Pruning Juvenile Pecans

New pecan tree growers, this is for you. The same home gardening guidelines on pruning to a proper bottom limb height generally apply to all other tree species. As fellow pecan growers, we relate to those who invest in a harvest they may never see.

Disclaimer – we are not arborists. We have had training in advanced tree care offered by the Texas Master Gardener Association. Please check with your local authorities before any tree pruning, especially if you or the falling limbs may touch or fall on live power lines. Look carefully before you prune.

Our pecan adventure started in 2013 with 20 bare root pecans of three varieties: Kanza, Desirable, and Caddo. These three-foot-tall sticks are now over 20 feet tall, so it was time for the next level of pruning for these “juvenile” trees. The trees are just beginning to bear pecans, so it was also time to remove the mulch around the tree to aid in picking up the pecans next fall. Properly training younger pecans is a separate topic. Leave the pruning of large adult pecan (or other) trees to professionals with bucket trucks.

The goal of the recent pruning was to remove the bottom-most level of scaffolding branches radiating from the central leader. This is known as “trimming up,” and there are two main important reasons to trim up pecans. The first reason is safety. When Roger mows closer to the trunk of the tree, with the mulch removed, he does want to catch the ROPS on a low branch and flip the tractor. The second reason is for ascetics. Trees should have about one-third of their height as bare trunk and two-thirds as canopy. This looks properly proportioned to the eye.

Roger marked with flagging tape the limbs to remove. This made it easy to move from one tree to the next during pruning. The pruning tool of choice for this endeavor was our trusty chain saw. It is an inviolate rule on our property to use and wear proper protective gear for safe chain saw use. Chain saw chaps, eye protection, ear protection, helmet, long sleeves, and gloves are part of the process. Roger could have removed most of the branches with a hand saw, but he knew that branches more than about 1.5 to 2.0 inches in diameter are better cut with the more powerful chain saw.

Pruning the pecan trees took about two hours. He stacked the limbs ready for the grapple on the tractor FEL (that’s “front end loader” for all who don’t yet love tractor attachments) and then transported them to our burn pile.

Sue removed the large weeds on top of the mulch, and Roger used the tractor to remove several years of mulch-turned-into-great-soil. He then shaped the land around the tree trunk so that the slope is away from the tree trunk.

Now, we’re all set for the spring rains, which God has already begun to send us, and for the Fall pecan harvest! It is so good to live in the country.