By Clint Thompson
Pecan producers in Georgia and Alabama should be mindful that the time is now to leaf sample their trees, according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist Lenny Wells.
Growers should leaf sample between July 7 and August 7 every year. Samples will help growers determine their trees’ fertilizer needs for next year.
“It’s the time of year for it. We usually sample between July 7 and August 7. That’s when the nutrients are most stable in the tree and are going to give them the best reading of what’s going on with the nutritional status of that tree if they do the sampling at that time,” Wells said.
He stresses in the UGA Pecan Extension Blog that farmers should only pull samples from healthy leaves that are exposed to the sun and have not been damaged by disease or insects.
“You don’t want to use leaves, if you can help it, if they have scab all over them or have black aphid damage. You want to try to get healthy looking leaves, so you can get a good idea of exactly what’s happening with that tree. A lot of times the fungus or black aphid, you’re going to have nutrients in those, too, that may affect your reading,” Wells said. “Clean, healthy leaves is what you want to get a good reading on that tree.”
Wells also advised growers on when to apply nutrients if their trees are showing deficiencies.
“You can add some nitrogen and get that on up, but for something like zinc or phosphorous that’s going to take a while to get in the tree, there’s no urgency. If you put it out now, it’s not really going to help it for this year, but it would for down the road,” Wells said.