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The Annual Convention and Trade Show of the Pecan Producers of Louisiana
– a Tri-State Meeting Including Mississippi and Arkansas – June 21-22,
2007 We’d like to encourage everyone to attend the upcoming Annual Convention and Trade Show. This will be a tri-state meeting including Pecan Producers of Louisiana, Mississippi Pecan Growers Association, and Arkansas Pecan Growers Association. The meeting will begin on Thursday afternoon, June 21, at the LSU AgCenter Pecan Research/Extension Center south of Shreveport. Registration begins at noon, and the meeting will begin at 1:30 PM. There will be a roundtable discussion on control of stink bugs, followed by equipment demonstrations and an orchard tour conducted by the faculty of the research station. At 6:00 PM we will have a catered supper of fried catfish and jambalaya on the station grounds. Friday morning we will reconvene at the Clarion Hotel on 70th Street in Shreveport (800-321-4182). Exhibitors will be on hand to display their products. There will be speakers on topics like irrigation, fungicides, insects, grass control, and much more. A buffet lunch will be provided. The meeting will end around 3:00 PM after Ben Littlepage makes his predictions for the crop of 2007. As always, we will be conducting a silent auction to benefit the activities of the research station. Please bring anything you would like to donate for this worthy purpose. If you have questions about the silent auction, call Sam Brocato at 318-448-3139. We expect that it will be fun as well as meaningful, and hope that everyone can make it. Registration materials are included in this packet. Please pre-register as it helps us make plans and saves you $10. Dues are payable at this time of year and we hope everyone will renew their memberships. Also, if you intend to get your pesticide recertification, bring an extra $25 payable to LDAF. For questions, call Stephen Norman at 318-448-3139 or email pecans@pecanproducers.org. Directions: The Pecan Research and Extension Station is located on LA Hwy 1 about 5 miles south of Shreveport. If coming north on I-49 take Exit 186 (Frierson/Kingston), and turn right (east) on LA 175. Go about 11 miles and turn left or north on LA 1. The station will be on your left. Watch for the large blue and white water tower for the Shreveport/Bossier Port. Coming from Shreveport, go south on LA Hwy 1 about six miles past the intersection with 70th Street. Watch for the large blue and white water tower for the Shreveport/Bossier Port. There will be a sign “LSU Pecan Station” directing you to the right. Turn left on Harts Island Road and right into the station. For hotel reservations, call the Clarion at 800-321-4182; be sure to mention the Pecan Producers of Louisiana meeting to get the special rate. Sherman
Richardson President’s Message Trying to get fertilizer out!! Seeing some bud break on Elliott and Candy and Pawnee, some Desirables starting to swell pretty good, too. Won't be long till phylloxera spray. Mike Hall has tape strips out at my orchard at Cloutierville. So far he has not seen much activity, but he reports that there has been more activity in Arkansas. He checks the strips twice a week, and I’ll try to get the word out if and when he sees a hatching. Overall last year was pretty fair. Some folks had good crops while others are still suffering the effects of the two hurricanes. Hopefully things will sort out and we can have another year without a storm. I know everyone’s as busy as I am, but I hope you’ll come to our workshop on March 28 and the one in Mississippi on April 4. The topics look good, and there’s not much overlap, so growers should benefit by coming to both of them. If you know growers that are not members, try to let them know about the meeting, too.
Sherman Richardson
Pecan Seminar to be held March 28, 2007 A pecan seminar presented by LSU AgCenter Pecan Research/Extension Station faculty will be held Wednesday March 28 from 9:30 a.m. till 12:15 at the Pecan Research-Extension Station in Shreveport. Topics to be presented include: “Pecan nutrients: How they Interact” by Charlie Graham; “Fertilizer Applications” by John Pyzner; “Disease Control Update” by Randy Sanderlin; “Weed Control” by John Pyzner; and “Monitoring and Control of Pecan Phylloxera and Nut Casebearer” by Mike Hall. The Pecan Station is located at 10300 Harts Island Road, Shreveport, LA. It is located 6 miles south of LSU Shreveport just west of HWY 1. Watch for the Pecan Station sign and the blue and white Shreveport/Bossier Port Water Tower near the station on HWY 1. For additional information contact the pecan station at (318)797-8034.
