Video: 2016 Fall Pecan Harvest

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Fall is when you see and hear pecans raining from trees, but this year its more like a mist.

That’s because of the 2016 Drought that’s drying everything out due to the lack of rain.

Pecans start harvesting in mid October, and stop falling down by the first of the year, and the owners of Peeples Pecan Company in Starkville, say pecans have been scarce this season.

Owner J.L. Peeples says the dry weather dried up hope for what he thought would be heavy bearing year for pecans.

“During the summer, we were, in our particular location, we were getting pretty good rain, but then the water shut off about, I don’t know, a couple of months ago, and that, the latter part of the growing season is when you need the water the most.”

Peeples Pecan Company has been in business for nearly four decades, and Peeples says this year is one of the driest seasons for the area.

“What we have had, the squirrels and the crows have taken their share of them for sure, and that tree right out front of the barn have, I mean it was just absolutely loaded, and then the dry weather came, and they started falling off, and we might get a pound out of that tree, I don’t know.”

One-hundred and five pounds of pecans came off of that same tree during a strong harvest year.

“The pecans have suffered by falling early before they’re mature, and that to me, has been the biggest problem as far as your crop,” says Peeples Pecan Company owner, Lynette Peeples.

The rain helps the pecans shimmy down from the tree, but without rainfall, there’s no pecan fall.

“A lot of the pecans that you’ll see clinging in the trees now, appear to be just dried up on the tree with that outer shuck just real tight around them, and we’ve had a lot of that fall on the ground too this year. This is just an unusual year, as far as dryness.”

Visibility, color, and weight are key in spotting dry pecans. The shells will also have fuzzing, and will be brittle.

“When you break a pecan in half, the meat will be solid. It won’t have cracks and crevasses in it. You can look at the pecan and tell that it’s high quality just because it has a lot of oil content.”

Although the drought continues, the good news is that there will be enough pecans for pecan pie for the holidays.

Peeples Pecan Company opened this week, and they think business will be busy like it usual is, even with the drought.