five to 10 gallons
every week.

A complicating factor is the lack of weed control around the
tree. Research has shown
that just mowing grass around young trees can reduce growth by
50 percent to 75 percent.

The grass competes with the young tree for water. Even if you
water the tree weekly,
the grass tends to get the water and the nutrients. By using
herbicides to control grass
and weeds in a three-foot-diameter circle around the tree,
growth was increased by 75
percent.

You can keep weeds under control with by several household
herbicides you can buy at
your garden center.

In the research plots, the trees that grew the most were the
ones that got mulching
plus weed control. Your tree will grow its best, too, if you
mulch a three-foot-wide
circle around the tree with three to four inches of old grass
clippings, pine straw, pine
bark, etc.

The mulch will preserve moisture and enhance the tree’s
growth. When weeds were kept
under control in the mulch, the research trees grew as much as
twice as fast as the trees
growing in grass sod.

So it’s critical to water young pecan trees weekly, mulch
them and control weeds around
them for the first two years.

Weed control around the tree, and in strips through
commercial orchards, is a good
practice for older trees, too. It will conserve moisture while
it protects the base of the
trees from mower injury.