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wildlifeman_gw

northern pecan rootstocks

wildlifeman
15 years ago

well i finally got lucky and found a source for some scions of cultivars of northern pecans reccommended for my area.

been buzzing around the internet to source some rootstocks to benchgraft to. not having much luck as pecan nurseries are obviously located in the southern states.

as difficult as it's been to find these cultivars i think it would behoove me to try and find northern pecan rootstock from a northern locality.

anybody have any leads as to a source of rootstock ?

if i can't find rootstocks, all won't be lost as i can get seed nut from other hardy pecans and grow them out and try for scions later. same gent can supply seed nuts.

thanks,

wildlifeman

Comments (11)

  • lucky_p
    15 years ago

    My friends at Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery(KY) usually has "Major" northern pecan seedlings available - larger sizes. www.nolinnursery.com

    Cascade Forestry Nursery(IA) and Forrest Keeling Nursery(MO)usually have row-run northern pecan seedlings available. FKN may have RPM-type seedlings in addition to bareroot stuff.
    John H. 'Nuttree' Gordon, Jr.(NY)should have northern pecan seedlings available

    All the above have websites; you might find others at the NNGA Marketplace page at the NNGA website

    Here is a link that might be useful: Northern Nut Growers Association

  • olpea
    15 years ago

    Wildman,

    Lucky could tell you for sure, but from your zone, you are probably far enough south that southern rootstocks would work fine for you. As I recall, Womack nursery down in Texas sells Giles rootstock. I know Giles would be plenty hardy for you. I believe the biggest problem for someone in zone 5b would not be hardiness issues with pecans, but rather fruiting issues, i.e. season too short, which would not be an issue with rootstock.

  • lucky_p
    15 years ago

    Zone 5, I'd want northern/midwestern pecan seedlings, like Major, Peruque, Norton, etc. Giles might be OK, but I'd feel better with rootstocks grown from varieties that originated in zone 5/6.
    There was a guy here in western KY who planted 1000 grafted pecans 20 years or so ago - all 'northern/midwestern' varieties, but grafted onto Southern rootstock, at a Southern pecan nursery. They did OK for 3-4 years, but then a typical KY winter hit and killed them all back to the ground - the northern varieties on top were hardy enough, but the Southern seedlings weren't. He had to start all over.

  • olpea
    15 years ago

    Thanks Lucky,

    Didn't know southern pecans were that winter tender.

  • wildlifeman
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    lucky p and olpea,

    thanks much for the response, i have several sources for rootstocks now.

    these are my favorite nut and i want to give them as best a chance to succeed as possible.

    n.pecans are being grown in the area but so far it appears as none are filling the nuts out.but the info is sketchy at best... cultivars are unknown,rootstocks unknown, elevation and microclimate unknown...etc.. i'm also sure it's a very small number of trees. the good news happens to be that the trees themselves are fine and doing well. even if they don't fruit they make nice shade trees.

    olpea i neglected to fill in the n.e.washington part of my post. i'm not too far south,canada is closer than spokane. i'm erring to a 5b zone,but 6a may be most accurate. am on a south slope and that may give me an additional edge when filling and ripening the nuts.

    here in the area there are just many micro-climates with huge differences on the same crops. peaches are the perfect example some get none...ever and there are those who get huge,sweet, branch breaking fruits every year. and i am testing my luck with a few of those.

    regards,
    wildlifeman

  • lucky_p
    15 years ago

    wildman,
    A couple more potential sources, and sources for info.
    Don't know how your climate/soils compare, but Garfield Shults, in Homedale Idaho, has been growing northern pecans for decades.
    Ken Asmus, at OIKOS Tree Crops, in Kalamazoo MI offers seedlings of some far northern pecan selections that might be worth growing out, or using as rootstocks - though if you're a 5b/6a, seedlings of any variety that originated in, say, KY/IN/IL/MO will probably be plenty hardy to serve you well as a rootstock.
    The Nebraska Nut Growers Assn used to offer scionwood of a number of good northern/midwestern pecan, hickory, hican, and black walnut - and stratified seednuts - available; list & order form used to be available online.

  • furr2ball
    15 years ago

    I was doing a Goggle search for northern hardy Pecans, when up popped the above post referancing Homedale Idaho.
    I live 5 miles away, any idea what cultivars Mr. Shults grows? I have a wonderful Sorthern slope and typical Snake River turbyfil/truesdel, sandy alkaline soil.
    P.S. I need Trees, not root stock, I am not getting any younger!

  • lucky_p
    15 years ago

    furball,
    I don't know what pecan varieties Garfield Shults has - but he's bound to have several available, as well as other nut varieties. He's bound to be in your local phonebook - but if you can't find him, email me off-list - I can look up his contact info in the NNGA directory.

    I've got his 'Shults' pecan selection grafted & growing here, as well as one of his seedling strain 'Shults' dwarf Carpathian walnuts.

  • paleeya
    15 years ago

    Hello Everyone,

    I'm desperately trying to find northern pecan scion wood. However, I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Is there anyone here willing to trade or sell some scions? Or know where I can purchase them?

    Thanks,

    Phil

  • djofnelson
    15 years ago

    Womack Nursery sells pecan scion wood. However, they are based in TX and their catalog doesn't list hardiness, so you'd have to contact them about that.

  • lucky_p
    15 years ago

    paleeya,
    You don't say where you're located, other than zone 6 - it's helpful to other respondents if you can configure your profile to tell us where you are - like I'm zone 6 western KY, djofnelson is zone 7 central VA foothills, etc.
    Depending on where you're located, there may be a state nutgrowers association, like KY & IN have, which have 'scionwood swaps' at their late winter/early spring meetings - members bring in scionwood from various pecan, hickory, walnut, persimmon, apple, pear, etc. to share with others.
    Check out the NNGA website below for info on an NGA near you.
    Additionally, Mr. Wes Rice, Ponca City, Oklahoma; (580)-767-1195 usually has northern pecan scionwood for sale, as does Mr. John H. Gordon, Jr., Amherst, NY; also the Nebraska NGA sells nut scionwood - NeNGA usually has their request form online somewhere if you care to search around for it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Northern Nut Growers Association

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