As someone who has been involved with pecans most of my life, it's almost become a dead end for anything other than small scale hobby purposes, and even then with someone else who will maintain and harvest them. It is a labor intensive business that requires mechanization and capital to operate on a profitable scale (most of which is out west, where they have laser-leveled orchards that they flood irrigagate and can harvest with sweepers and windrow harvesters).
You will need for conventional, small scale production of non-flooded orchards:
*pto driven aerial sprayer & low profile 60+ pto hp tractor (heavy on the plus on any large trees, or an engine-driven sprayer)
*fertilizer spreaders are usually available to borrow
*trunk shaker and generally a 100+hp tractor w/a steel canopy, or boom mounted, self-propelled shaker
*hydraulic stick rake and lightweight tractor (optional/ usually only on natives for harvest, but great for cleanup in orchards)
*utility tractor and harvester
*spare tractor/ harvester for when that one breaks down, and it will break down
*precleaner and storage trailers/gravity boxes/grain buggies
*cleaner with inspection table
*either sack in individual bags or a conveyor to load bulk onto a dump trailer or gravity box.
So it takes at least two people who work their ass off all day long and then can operate under-designed machinery with gentle precision just to get the pecans off the ground, and then you have to clean them and bag them.
Most have no clue what they are getting into. If this sounds like something you want to take all your vacation time to perform from your paying job, I'm sure Pape's in Seguin can fix you up.
You will need for conventional, small scale production of non-flooded orchards:
*pto driven aerial sprayer & low profile 60+ pto hp tractor (heavy on the plus on any large trees, or an engine-driven sprayer)
*fertilizer spreaders are usually available to borrow
*trunk shaker and generally a 100+hp tractor w/a steel canopy, or boom mounted, self-propelled shaker
*hydraulic stick rake and lightweight tractor (optional/ usually only on natives for harvest, but great for cleanup in orchards)
*utility tractor and harvester
*spare tractor/ harvester for when that one breaks down, and it will break down
*precleaner and storage trailers/gravity boxes/grain buggies
*cleaner with inspection table
*either sack in individual bags or a conveyor to load bulk onto a dump trailer or gravity box.
So it takes at least two people who work their ass off all day long and then can operate under-designed machinery with gentle precision just to get the pecans off the ground, and then you have to clean them and bag them.
Most have no clue what they are getting into. If this sounds like something you want to take all your vacation time to perform from your paying job, I'm sure Pape's in Seguin can fix you up.