By Clint Thompson
Pecan harvests are nearing an end in Georgia. This year’s harvest season is concluding quicker than normal, according to Lenny Wells, University of Georgia Extension pecan specialist. He estimated that 90% of the crop has been harvested.
“Probably those that are not finished are about to wrap up their second harvest, or either they waited until they could just get everything in one pass to reduce costs,” said Wells. “I think (the season) went by a little faster, mainly because those that did shake early or did two harvests, they got the majority of the nuts at that time on that first shake. Just based on what I saw, it looked to me like most growers were getting 80% or so, maybe 85% on that first shake.”
Wells said some growers waited until later in the season to harvest all of their crop at once. One tree shake and recent rain events helped knock down most of the nuts.
Increased rainfall in December so far has made pecan harvests challenging for producers.
“We always get into a rainy pattern once December gets here, and that’s one of the risks in waiting to get it all at once. Once that rainy period starts, we’ll get a couple of days of rain and then we’ll be dry for three or four days, and then it’ll rain again,” Wells said. “You don’t have a lot of time to get much harvesting done. After the rain, the nuts have to dry out on the ground, and then you pick them up. By the time you get going good, it rains again.”