The Second Backyard Pecan Tree

With the backyard finished, and it being October, we can now put in the second pecan tree.  We had wanted two trees -- one to the East of center, the other West of center -- in the backyard, to create shade.  The first tree was planted in March 2015, before Summer started, and is a Pawnee.  It started at 53 inches tall, and is now (2 summers later) about 120 inches tall (still not a lot of leaves, and no nuts).  We planted that when the East side of the backyard was done, and now that the rest of the backyard is done, we can plant the second tree.

Again, we went to Berdoll Pecan Farm and Nursery to get the tree.  As with the first, this is a medium tree. $49.99 (plus tax).  But this time we got a Choctaw pecan tree.  We dug a hole in the spot reserved for the second tree, and planted it.  It took an extra bag of dirt, plus two bags of mulch.

We trimmed off one of the main roots that looked like it was circling around (from being constrained in the planting pot).  On the one hand, this says it was in the pot too long; on the other hand, it says that this tree really wants to put down a big main root; now it has the space to do that.  The objective is to get it established before winter, so that next Spring, it will be all ready to grow!

At the moment it is 59 inches tall, so half the height of the 1st pecan tree.  The paperwork says that it is 2 years old, while the 1st pecan tree should now be 4 years old.  Pecan trees mature at 7 to 10 years, so by 2025, we should have 2 mature pecan trees in the backyard.  We should get pecans from the first tree in 2019, and the second tree by 2021.

Update.  March 2022.  Sprayed both pecan trees with Malathion for  pecan phylloxeras.  Also spread Zinc Sulfate around the base of both trees.  Pecan trees are supposed to need zinc.