MPGA and MSU-ES Pecan Orchard Workshop to be Held April 4, 2007 [Note from editor: Perry Jenkins, MPGA President, extends a cordial invitation to all Louisiana growers to attend this workshop - SHN] The Workshop will be held at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, Mississippi on April 4, 2007. (See directions below). The Workshop will begin at 9:30 am and will conclude at noon. Lunch will be provided following the Orchard Workshop. Demonstrations will be presented on crow control, pecan tree pruning and thinning, and how to sample and grade your pecan crop for optimum marketing strategies. Crows are an important pest to most pecan growers. A new product has recently received a special use permit in Mississippi for the control of crows. The program is operated by a division of USDA-APHIS and has very specific requirements for implementation. A trained technician with the USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services Department in Stoneville will demonstrate how the product is applied and explain how you can participate in the program. You really need to come see this demonstration. Most of us won’t admit it, but when it comes to pruning and thinning pecan trees, we have a hard time making a decision as to exactly how it should be done. Come view an on-site demonstration in the orchard as Lamar Jenkins will show us how to properly prune pecan trees for optimum production. Lamar will also discuss the thinning of pecan trees. It is hard for some of us to cut down trees, especially pecans. But the correct number and size of trees on an acre will increase production and profitability. Do not miss this most informative demonstration. Finally, all pecan producers sell their pecans, but are we making the most informed marketing decision. The Workshop will present a demonstration on how to sample and grade your pecan crop for optimum profitability. The demonstration, presented by Ron Justice, will teach you how to recognize the various kernel and nut rots, how to determine the percent yield from a crop, and how to determine a fair price for your pecan crop. This educational topic is definitely one you don’t want to miss. So make your plans to attend the Pecan Orchard Workshop at Crystal Springs on April 4, 2007 beginning at 9:30 am. We hope to see you there for an informative day and fellowship with pecan growers from across Mississippi. DIRECTIONS: Heading north on I-55, take Exit 65 and go to the right on Byrd Town Rd. Go about 1000 yards and take a left on Highway 51. Go about a mile and turn right on Peterson Road. Look for the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station.
2007 Annual Convention and Trade Show and Tri-State Meeting The Annual Convention and Trade Show of the Pecan Producers of Louisiana will be held at the Clarion Hotel in Shreveport on June 21-22, 2007. This convention will be a joint tri-state meeting with the Mississippi Pecan Growers Association and the Arkansas Pecan Growers Association. The field day portion of the meeting will take place at the LSU AgCenter Pecan Research/Extension Station just south of Shreveport. More information will follow in the next newsletter. If you want to go ahead and make reservations, be sure to mention Pecan Producers so you can get the reduced rate. The toll-free number for the hotel is 800-321-4182. If you have special topics that you would like to see discussed, please let us know.
Pecan Insect Fact
Sheets and Spray Guide on the Pecan Research-Extension Station Website To download illustrated pecan insect fact sheets and the illustrated spray guide for control of pecan insects in Louisiana go to www.lsuagcenter.com. On the right you will see a column headed Office Locator; click on Research Stations. Scroll down under the map and click on Pecan. When the pecan station website comes up you will notice on the right a column headed Features. Click on Entomology and there you will find the spray guide along with other insect related fact sheets. If you have any problems finding the site contact Mike Hall at mhall@agctr.lsu.edu, or by phone at 318-797-8034, ext 2320.
Report of the 2006 Field Day LSU AgCenter Pecan Research & Extension Station held their annual Field Day on September 14, 2006, and it was well-attended by PPL members. Dr. Jere McBride gave a brief welcome address, and then told us of a big problem facing the station. It seems that the current plan for the new interstate, I-69, has the highway coming right through the station. It looks like all the research orchards would be wiped out. He asked for all of us to help by talking to our senators and congressmen to try to get the route changed. If anyone has a good idea on how to accomplish this, please get with Dr. McBride. We then loaded up two flatbed trailers for the orchard tour. At the first stop Dr. John Pyzner gave us an update on the new Research & Demonstration Orchard. He detailed the costs for the irrigation system supplies, pointing out that much of it had to be replaced due to damage by coyotes. The next stop was for Dr. Charlie Graham to talk on Crop Load Management Research. Unfortunately a big part of this project was lost to Hurricane Rita last fall. But he is still getting some good data on the economics of managing crop load. Charlie also used this stop to tell us about the Breeding, Rootstock, and Fertility Orchards. Dr. Randy Sanderlin gave an overview of his work on pecan bacterial leaf scorch in this orchard. At the final stop Dr. Mike Hall gave us an Update on Entomology Research. Back at the station office, we had a delicious lunch of fried catfish and jambalaya under the old pecan trees. It was a good time to renew some old friendships, and the unexpected spell of cool weather made it a really delightful day.
General Membership Meeting September 14, 2006 Following lunch at the Field Day, a meeting of the general membership of Pecan Producers of Louisiana was held at the station office. Nominations to fill two vacant board positions were made, and Roger Wilson and Steven McCain were elected. There was discussion of the 2007 Annual Convention, which is to be held June 21-22 in Shreveport, with the orchard tour portion being held at the Pecan Research Station. Mississippi Pecan Growers’ Association and Arkansas Pecan Growers’ Association are being invited to participate as a joint meeting. The hotel has not yet been selected.
