I have a pecan tree in my front yard (moved in last December). Thure HUGE, so I am wondering if I let them drop or if I pluck them off. Also, any way to thwart animals from getting to them before they fall?

Sorry guys. I am STUPID when it comes to this stuff! I appreciate your responses!

Let them drop. The commercial folks have a tree shaker that causes them to drop, but you only have one tree. There is an outer husk that needs to split and will fall off or you may need to pull it off by hand. Sometimes you will get immature, green pecans falling early. Don't worry, that is just the tree adjusting to how many nuts it can provide nourishment for to maturity. Pecan is a really brittle tree, so if you have heavily loaded limbs, don't be surprised by broken branches laying on the ground. You may lose some of the fruit to squirrels or racoons, but if you pick them up within a couple of days after they drop, you should be OK. By the way, pecans freeze well, either shelled or unshelled.

Great info. Thanks!

Squirrels are already eating mine off the tree before they fall and are still green. I didn't get a single one last year before they got them.

I have 2 large mature pecan trees. They put out pecans every year, but some years are much better than others (usually a 2 yr cycle). Not sure if it is weather related. Anyway, on the years they put out a lot if pecans, the squirrels can't even keep up. There are hundreds of good untouched pecans in my grass that I can literally rake up into paper bags.

A 20 gauge will fix squirrel and raccoon problems.

^^ ding ding ding

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but some years are much better than others (usually a 2 yr cycle).

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Pecans experience 'alternate bearing', which is not incredibly well understood, but is normal. Probably a result of carbohydrate sink depletion after a high yielding year.

You might be surprised how many squirrels that you have. I haven't lived in an area with squirrels before and when we moved to the current house I used to see one or two running around (I thought they were cute.) Then they started causing damage in the neighborhood and my neighbors son got a pellet gun and started shooting them. At last count he had killed 37 of those little varmits. They are not your friend!

We used to use an old pole vaulting pole to knock the branches to shake the pecans off. Worked well for about 10 trees since a tree shaker wasn't cost-effective. Probably not worth it for just 1 tree though.

Our neighbor has a pecan tree in his backyard. Freakin' squirrels bury the damn things all over my yard. Am constantly fighting rogue pecan trees. Can't kill the damn things.