   Pecan Harvest Time - November 24, 2004 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County On February 11, 12, and 13, 2005, the Town of Camp Verde will host its Fifth Annual Pecan and Wine Festival. The Festival features locally grown pecans and pecan products, a pecan show, Arizona wineries, music, and antique vendors and displays. The festivities start at noon on the 11th and continue through Sunday afternoon. This even showcases Camp Verde’s agricultural heritage and with activities, lectures, and demonstrations. Dr. Michael Kilby, retired University of Arizona Fruit, Nut and Vine Specialist will be giving presentations on pecan and grape culture. It is a great opportunity to learn, meet old and new friends, and have fun. The Pecan Show has always been one of my favorite parts of the Pecan and Wine Festival. Here, pecans are judged by variety then winners of each variety are judged to determine the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion. I encourage all backyard pecan growers to enter their best pecans in the show. Now is the time to start planning for the show and anyone with pecan trees is eligible to enter. In commercial settings, mechanical tree shakers are used. Mechanical shakers are fascinating to watch. Once secured on the trunk of the tree, they are turned on and the tree shakes rapidly, causing the nuts to drop. For home harvesting, gathering falling nuts is often the only option. Here, you will have race against squirrels, ravens, and javelinas. Small harvests can be achieved by tapping limbs with a padded stick to help with nut drop. Pecan nuts lose quality very quickly on the ground, especially during wet weather, so it is important to harvest soon after shaking. Pecans will oxidize or turn rancid more rapidly in light and out of their shell, so nuts will retain their quality longer when stored in the shell. If you don’t intend to use them right away, you may want to buy unshelled nuts. They are best stored in a cool, dry, protected location. If you plan to store them for more than a month, you might consider freezing them. For the highest quality product it is recommended that they not be stored for more than one year in the freezer. Harvest your pecans as early as possible (after they release easily from the husk) and keep the nuts from each tree separated and stored in a cool, dry place with adequate air circulation. The nuts will lose some moisture and taste best after two or three weeks of curing. For judging, 40 nuts should be hand selected from each single tree batch, left in the shell, and submitted for judging in a paper bag. Detailed instructions for preparing a pecan show sample are available on the Backyard Gardener Web Site at (http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/) in the November 26, 2003 column. If you don’t have Internet access, then you may pick up a copy at the Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Office (see address below). Pecan show entries can be brought to Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Office, 395 S. Main St. in downtown Camp Verde. Entries will be accepted between January 3 and February 10, 2005 at 5 PM. Judging begins at 9 AM on February 11 and winners will be announced at noon (or shortly thereafter). I hope this encourages some of the backyard pecan growers to enter and I look forward to seeing you at the Pecan and Wine Festival. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest management. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail us at mgardener@verdeonline.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |