Too commonly, transplanted nut trees suffer from sunscald injury on
their southwest sides during the first summer in the orchard. This
injury is particularly common on pecans, which suffer a severe shock
from transplanting and are slow in re-establishing vigorous growth. In
west Tennessee, as one grower puts it, "A pecan is doing well if it
holds one green leaf its first year." Pecans have been known to remain
dormant in their tops until the second spring after planting, and then
start growth. During this initial period of establishment in the
orchard, it is beneficial to give some kind of shade to the tree trunk,
to keep the bark from "cooking" and dying on part of the most exposed
side. Waxing of the trunks before planting helps reduce drying out of
the tops before the roots are partially regenerated and top growth
begins, but waxing alone, under our conditions, is not sufficient to
prevent the frequent occurrence of a dead area starting on the southwest
side of the trunk during the summer following tree setting.
Dr. Richards has found that a heavy wallpaper of a cheap grade, cut in
strips and wrapped spirally to cover the tree trunk from the ground up,
lasts through the season and eliminates nearly all of the sunscald
injury on pecans which he has moved from his farm nursery row to the
orchard. With trees that are shipped long distances, and allowed to dry
out too much before resetting, the results are not so uniform. We are
still in favor of the use of wax coatings on trees that must be shipped,
but would recommend that they be given additional protection by some
means, to shade the trunks throughout the first growing season. This
paper wrap of Dr. Richards seems as efficient as any method, and is the
most economical I have observed. It should be beneficial on most species
of nut trees under summer conditions in the mid-south region.