Current Pest Management Systems for Pecan

Abstract

Pecans (Carya illinoinensis) are produced under a wide array of environmental conditions—from the warm humid southeastern states, to the continental climate of the central plains, to the arid climates of the American west. In addition, pecan cultural systems vary from the low-input management of native stands of seedling trees to the intensive management of single-cultivar pecan orchards. This wide diversity of pecan agroecosystems has fostered the development of innovative, site-specific approaches toward pecan pest management. Current pecan pest management programs require an intimate knowledge of orchard ecology. Growers use monitoring methods and prediction models to track pest populations. Biological control agents are conserved by habitat manipulation and/or augmented through inoculative releases. Selective pesticides are used to control target pests while conserving natural enemies. Four pecan cultural systems are described in detail to illustrate how ecological principles are applied to widely diverse pecan agroecosystems.