112 Pecan-Growing 



SETTING THE TREES 



The distance that should be allowed pecan trees varies 

 greatly, depending on whether the soil is sandy, upland, or 

 rich alluvial bottom land. At least 46 feet 8 inches should be 

 allotted on upland, and from 60 to 72 feet on alluvial soils. 

 When the square method is used, 46 feet 8 inches will 

 allow twenty trees to the acre. In the hexagonal method 

 twenty-three trees to the acre can be planted. Accord- 

 ing to the square method 72 feet allows 8.4 trees to be 

 planted, while with the hexagonal 9.7 trees can be set at this 

 distance. 



The mistake is often made of spacing the trees too closely. 

 Soil that will not develop trees that will crowd when planted 

 under the minimum distance is too poor properly to support a 

 pecan orchard. 



Trees can be set close together with a view of taking out 

 every other one when they begin to crowd. This is, however, 

 a very doubtful practice. It is better economy to allow the 

 desired distance and then utilize the unused space with annual 

 crops until the trees need all the room. 



The digging of holes for pecan trees is a costly operation, 

 especially when the subsoil is of a hard nature. Satisfactory 

 results are secured by digging with a post auger. The holes 

 should be made from two and one-half to three feet deep, 

 depending on the length of the tap-root, and from eighteen to 

 twenty inches wide. As far as possible the holes should be 

 deep enough to permit the tree to be set without removing any 

 of the tap-root. It is unwise to cut off part of the tap-root in 

 order to make it fit into a shallow hole. The tap-root can be 

 cut back to within twenty or twenty-four inches without seri- 



