The Pecan and its Culture

by H. Harold Hume

But, as already noted, humus is needed, and since this is the case, corn or cotton or clean-culture crops, which leave little behind them to make humus after they are removed, should not be grown every year. Some of the legumes should be brought in. Cowpeas, soja beans, beggarweed, velvet beans, alfalfa and melilotus can all be grown in the pecan area. Not all of them in every locality, but some one or more of them in every section. To keep up the supply of vegetable matter, grow one of these leguminous crops every two or three years, or oftener, and after they have died and dried on the surface, plow them into the soil. And when corn is grown, sow cowpeas at the last working of the crop, to enrich the soil. These legumes will add nitrogen to the soil and help to reduce the fertilizer bills, for nitrogen is the costliest of all the fertilizer materials which we buy.

Sometimes, it will not do to crop the orchard. A condition may have to be met, in which there is not enough water to supply both the trees and the growing crops and one or the other will suffer—the trees, usually. In such a case the advisability of cropping is questionable unless, of course, water in sufficient quantity can be supplied by irrigation.

Small grains, oats, wheat, etc., should be rigidly excluded. When corn or cotton is planted, leave out a row or two of the crops where the tree row is. Let the trees have feeding space, but cultivate all the ground.

If the season is dry, then give cultivation just as often as can be done. Every week or ten days, between the first of April and the first or middle of July, the ground should be stirred in young orchards. Shallow cultivation is all that is necessary after the first plowing. A weeder or light harrow will do the work. This shallow cultivation will preserve a dust mulch, a couple of inches or so in depth, and the loss of soil moisture by capillary action and evaporation will thereby be prevented; more moisture will be retained in the soil and the trees will be benefited accordingly.

Whether the orchard is planted in a crop or not, cultivation should begin about the time growth starts in spring. The ground should be plowed and leveled with a cultivator. After that, frequent shallow cultivation should be given with a light harrow or weeder. Once every week or ten days, if the weather is dry, will result in much good to the trees. If a shower should fall during one of these dry periods, the ground should be cultivated just as soon as it can be worked. A light harrow, which will break up the surface crust formed by the rain and leave instead a shallow mulch of pulverized soil, will go a long way toward conserving and holding the water which has been added by the recent rainfall.

The cultivation of old orchards may vary somewhat from that given younger ones. Some recommend that the old orchard be seeded to grass (Bermuda or Johnson grass) and used as a pasture. This may answer in some cases, particularly on very rich, alluvial soils, but, in general, it will not do as a definite policy year in and year out. Those orchards planted in grass which the author has had an opportunity to examine, have usually shown a large percentage of trees with branches dead at the tips, "stagheaded," with yellow leaves and a general appearance of unthriftiness. It may have been that these orchards were planted in grass while the trees were too young. The better treatment, and the safer one to follow in old orchards, is to cultivate the ground in spring and sow down in cowpeas or some other legume. Beggarweed, velvet beans or soja beans will answer well in many localities. Allow these to make what growth they will, and, when dead and dry, plow them back into the soil. It may seem strange to cultivate a forest tree, but it is the plan to follow to get results. Good results could doubtless be secured by seeding the pecan orchard in alfalfa and using it for a hog pasture up to the ripening season.

Cultivation should not be prolonged too late. If it be, the trees will continue to grow later than they should. Enough time will not be left in many sections before the coming of the first frosts. If the immature, sappy wood is caught by an early frost, severe injury may result. In the more southern extension of the pecan area cultivation can be carried on later than toward the northern limits of the region. Ordinarily, it is safest to cease cultivation not later than July the first to July the fifteenth.

Fertilization.

On deep rich, alluvial soils the trees may not need to be fertilized, but many of the soils on which pecans have been set in orchard form, require to be fertilized to secure the best results. The three important plant foods required by plants and most frequently deficient in soils are nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. One or two or all three of these substances may have to be supplied.

Nitrogen, which is used by the trees largely in making growth of leaf and wood, may be supplied from a number of different sources, viz: stable manure, cotton seed, cotton-seed meal, dried blood, fish scrap, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda. These substances are the principal commercial sources of nitrogen. Large amounts of nitrogen are gathered by leguminous crops; cowpeas, vetch, beggarweed, velvet beans, alfalfa and others may be planted to advantage, resulting in a great saving in fertilizer bills, and besides, adding the necessary vegetable matter and humus.