Pecan Growing in the Western United States

Abstract

Almost 58,000 acres of pecans [ Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] are planted in the western United States, which includes western Texas and southern areas of New Mexico, Arizona, and California. `Western Schley' is the main cultivar planted, with `Wichita' trees used as pollenizers. All orchards are flood-irrigated and almost no diseases are present. The pecan aphid complex is the predominant insect problem; however, orchard crowding is becoming a problem, and growers are thinning orchards and transplanting trees to new sites.