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Alabama Pecan Growers Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center Pecan research at the GCREC focuses on cultivar testing for Low Input (reduced spray) and High Input (traditional) management. Over 60 cultivars are under evaluation, including several very promising selections that are highly scab resistant and early ripening. A major grafting effort was made in April to further expand evaluations. Dr. Bill Goff and Monte Nesbitt, Department of Horticulture, Auburn University, will show and discuss new cultivars, grafting methods and tree training.
B & B Pecan Company B & B Pecan Co. is a family-owned retail/mail order pecan business started by Clarence and Sandra Bishop in 1956. B & B has grown from a mail-order only business that bought pecans to a full service retail, internet and mail order business that buys and grows pecans. The tour will go behind the scenes’ and look at the Bishops retail store and how it has grown to meet the demands of a diversified direct marketing business while maintaining a personal connection to their customers. We will see their orchards and discuss which varieties have survived the hurricanes and have been important in their retail business.
Underwood Pecan Farm and Nursery Gary Underwood has been around pecans his entire life. His grandfather, father and uncles have been pecan pioneers in the Foley, Alabama area, developing varieties such as ‘Surprize’ and ‘Pioneer’, and developing superior practices for producing pecan nursery stock. Gary manages bearing pecan trees on three farms and operates a container nursery in Summerdale. His nursery has expanded from pecans to other fruits including blueberries, citrus and blackberries. The tour will take a close look at his nursery operation in Summerdale and discuss his orchard management practices.
Ken Buck Farm Ken Buck is known in Alabama as a producer of high quality pecans. Both Ken and his orchard manager, Vital Samuel, have won the APGA grower of the year award in recent years. Ken has one of the few irrigated pecan orchards in Southwest Alabama, and strives for high quality through innovative spray practices, crop load management and strict grading practices. The tour will look at how Ken’s pecan orchard has recovered from the devastation of two recent major hurricanes and how he has worked to maintain his retail business through some tough years. Ken is also a grower of peaches, satsumas, persimmons, and sweet corn. We will look at his other crops and discuss the merits and challenges of diversified farming.
Bertolla Farm The Belforest community is one of the oldest pecan growing areas in Southwest Alabama. A number of farming families in the Belforest community planted pecan trees, predominantly Stuarts, on their farms during the Great Depression era and later. One of those farms was A. Bertolla and Sons, a diversified farming and shipping business, that also included pecan orchards. Today, the Bertolla farm is managed by Andy Bertolla, who also operates Bertolla Farm Supply in Robertsdale, Ala. The tour will stop at the Bertolla Farm in Belforest and discuss modern management practices for old Stuart orchards, including spray practices, and soil management. Dick Higbee, another longtime pecan grower in Belforest, will also share some of the rich history of pecan farming in Belforest that has survived through decades in a hurricane prone area.
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