Rob: Well, location really matters when it comes to this year's pecan crop.
With harvest time just around the corner, pecan growers in parts of
Oklahoma are looking at a bumper crop while others are still wondering what
the result from this year's weather is going to be.
Mike Spradling: And as we open that up, there's the first nut of the year,
this year.
Rob: Just a little relief for Mike Spradling, a pecan grower, managing
about 850 acres of pecan orchard near Catoosa.
Mike Spradling: This will actually turn a darker color, just real quick.
Rob: Seeing early signs of a good crop thanks to a
variety of pecans known as Kanza.
Spradling: That gives us a little bit of security, if we have different types of
nuts that have different characteristics, as far as cold tolerance.
Rob: But the story's a little different in Mike's Pawnee orchard, named
after a pecan variety that grows here.
Spradling: But that freeze that happened Easter morning, in this orchard
we got down to 25 degrees for several hours in here.
As you can see, if you look all through this tree, you'll see a lot of
this, and this is what occurred, we lost every primary bud in this
orchard.
Not only did we lose the primary bud, as you can see there, we've actually
had limb damage as well.
Rob: Destroying 100 percent of the crop with a fungus called scab.
Spradling: The high humidity and the temperatures from the
early part of the season this year in Oklahoma has created tremendous damage
all across the state.
Rob: But things do get better, the further south you go.
Spradling: Most of the pecans in the southern part of the state south of
I-40, especially in the south central, they have a tremendous crop this year.
We're looking at Oklahoma to have, basically if they come through with what
they've got, an average crop.
Rob: But not much help for growers up north.
Even Mike's good pecans are attracting wildlife, and insects.
Spradling: So you can see there, there's a weevil.
See that long snout on him?
Rob: Coming to destroy as much of a pecan crop as he can, but not destroying
Mike's attitude.
At this point, he's thankful for early signs of what looks like
potentially good pecans.
Spradling: This is what water does for crops in Oklahoma.
It makes them high quality and really filled out well.
Rob: Which is what Oklahoma pecan growers are going to need if this
year's harvest is going to shake off its weather woes.