By Clint Thompson
Increased rainfall in recent weeks not only provided much needed relief from the prolonged drought across the Southeast, it boosted the region’s pecan crop, just weeks before the start of harvest season.
Lenny Wells, University of Georgia Extension pecan specialist, discussed how additional moisture has impacted the region’s pecan trees.
“We had been terribly hot and dry for a while. Of course, that came right at the time that our peak water demand occurs during kernel filling. The rain that we have had over the last week or so has probably gone a long way towards helping to fill the crop out as it needs to be,” Wells said. “Also, for things like Pawnee, it helped those nuts start opening up as they need to. When it’s hot and dry, those sutures along the shuck, when it’s dry, they have a hard time opening up. Rainfall helps to accelerate that some.”
According to the UGA Weather Network, Albany, Georgia, received 5.29 inches of rainfall from Sept. 6-15 and eight rainy days, compared to 0.68 inches of rain in 2023. Tifton, Georgia, received 6.83 inches of rain and nine rainy days during that same time period, compared to 0.8 inches and three rainy days last year.
Pecan harvests will start with Pawnee varieties in a couple of weeks, towards the end of September.