Sick Pecan Trees in Austin After the 2008-2009 Drought

This has been a terrible year for the pecan trees of Austin, TX. Quite a sad story I must say. The drought of 2008-2009 has been said to be the worst 2 year drought period in 60 years. It has taken a toll on the pecan trees for sure. This year we’ve cut down many pecans that didn’t leaf out this spring. Many more did come out with severe die-back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97_aq9m2o-g

If you have pecan trees, I’d highly recommend a little TLC to help them out. Here are some tips:

• put them on a good fertilizer regimen for the next couple years. You can find some good tips in the tree fertilizing category of my blog.
• Supplemental irrigation this summer would also be a very good thing to do.
• Prune away all the deadwood.

These few things will give your trees the best shot at surviving and thriving for the years to come. One important thing to keep in mind is that just because your tree “appears” to be healthy doesn’t mean it’s not stressed out. Trees do have their own mechanisms for combating stresses. It would be a good idea to have your pecans looked at by a pro.

Related: Tree fertilizer, Part 2: when to fertilize · Part 3: how to apply treatments to trees · Part 4: tree fertilizer products, what to use