By Clint Thompson
Nut set in the Hurricane Helene-damaged pecan areas in East Georgia has been better than expected. Lenny Wells, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension pecan specialist, made the proclamation in the UGA Extension Pecan Blog in an early assessment of this season’s crop.
After the hurricane devastated the region, the outlook for the crop was not great heading into this year. But it turns out that may not be the case.
“I tell you what’s remarkable is we’ve seen the trees that are left in those hurricane-damaged areas have actually come back with a decent crop, at least at this point. We’ll see if they hold those nuts,” Wells said. “I don’t see a reason for them not to. It’s been a very nice surprise to see them come back with a decent crop on those trees that are left in those hurricane-damaged areas.”
Storm’s Timing
Wells believes the storm’s timing in late September might attribute to the trees’ resurgence.
“The only thing I can figure is it happened early enough in the season where those trees re-foliated, put leaves on again, and then we didn’t get a good freeze until later on into the fall. Maybe they had a long enough time to accumulate enough energy and put on enough growth that they were able to fruit,” Wells said.
Estimates released by the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) following the storm indicated a $62 million impact to crop loss in 2024 and $76 million in replanting costs. It also estimated that 400,000 trees were lost to the storm.