Officers for 2006-2007 Immediately after the general membership meeting, a board meeting was held. The officers for the past year were asked to hold their positions for the coming year. It will actually be less than a year, as the board plans to hold elections at the convention in June. So the officers for 2006-2007 are: President: Sherman Richardson,
Colfax, LA, 318-627-5504
Report of the 2006 Convention The 2006 Annual Convention and Trade Show of the Pecan Producers of Louisiana was held in conjunction with the Mississippi Pecan Growers' Association on June 29 & 30, 2006. We had 130 people in attendance, a few more than last year.
We started out Thursday at Bill Beasley's place just west of Ferriday, LA. Before the meeting officially started, Dr. Charlie Graham and Dr. John Pyzner gave a morning "pre-conference" on Establishing a New Orchard.
Pecan Producers of Louisiana President Sherman Richardson opened the meeting at 2pm and introduced our first speaker, Walter Cotton. Walter is a Wildlife Specialist with the USDA, and he spoke on Wildlife Damage Management. He talked about control of crows, and outlined the importance of helping Dr. Pyzner with his survey of crow problems statewide. If there is enough interest, it is possible that we could start a crow control program. He also talked about control of squirrels, beavers, armadillos, moles, and other varmints. I don't think anyone will forget his description of "sweet-talking" a skunk while sneaking up with a tarp!
The second speaker was Dr. Mike Hall of LSU AgCenter Pecan Research Station, who talked on Calibrating the Air-Blast Sprayer. By popular request, he added in some notes on stinkbug control, and there was lots of audience interaction on the subject. Trap crops are gaining popularity, and there are a lot of opinions on how to use this technique.
Complementing the sprayer calibration lecture was a demonstration by Durand-Wayland's David Helms of their big thousand-gallon air-blast sprayer. When the wind died down, we could see the spray reaching up into the tops of Bill's big old native trees.
Next was the eagerly-anticipated orchard tour. Bill got a chance to show off his pecan nursery on the bank of his pond and there was lots of discussion. Walter Cotton demonstrated traps and snares that he had set for various critters. The tour meandered through the orchard and used up so much time that we forgot all about the growers' panel we had planned. Thanks to Texas Pecan Nursery, we had soft drinks and water with which we fought off the heat.
Everyone did however return in time for the arrival of the barbecue dinner catered by Papa T's of Vidalia. Papa T happens to be Bill's brother-in-law, so we knew we'd be treated well and we were. It was hard to push away from the table. Dinner was sponsored by Gulf Coast Bag Co.
We left Bill's and made the short drive to Vidalia where we found the four-year-old Comfort Suites on the bank of the Mississippi River. It's a beautiful place. We entered the lobby to find it full of our exhibitors (see the list below). The hotel staff was friendly and gracious. Passing through the lobby, we found the porch that overlooks the river and benefits from evening shade. It was a great place to unwind and watch Old Man River pass by.
Friday morning we got a pretty early start with a full breakfast buffet compliments of the hotel. By 8:30 a few technical difficulties were conquered, and we began the morning program. The first speaker was another new one for us, Dr. David Ingram. David is a plant pathologist with Mississippi State University. He spoke on Worker Protection Standards and had a lot of valuable advice for us. Certainly we need to comply with the regulations, but it also seemed to make a lot of sense.
Next we heard from Dr. Randy Sanderlin, plant pathologist with the LSU AgCenter Pecan Research Station. Randy spoke about Pecan Bacterial Leaf Scorch. Many of us knew something of Randy's work on transmission of this disease, but we learned a lot about insect vectors as well.
Due to a shift in the schedule, we asked Hilton Segler to fill in a gap. Hilton is a very experienced grower and president of the Georgia Pecan Growers' Association, and is connected with NIPAN, LLC. He gave a quick overview of Nickel Requirements in Pecans.
Next we heard from Dr. George Ray McEachern, veteran Texas A&M pecan scientist and personality. George Ray detailed just how to deal with Pecan Water Manage Without Irrigation.
Rounding out the morning program was special guest Kyle Brookshier of Van Horn, TX. Kyle gave us a very interesting perspective from the eyes of a grower with 31 years of experience in the arid far western reaches of Texas.
After a delicious buffet lunch provided by Bergeron Shelling Plant, we settled down to experience Ben Littlepage's 2006 Pecan Prognostication. This is always a highlight of our program and once again was the polishing touch to a great convention.
