Is it pecan season in SE KS yet? Is there somewhere around the area that sells pecans? I know a place in Chetopa that does, but I was hoping for a bit closer... Sedan? Caney? Fredonia?
Doesn't Stairs Market, over in Independence, carry them? Or has Stairs gone out of business since I was last there? It's been awhile since I was out that direction.
Stair's closed his business last year and hasn't reopened it.
The school secretaries are selling pecans and other nuts. Check w/the district office.
I'm so sorry to hear that Stair's closed...it was really good and reliable.
My parents are here and I was hoping we could actually go somewhere that they harvested them somewhat close. Don't just want the nuts; want the experience!
Tobina, listed below are some Pecan Growers Processors in the 2 Oklahoma Counties that Border SE Kansas.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Caney River Pecans, Frank & Janice Cranor
400353 W. 2500 Road, Bartlesville, OK 74006
918-333-6341; email: mjanice@bartnet.nel
native pecan & improved cultivars
Watson Pecan Company, Fred Watson
1524 Whitney Lane, Bartlesville, OK 74006
918-331-8581; email: mailto:okpecan@cableone.net
native pecans, improved cultivars, & custom cracking
OSAGE COUNTY
Ben Pecan Farm, Michael S. Ben
161 N. 2nd Street, Fairfax, OK 74637
918-642-3400; fax: 918-738-4416
email: msbendent1@aol.com
native pecans, improved cultivars, retail shop, wholesale, mail order, buyer, custom cracking, custom cleaning, & custom
harvester
Pecan Quest, Wes Rice
333 Braden School Road, Ponca City, OK 74604
405-765-7049
email: wrice@poncacity.net
native pecans, improved cultivars, mail order & graftwood supplier
Oh! Sorry Tobina, I thought you just wanted some pecans. I didn't realize you were looking for an "experience"! :D
Thanks for that good information, frawin. I didn't know about those places.
Thanks, Frank! And no worries, Lola; I was in a hurry that day and didn't explain myself very well. Whenever I would go to Joplin I'd always try and stop in Chetopa and get fresh pecans for my dad, but I haven't been that direction in a while. Also, I don't really know when they're "fresh". Does anyone know if the harvest has started yet?
Tobina, the sellers at Chetopa will tell you if the pecans are this year's crop or last year. Just ask them.
Since pecans don't come down good until after a freeze, I doubt if the harvest has started yet. Daughter just looked and there aren't very many under the tree at the edge of my yard. The hulls are still green. It is the middle of October and we haven't had any freezing weather yet. It's quite a sight the day after a freeze, watching the pecans fall. The trees can be bare by the end of the day.
OK, very interesting... so now I have even more questions... I thought they shook the pecan trees to make the nuts fall into the bins? Do you still have to wait for a freeze for them to be ready to do that? See... I guess I just need the "experience"! ;D
Now, that I don't know. I have heard of them shaking the trees and I think there is a machine that picks them up. I would enjoy seeing how it works. I know that some of the groves southeast of here used to keep the grass around the trees very short to make the picking up easier. Haven't been down that way for a very, very long time. Maybe someone should see what they can find out about pecan harvesting.
So I went to see what I could find and I found very little about the harvest. What I had forgotten is that the wait for the freeze is so that the freeze can pop the husks open, releasing the nuts so they can fall. The green husks are quite difficult to remove and so are the dry husks. Sometimes it is necessary to shake a tree to get the nuts to fall. The husk opens out into 4 petals like a flower blooming. If they don't open far enough to release the nut, then shaking the tree shakes the nuts out.
We had pecan trees in our back yard for 20 years without much of a harvest and now I find that the trees have to be about 20 years old before they produce good. The one at the edge of my yard isn't producing heavy yet and the squirrels and crows and blue jays get most of them.