CULTIVATION AND FERTILIZATION.
Too many of our ideas of fruit culture are borrowed from the woods, from
the trees in the pasture lands and uncultivated places generally. As the
pecan is a forest tree in many sections of the country, the inference
is, that it needs no cultivation, no fertilizer, in short, is amply able
to take care of itself. So it is, but not able to yield, at the same
time, the large crops of nuts that are the object of its being planted.
From the woods, there is one lesson which it would be well for everyone
to learn; a lesson, not of the trees, but of the soil, of the dense mass
of mold, of partially decayed leaves, of vegetable matter, of humus that
covers the forest floor. The soil in the pecan orchard needs humus,
vegetable matter; so does the soil in any other kind of orchard, and to
obtain results it must be provided.
Now, it is a well-known fact that a number of years (ten or twelve) must
elapse before a pecan orchard will begin to give any adequate returns
for the time and care bestowed upon it and the money invested in it.
During this period, if rightly handled, the ground may be made to
produce something else than pecan trees, and that, too, without injury
to them. But in growing a crop in the orchard, bear in mind that the
trees need, and are benefited by, cultivation, and that fertilizer will
make them grow.
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.
The most common source of phosphorus, usually referred to as phosphoric
acid, is acid phosphate. Some is obtained from bone, and bone meal is a
good fertilizer to use among pecan trees. The results obtained from its
use are not immediate, but since the bone does not decay rapidly, they
extend over a considerable period. On the whole, acid phosphate is as
satisfactory as any material as a source of phosphoric acid, and the
goods with the highest percentage are usually the most economical in the
end. A good grade is that analyzing fourteen per cent.
Potash may be purchased, as kainit, the raw salt, or as muriate of
potash, low grade sulphate of potash and high grade sulphate of potash.
Of these the sulphates are usually given the preference in fruit
growing. Of the domestic sources of potash, woodashes are important.
The amount of fertilizer which it is best to apply is difficult to
decide upon; much depends on the character of the soil, what crops are
cultivated and whether a crop of legumes is grown or not.
If legumes are grown for the benefit of the orchard, they should be
fertilized, and if the crop is turned back into the soil, this may be
sufficient for the trees, particularly while they are young. For the
legumes, a good fertilizer to use per acre is:
Kainit, 100 lbs.; Acid Phosphate, 200 lbs.
or, High-Grade Sulphate of Potash, 50 lbs.
Acid Phosphate, 200 lbs.
In any case some allowance should be made for the amount of nitrogen
collected by the legumes. When corn, cotton or some other crops are
grown in the orchard, fertilizing may simply consist in distributing an
additional amount of the crop fertilizer for the benefit of the trees.
For the growth of the young trees, a larger amount of nitrogen and a
relatively smaller amount of phosphoric acid and potash are required,
while for older trees, the reverse is true. Phosphoric acid and potash
are required by bearing trees for the formation of fruit. Consequently,
when the pecan orchard comes into bearing, these materials should be
increased in the fertilizer applied. If the soil is not very rich at the
time of planting, good results will follow the use of a pound of good
commercial fertilizer at the time of planting.
A good fertilizer for young trees should analyze five per cent.
phosphoric acid, six per cent. potash and four per cent. nitrogen. For
bearing trees, one analyzing eight per cent. phosphoric acid, ten per
cent. potash and four per cent. nitrogen will give good results. If so
desired, well-known brands of commercial fertilizers, having
approximately the above analysis, can be purchased in the markets, but
if preferred, the several materials may be purchased separately, then
mixed and applied.
APPLYING THE FERTILIZER.
The roots of young trees do not extend to any great distance away from
the trunk. In distributing the fertilizer this fact should be
remembered. A safe rule for all small-sized trees is to commence just
outside an imaginary circle of two feet radius and apply the fertilizer
in a circular band extending out some distance beyond the spread of the
branches. Old trees, or those having a considerable spread of top, when
planted in orchard form, should be fertilized by broadcasting the
fertilizer over the ground. In the northerly pecan sections, all the
fertilizer should be given in one application, about the time growth
starts in spring, and plowed in, while farther south, two applications
may be made, one at the time mentioned above, the other from the first
to the middle of June.