Pecans, Pecans, Pecans!
10 years ago
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10 years agoRelated Discussions
Pecan Scab and Pecan Weevils
Comments (6)The pecan weevils have two-year cycles so I bet you had a lot of pecans in 2007. By now most of the weevils are probably already out of the ground and in the trees so this may not work so well, but you could try a ring of tanglefoot around the trunk as high as you can get it up. Circle traps are what we use around some trees to monitor the weevil populations, but they will catch many, if not most, of them as long as there are not a lot of other trees close by that they are flying in from. You may already know some of most of this, but for those that don't, the weevils emerge from the ground in August and September after good rains soften up the ground. Some walk and some fly to the nearest trunks (sometimes directly into trees if branches are low) and then climb up the rest of the way into the trees. They spend a few days exploring and mating and then start to deposit eggs. If they don't find them in the trees they climb into, they will fly to the next one, etc., until they find pecans or hickory nuts. The nuts are only susceptible between when they turn from liquid to dough inside (mid-August in south and late August in north of state) until the shucks split in October-ish. The weevil lays eggs into the pecans which hatch into the little worms that eat and then tunnel out of the pecans after 40 to 45 days give or take and drop to the ground to emerge two years later as weevils. The only way to kill them once they are in the trees is with a large sprayer using Sevin or other insecticide. By now they have already cause many pecans to drop (probed by the weevil before it reaches the dough stage) or be infested with the worms, so there is not much you can do. Scab has been about average here, but not near as bad as 2007 and not quite as bad as last year. It's too late to do anything now though. Where are your trees located, and are they natives or cultivars?...See Moreold pecan tree- no pecans
Comments (13)There are 2 potential answers. 1. Most likely this is an off year for your tree. Pecans are a masting tree (bear fruit irregularly). This is natural and happens in the wild. The purpose of this is that by producing a large crop, the tree makes more seed than the predators can eat (crows, squirells, weevils) so some is left for new trees. The next year there are no nuts and the predators starve and the population lowers. Often all the trees in the forest will be on a similar schedule and one year there are few nuts, the next year plenty. Even good pecan growers struggle with this problem, and it is the focus of much pecan research. 2. The other potential problem is pecan scab. This is a disease that affects the leaf and shucks, producing black velvety spots. If the young nuts are heavily infected they will drop off in the summer. In a wet year this disease can devastate your crop. If you see a lot of catkins on the tree in spring, there were probably female flwers as well and if you then don't have nuts something like scab took the crop. If you don't see catkins then the female flowers were probably never there and it is an off-year for your tree....See Morewhat's with these rancid pecans???
Comments (13)We use a lot of nuts in food preparation and as snack food around here. I buy new crop nuts from a producer, when possible, but also get the 2-pound bags from Sam's club. I also stock-up on in-shell nuts after the holidays (when the price is reduced) - they are usually new crop and fairly "fresh". They keep best stored in the freezer. Hubby will (mindlessly) shell/clean nuts for me while watching sports on TV on the weekend, and I vacuum-seal them in FoodSaver bags and store in the freezer. This helps keep them fresh longer. The absense of air will keep the oil in the nuts from going rancid. I avoid storing out-of-the-shell nut meats at room temperature. That's just an invitation for them to go rancid. One step I do with out-of-shell nut meats that makes them easier to digest is to soak and dehydrate them. Source: "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. CRISPY NUTS 4 cups nuts 1 T. sea salt filtered water to cover Soak nuts for at least 7 hours, or overnight. This partially sprouts the nut and reduces the enzyme inhibitors that make nuts hard to digest. Drain in a colander. Spread on a baking pan and bake in a warm oven (no more than 150°F) until completely crisp and dry. (Note: I use my dehydrator for this.) Once completely dry - 12 to 24 hours, allow to come to room temperature and then vacuum seal in bags, canisters or jars. ------------------ Crispy nuts can be used just like fresh nuts. They can be toasted, if you wish. Personally, we like soaked and dehydrated nuts much better than fresh nuts. -Grainlady...See MorePecan pie question
Comments (41)Mollasses is made from Sugar cane. There is more than one variety of sugar cane of course and Ribbon cane is a popular one. To cook syrup you need specialized equipment. a long brick base for the fire, and a huge long metal pan usually divided into sections. You also need a cane press and their family one was powered by a mule. Everyone who participated brought truck loads of cane and it was fed into the press, the juice taken to the pan where the skilled cookers moved the thickening syrup from hotter to cooler pan sections skimming the entire time, Making sugar is the same except it is taken to the point of crystalization and you need a centrifuge-big spinning thing-to extract the lighter syrup from the sugar crystals. Commercially that syrup is added back to the next cooking batch and finally taken off as the darker more bitter molasses we normally get in stores. Molasses made the way they did it tastes totally different. You can buy it on the internet but these days it is impressively expensive. It is lighter in color with a very complex almost floral taste. I got lucky in my family. My mothers mother died and when my grandfather eventually remarried he married a woman from southern Mississippi and the farm where they ended up on his retirement became our home base. Grannie came from a farm family local to where they lived. It was like being in a different century. I learned the most astonishing things. patriciae...See More- 10 years ago
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