News release issued January 9, 2001, effective immediately.
For media inquiries, contact Caroline Booth Lara, Communications Specialist, (580) 224-6379.
  email: cblara@noble.org

Pecan Tree Damage Varied; Some Orchards ‘Wiped Out’

ARDMORE, Okla. — The status of pecan groves and orchards in Southern Oklahoma and North Central Texas ranges from unscathed to annihilated following the Christmas ice storm, the worst in decades in many areas. Air temperature variations across the region played a major role in determining the extent of damage.

"In the Ardmore area, most of the ice damage to pecan trees was to trees at a higher elevation. Where most of the trees are located in creek or river bottoms, there was little to no significant damage," explained Scott Landgraf, a pecan specialist with the Ardmore-based Noble Foundation.

Southward – where temperatures hovered at or slightly above freezing during the precipitation periods – ice accumulations were significantly less. In some areas near and south of the Red River, no ice accumulations at all were reported.

To the north and east, however, the picture was vastly different.

"Toward Sulphur and Ada there seemed to be a more uniform heavy load of ice, causing considerable limb destruction to all trees," Landgraf said. "Many of those trees may not recover."

Pecan producers in the Idabel-Texarkana area reported complete destruction of their orchards, according to Landgraf, and are planning to push out their trees and start over.

"Boots Adams of the Bald Mountain Ranch in Eufaula had extreme damage," Landgraf said. "He compared it to a bomb explosion."

Based on his conversations with pecan producers across the region, Landgraf said the significant ice damage seemed to be concentrated in a zone from west of Ardmore to west of Pauls Valley and eastward into Arkansas and northeast Texas, with the worst damage from the Arbuckle Mountains eastward.

"They (producers) are very concerned about their upcoming crop this next year. They feel like it will be severely limited by the effects of the ice. The effect of the ice on next year’s crop is truly a valid concern because limbs that are on the ground are actually the ones that would have borne the fruit for next year," Landgraf said

Crops will be limited on trees with severe limb breakage, Landgraf said, although there probably will be pecans from those portions of the trees that remain intact.

"It would be very good to cut the limbs back to a smooth edge, but if that’s not possible, go ahead and tie onto those broken limbs and pull them out of the tree," he explained. "Even though this process leaves a very jagged break, it would be a lot less threatening. I recommend to people with severely damaged trees to not fertilize this upcoming year because there will be plenty of stimulation as a result of the breakage."

Older trees with breakage into the trunk itself are much more susceptible to disease and insects.

"One should probably prepare to replace those trees with young trees this next spring," Landgraf said. "Even though they might not be taken out immediately, you might go ahead and make plans to plant replacements."

Trees with good limb structure that escaped trunk damage but still suffered significant limb breakage might not produce well for several years, Landgraf said.

"People who have severe damage but not severe structural damage should plan to let those trees regenerate. This regeneration process will allow growers to be back in pecan production much quicker than the replacement process." he explained. "Growers with damaged pecan trees should evaluate each tree independently."

Landgraf also noted that in many cases the trees that survived the early freeze damage in October were the ones that were impacted most by the ice storm. It was a particularly bad year of disasters for the pecan industry, he said.

Pecan producers who have specific questions can contact Landgraf at the Noble Foundation (580-223-5810) or attend a free seminar and question-and-answer program scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the Southern Oklahoma Technology Center Auditorium in Ardmore.

Additional information on tree damage with illustrative photos can be accessed through the Foundation’s web site at http://www.noble.org/Press_Release/Index.htm.

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See also: Ice Damage Photos with Captions

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, check out the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Release