Many thanks to our sponsors and exhibitors for helping to make this happen:
President’s Message Well, we made it through another harvest season. After two hurricanes through the state and a leaf caterpillar infestation in south Louisiana, the Louisiana crop was extremely light (USDA says 4 million pounds). Except for the western states, the light crop was true for the rest of the pecan-producing states as well. Most orchards in Louisiana sustained significant crop loss from the hurricanes, generally 40-60%. The nuts were less than half full when they were shaken off the tree. This posed quite a harvest challenge since most of our cleaning plants are not equipped to mechanically separate these “sticktights.” This meant the “sticktights” had to be picked off the sorting table by hand which slowed down cleaning capacity significantly. Some growers chose to pick up and remove the nuts from the orchard prior to shaking the trees. This cost an extra trip with the harvesters and with all the limb cleanup that had to be done time ran short to do this. The second hurricane (Rita) came up through the western side of the state with winds in central Louisiana high enough to break a lot of limbs (10-20% in some orchards). Not many whole trees were lost but cleaning up all those limbs in time to start harvesting was quite a program. On the plus side, we didn’t get much rain from the hurricanes so orchard cleanup wasn’t hampered in that respect. Precipitation was light through harvest, too, with generally good weather overall. Also demand for quality pecans continued strong and prices held up well throughout the season. It will be interesting to see what effect the “crop thinning” and “natural pruning” will have on our production for the next few years. Growers are gearing up for the 2006 season now – finishing orchard cleanup, pruning and looking at fertilization requirements. BETTER LUCK THIS YEAR! Sherman Richardson President Pecan Producers of Louisiana
Pecan Station Holds Annual Field Day Shreveport, Louisiana September 2005
The LSU AgCenter Pecan Research & Extension Station was host to pecan growers on Thursday, September 22.
After a gracious welcome by Dr. Jere McBride, growers loaded onto two flatbed trailers for a leisurely tour through the station orchards. The new sunshades on the trailers were a welcome addition, especially with the record high temperatures for this day that was supposed to be the first day of fall!
The first stop was for Dr. Mike Hall to tell us about his pecan nut casebearer studies. He has found that some new growth regulator products like Esteem work as well as conventional chemicals and are more friendly to beneficial insects. The next stop was to see his stinkbug control by using strips of soybeans and grain sorghum. Next, Dr. Randy Sanderlin showed us where he studies bacterial leaf scorch transmission. He has demonstrated transmission by grafting, both through infected scions and infected root stock. We heard that Dr. John Pyzner is now based at the pecan station and dedicating 75% of his time to pecan extension work. He puts together the "In a Nutshell" newsletter, yours for the asking either online or mailed. Charlie Graham introduced Drs. Phillips, Garcia, and Luttrell from the University of Arkansas. He went on to show his rootstock study and told about his breeding studies in which he will be investigating crosses with Elliotts, and breeding for earlier bearing. Nobody volunteered to help handpick clusters for his alternate bearing study. He is looking at mechanical shaking and late season fertilization as well. Randy described the ongoing fungicide testing, and Charlie showed the new orchard, planted in spring 2005. This will be the "demonstration" orchard, testing cultivars that have been recommended to growers and keeping records on the economics of the orchard.
When we returned to the office, a delicious lunch was waiting for us: barbecue sandwiches, potato salad, beans, and banana pudding. Rejuvenated, some of us stayed for a general membership meeting of Pecan Producers of Louisiana, after which was a meeting of the Board of Directors. By the time that was over, everyone was ready to get home and prepare for Hurricane Rita.
We are very grateful to the scientists and staff of the pecan station for their hospitality. For more information about their activities, please see their website at:
LSU AgCenter Pecan Research & Extension Station
Dr. Thomas Foster Norman
August 2005 Dr. Thomas Foster Norman, 49, died Thursday, August 25, 2005, at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans. Born January 16, 1956, in Jackson, Mississippi, he was a resident of Alexandria since 1966. A graduate of Alexandria Senior High School, he attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where he received the Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science in 1977 and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1982. In addition to practicing veterinary medicine, he was the manager of Rosalie Pecans and a cattleman. He was a member of the Central Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association, the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association and a founding member and officer of the Pecan Producers of Louisiana. He is survived by his wife, Karen Normand Norman; three daughters, Emily Delle Norman, Sarah Louise Norman and Margaret Helen Norman; his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Tom D. Norman, all of Alexandria; two brothers, David J. Norman of Berryville, Virginia, and Dr. Stephen H. Norman of Alexandria; one sister, Hope Norman Coulter of Little Rock, Arkansas; and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held Saturday, August 27, 2005, at the First United Methodist Church, 2727 Jackson Street, Alexandria. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Heifer Project |
