I recently moved to a place here in central Oklahoma that has six or seven large native pecan trees. I want to harvest them and sell them. I don't know the going price for pecans per pound and also don't know if I should try to sell them: On the internet, to local grocery stores or at a roadside stand. Anyone have any ideas?

-- Shauna Jean Rowan (shamelesscowgirl2001@yahoo.com), September 21, 2001

Answers

Good Question. Ditto that question for chestnuts and walnuts. We always have japanese neighbors who harvest our chestnuts so I think there is a market there with asian markets.(markets meaning stores not international finance...)_

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 21, 2001.

Shauna, I just recently received 80 acres in Central OK with tons of pecan trees on it, and we are facing the same questions. I know when I was small, my mother used to pick the pecans and crack them, then just put a sign out in front of the house for $1/pound, cracked. After Daddy started having someone in to do theirs, they usually just hauled them to market and split the money (halves, I think) for them. The price at that depends on how many other people have pecans though, and my uncle told me there are a lot this year. My land is in Earlsboro, just East of Shawnee. Where are you at?

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), September 21, 2001.

If you gals decide to sell through the mail, (if there are no legal problems with that) I'm interested. Pecans and English walnuts. I'm guessing the weight won't make them prohibitive. I don't mind shelling them myself. I would pay shipping (ground). I'm assuming you don't spray them with anything... Let me know! Please put Countryside in the subject line if you email, I've been deleting a lot of things without opening them because of the viruses going around.

Amy

-- Amy in Michigan (kimico@aol.com), September 21, 2001.

In Central Texas where we used to live, you could pick up your pecans and sell them whole to the local feed stores during pecan season. This would bring you only maybe thirty-something cents per pound. Of course, you could get a lot more for your nuts if you shelled them yourself and if you could find a market. One friend sold shelled nuts to co-workers, another volunteered at the local hospital, and was allowed to sell hers in the gift shop. After you see how much work it is to shell them(and decide how many you can reasonably do), you might ask around...I don't know if by "native" you mean the smaller nuts. We had some native trees, which produced very small nuts--a lot of work for a little meat, but then, the flavor is wonderful, and I heard, preferred. We also had some of the nice, big nuts, easy to crack and a lot of meat for your trouble...BTW, the feed stores that bought the pecans also would crack a bunch for you at a reasonable cost, making them easier to shell.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), September 21, 2001.

ditto on the purchase of you pecan's my husband loves them. let me know. lexi

-- Lexi Green (whitestone11@hotmail.com), September 21, 2001.

mary is right about the size of native pecans being smaller. We have 3 big trees in our yard and the nuts are only about an inch to 1 1/2 inches long and slim. Packed with wonderful flavor. If you get enough cracked you can have the best pecan pie you ever ate.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 21, 2001.

We will be going weekend of Sept 30 for a family reunion at Choctaw OK via Wichita and OKC, and possibly (time permitting) stopping at Fairmont and Shawnee to look up some duck people. If there's anyone along the way who wants to sell some fresh pecans or walnuts, either cracked or whole, please let me know.

-- Claudia Glass (glasss2001@prodigy.net), September 21, 2001.

If I have any to sell, I will sure let everyone know! Claudia, if you find anyone who offers to sell you "fresh" pecans on September 30, ask a few questions. Generally (I was just telling my husband this an hour ago!) they don't fall until after the first frost, from my best recollection. So be sure and ask if they are last year's crop that has been in the deep freeze - now, there is nothing wrong with freezing them as such, they keep for years in the deep freeze with little affect on their flavor, and you don't need to defrost them to cook or bake with them, but you just can't beat the flavor of fresh-picked for eating. The smaller, natives do have a better flavor, but they are a lot harder shelled. Good eating, and on the English walnuts - I'd buy them also!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), September 22, 2001.

Hi, Cracked pecans here go for a $1.50 per pound and upwards of $4.00 per pound shelled. That's not a lot of money considering how much work is involved in shelling them. Take them to the local feed store and have them cracked costs .30 cents per pound, but then all you have to do is bag them up. Cindy

-- cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), September 22, 2001.

Pecans taste better if they dry in the shell for a couple weeks before use, I think.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), September 23, 2001.

I'd love some pecans too. I've missed them since leaving Ok for the frozen north.

-- Lian Mowry (lianmowry@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

I am from the Rockville, Maryland area and my son is from Mississippi. He is interested in transporting his pecans here and selling them in this area, but if someone knows of a better idea please let me know.

Thanks,

Pamela Reynolds

-- Pamela Reynolds (pmr@cdrh.fda.gov), October 30, 2001.

My husband and I have a small pecan orchard on our property in South Georgia. It has been a good year for pecans this year and the big producers have gathered their pecans and flooded the market, price is low down here. I am looking to sell farther North or just leave on the ground, because we can't break even with the price of gathering. If anyone needs any pecans let me know. They are very good quality.

-- Becky Brown (bbrown7@surfsouth.com), November 03, 2001.

If you have pecans to sell consider this- one of our local churches has sold pecans as a fund raiser for many years- my family has been buying them for 25 years, at least. The church has an arrangement with a grower in Georgia to supply all that they can sell, in 5 lb boxes, shelled, either halves or pieces. I just placed an order for 2 boxes, which I give as Christmas presents. If you had enough of them maybe you could set up something similar. I dearly love pecans but don't think they do well here in Florida so I have never grown them. Breaks my heart when I go to Dallas and hear people say that they rake them up and throw them away :(

Christine is right about the timing- when I lived in Dallas I used to get fresh pecans just in time for Thanksgiving pie making towards the end of November.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 03, 2001.

Elizabeth: Do you sell them shelled? I know they would fetch more shelled, but I'd rather send mine unshelled.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), January 25, 2002.