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Northern Pecans as a Potential Crop

© Gloria Morris

Sometimes the land speaks to you. If you pay attention, it will tell you what to grow. On our rolling land there is some remaining woodland, and the pastures are dotted with trees. Among the trees are some black walnuts. Our land is well-suited for nut production. One particularly hilly portion of the farm would be perfect for a nut grove. I have been looking for a market for the black walnut, but Illinois does not have the well-established market that some states have for black walnuts. However, the more I look into other nuts, the more I am convinced that agroforestry may be an environmentally friendly way for our farm to produce an income for us.

Pecans are an excellent seller, already extremely popular with the public. Northern pecans are stronger tasting than the more commercially familiar southern pecan. I like the taste of the northern pecan much better than the pecans generally available in the super market. There are pecan growers as far north as southern Nebraska, which is in USDA agricultural zone 5. Since we are also in USDA agricultural zone 5, we should be able to raise the hardier northern pecans. At an Illinois Specialty Growers conference this winter, I learned about university-sponsored research on pecan growing that is taking place in southern Illinois, which is one zone south of our farm. Unfortunately, they had no information about growing pecans in my northern locale. However, I recently met a local beekeeper who has a few pecan trees for his family's eating, including one grafted variety that is about 20 years old.

Despite the lack of information available through our extension office about pecan production, I have been able to find excellent sources of information. Some of the best resources I have found concerning pecan production are:

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/pecan.html http://www.nolinnursery.com/Pecans.htm http://www.grimonut.com/section4.htm

One can choose between northern pecan seedlings and grafted cultivars. The seedlings will take about 12 to 15 years to come into production, whereas the grafted varieties will take fewer years, about 6 to 10. Further, as with apples, the quality of nut that you obtain from a seedling is unknown until it finally reaches production: it may be spectacular, or it may produce small, poorly filled nuts with low commercial value. The grafted cultivars produce a known quality of nut. Grafted varieties are much more expensive to plant, however, but their earlier production should mean bigger payback on the investment. Still, if you are going to devote acreage to nut production, it does not make sense to pinch pennies at the planting phase unless you are utilizing land that you would literally do nothing with if you did not plant nuts.

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