The pecans have been a big disappointment over the past 3 years - through no fault of their own. First we had the extreme drought that caused the trees to have no production in 2009 and 2008. In 2010 they received some rains, but not at the right times. The trees really need a of of water in August, or the "water stage" for pecans. This allows them to grow rapidly and fill out.
We had a decent crop this year, but because it was not a bumper crop, we felt we could not justify renting the 60' boom machine we use to thrash the trees from. My sister, Susan, came and thrashed the lower limbs of several trees that had a fair amount of pecans on them, but it was really slow going doing it from the ground. The trees have grown so tall, she could reach only the lowest limbs, and 90% of the pecans were in the higher limbs.
Nature has a way of taking care of things. The birds REALLY enjoyed the pecans this year! Not the crows as you might expect, but medium sized black birds - grackles, I assume. They came by the thousands! They would feed off the ground, then fill the branches of a tree. I had seen and heard them - very noisy with that number of birds!, but I didn't really think they were large enough to eat the pecans. Then I saw them in the trees in profile with a whole pecan held in their beaks. We drove through the orchard yesterday and I saw only 3 or 4 trees with many pecans left on them. The good thing with the birds, they took the hulls and pecans off at the same time, so the trees look nice and clean.
They ate many pounds of acorns from the trees around the house this fall. I thought someone was trying to tear up the metal roof on the warehouse one day. I quit working in the yard to walk over and check. It was the same medium size black birds, hopping on the small limbs and branches, eating the clusters of acorns.
Hopefully we will have a normal weather year next year as far as rain goes, and the trees can get back into a regular routine and cycle of production. All of our freezers say we need them!
