ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Pecan. Pecan oil, expressed from kernels, is edible and sold for the drug, essential oil, and cosmetic trade. Pecan timber has been used for veneer and lumber, flooring, and still for firewood. Pecan trees are very slow to develop new roots after transplanting and should be supplied with adequate moisture during the first summer to help establish the root system. Young pecan orchards require more frequent cultivation than older orchards, because older trees tend to hold weed growth in check by shading and by competition for moisture and nutrients. Pecan nuts are harvested when fully ripe and coming out of hulls with little beating of branches. The pecan is a multi-state crop, stretching across the country from the Southeast to the Southwest throughout some 20 states.
