Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Reviewing pecan cultivar data

    On cold winter days, its always fun to pour over cultivar trial data. Below, I created a table of nut performance data for 43 pecan cultivars growing at the Pecan Experiment Field. For each cultivar, the table shows the number of years nuts were evaluated (N), the weight of a nut (average, maximum, and minimum), and the percent kernel (average, maximum, and minimum).
     The time period of this data set (2004-2017) represents some of the most extreme weather conditions our trees have survived. We've seen record floods (2007) and record drought (2012). We suffered a limb-breaking ice storm (2007) and late spring frosts (2007, 2014). It no wonder that over the course of 14 years we've recorded some wide swings in cultivar performance.