History

     'Pawnee' is from a cross of 'Mohawk' x 'Starking Hardy Giant', made in Brownwood, Tx. in 1963.  Since then, this cultivar has become very popular throughout the Western and Northern growing regions (Thompson and Grauke, 2000), and is gaining in popularity in the Southeast as well.

Comments

The most outstanding feature of 'Pawnee' is its large nut size combined with very early nut maturity. The average harvest date for 'Pawnee' at Tifton has been October 3, which is at least 2 weeks earlier than 'Stuart'.  No other large pecan can compete with 'Pawnee' on the early market, providing a substantial price benefit in most years.

Yields from 'Pawnee' have been good.  Our yield data indicate that 'Pawnee' is not an extremely precocious cultivar. Average yield for years 1-10 were similar to 'Sumner' and about half that of 'Cape Fear'. As a mature tree, years 11-20, 'Pawnee' was a top producer of usable kernels. In addition, significant depredation from crows occurred in many years leading to lower recorded yields than what the trees actually produced.  'Pawnee' does tend to produce alternately, but kernel quality did not decline dramatically in the ON year.  Mature 'Pawnee' trees would probably benefit from mechanically shaking off excess crop, especially if trees are crowded.

'Pawnee' produces a high-quality nut of medium to large size (55.9 nuts/lb.).  Percent kernel has been good and stable, with only one year falling below 50%. 'Pawnee' produces a light colored kernel with excellent quality. However, color darkens quickly in storage, and the kernel can become stained if the nuts are rained on after shaking the trees, necessitating a prompt harvest to retain maximum quality. Some growers have complained about a speckling on the kernels (see pictures below), we have observed this as well, but it has not been a large problem in our test. This trait may, however, prohibit 'Pawnee's' usefulness in the gift-pack trade. 

'Pawnee' is reported to have good resistance to aphids (Thompson and Grauke, 2000) .   I used to consider 'Pawnee' to be similar to 'Desirable' in scab susceptibility.  In the last two years, however, 'Pawnee' has shown more damage from nut scab than the 'Desirable' trees planted next to them.  In fact, in 2005 the 'Pawnee' crop was severely damaged due to scab despite a full season fungicide program.  We thus do not recommend 'Pawnee' be planted in areas where scab control is likely to be a concern. 

Like 'Desirable', 'Pawnee' is protandrous, meaning the pollen is shed before the stigma is receptive, and is a good early season pollinator. 'Schley', 'Stuart', 'Sumner', or 'Sioux' will pollinate 'Pawnee'.

The early harvest and good productivity and quality of 'Pawnee' make it a promising cultivar if it is carefully managed. However, the early harvest date also makes 'Pawnee' more difficult to incorporate into an existing orchard, especially if only a few trees are planted. Depredation by squirrels and especially crows can be severe if trees are isolated in an orchard among later maturing cultivars. In order to lessen depredation and facilitate prompt harvesting, 'Pawnee' should be planted together in relatively large blocks. We have also noted that 'Pawnee' seems to ripen over a longer period of time than many cultivars, requiring the trees to be shaken more than once, especially to limit the depredation by animals.

'Pawnee' is a good northern cultivar and should do well in northern Georgia and other mid-northern growing regions.

Compare kernel yield of 'Pawnee' to some other cultivars here.

Pollen shed and pistil receptivity can be found here.