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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Pig nut Hickory

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  • From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pig nut Hickory
  • Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 10:13:20 -0500

Jerry, 
     Thank you for this information, but the notion of pecans as rootstock is not much use to me as pecans don't like our dense clay soil.  From what your bro-in-law says, I can assume that pecan is compatible with mockernut, but I can't assume anything else is.  I have found that hicans graft well to mockernut.  Next I need to just try shagbarks and pecans on it.  I've stupidly been trying shagbarks on the pignuts the last two years, just checked some more grafts, every one of that combination failed, same as last year.  I notice he doesn't even mention pignuts. 
    I'm sure the terrible drought is a big part of my problem this year, as of the grafts and chipbuds done this year,  2 out of 2 pecans on pecan failed, 2 out of 3 Greenriver on bitternut failed, and 7 out of 8 BK on BK failed.  I'm not sure I have any successes, the others are just not obviously dead.  Oh, I did have a shellbark chipbud take on mockernut, but the bud died, so I have what looks like a very nice skin graft on that tree.   I was careful to have white showing all around on the chipbuds, and wrapped them with damp newspaper and white plastic to keep the blazing sun from drying them out.  By contrast, my pear grafts and buds have been mostly successful.  One difference is that the pear rootstocks are in pots in the shade where I can water them, whereas the nut trees are scattered here and there taking their chances with the drought. 
    We had right at 12" rain for the first 6 months, half our normal rainfall, on top of deficient rainfall the last 2 years.  We actually got nearly 3" in June, and got to see the garden grow for a week or two as it should have been growing all along.  Our pole bean plants had stayed 6 inches tall for 6 weeks.   I was trying to dig a hole in what had been a manure pile last year and hit something hard, not a rock, more like a tree root.  I switched from a shovel to a mattock and found that the hard thing was the soil underneath the light fluffy compost.   After digging out chunks of petrified clay soil, I decided to water a bit before digging the rest of the holes.  These were for eggplants and peppers that I've kept in pots, covered with a nylon curtain and in a spot that gets afternoon sun.  I was afraid to plant them till we got that rain in June.  (My eggplants have never looked so good, no flea beetles to turn their leaves to lace.) 
    Anyway, with such a terrible failure rate,  I have been getting anxious to try to figure out what is wrong before I waste next spring as well.  I am taking the last of the scions Lucky sent me and trying them any way I can think of.  With water is probably not an option though.       Donna  
   



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