Every fall, people wonder why their beloved pecan trees fail to produce a crop larger than a handful, or any crop at all. Alabama has thousands of mature pecan trees around homes and farms; naturally, one might assume those would produce an abundance of pecans. Yet, most of our trees have sparse and erratic production, as our area’s pecan trees and small orchards are very old and outdated. The main issue, which is consistently ignored, is the lack of new pecan orchards being created in east central Alabama. No one is planting new trees to replace the old, dilapidated ones that have been around for 75 to 100 years.

There are usually multiple reasons why a pecan tree may produce a poor crop. Barring extreme weather like hurricanes, severe droughts and heavy amounts of rain, pecans are fairly predictable and always yield a decent crop if cared for properly. Many pecan trees tend to be alternate bearers, meaning they tend to produce a heavy crop one year and a light crop the next. Even though pecans do have some off years when they don’t produce regularly, it is usually due to a major reason. There are indeed many problems and factors to consider.