My Minnesota pecan seeds are sprouting [View all]
The U of MN planted a 15-tree pecan grove in the 1970's. They're proven vegetatively hardy to -35F, and are 40' tall now, but the nuts can't ripen in our short growing season. Or at least, they weren't able to until recently. Last year, we had an exceptionally long growing season, and I grabbed a handful of nuts from the Arboretum's grove the day before we got a hard freeze. I planted them in a protected pot, caged to stop squirrels, and buried the pot in my garden to simulate natural conditions, and now I have 2 nuts sending out roots. The remaining 6 nuts are firm and I'm hopeful they'll sprout soon as well. As far as I know, this is the first time anyone has propagated pecans in Minnesota, from a locally grown tree. I'll be covertly planting them on a few hundred acres of state land near my house that's virtually abandoned for all but a few weeks during deer season.
So rest assured, when the pecan groves are dying of climate change in Texas and Georgia in a few decades, a few of us are trying to keep them growing further north. I'll be collected more seed this fall now that I know it's not a pipe dream.
Oh, and my Minnesota pawpaws, Minnesota seedling peaches, Carolina silverbells, redbuds, and Wisconsin persimmons are also sprouting, and my bald cypress saplings are leafing out.
I'm practically growing a slice of Appalachia in Minnesota. Welcome to the future.
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