Cultivar selection and row spacing: science or informed opinion?

摘要

Over 100 years into commercial pecan production, we often still see more opinions regarding how to grow pecans than we see science. Even among pecan scientists, opinions vary considerably on many topics related to pecan production. The reason for thisis that empirical data for some topics is so hard to come by in these long-lived perennial trees. It takes many years and a lot of land and resources to get reliable, replicated field data for mature trees regarding things like cultivars, row spacing, pruning, etc. If you add in the effect of environment throughout the wide range of conditions in which the pecan is grown, it adds a whole other level of complexity to consider.