Safe to Plant

Pecan · Ecatepec de Morelos, México, Mexico

When to plant pecans in Ecatepec de Morelos

Main outdoor window

17 Nov - 26 Jan

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

9 February

In Ecatepec de Morelos, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

1 Oct - 30 Nov

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Step by step in Ecatepec de Morelos

Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.

Plant the tree

17 Nov - 26 Jan

Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.

Harvest

1 Oct - 30 Nov

Frost tolerance
Very-hardy
First crop
Year 7
Chill needed
400 hours
Hardy to
Zone 5a–9a
Spacing
1200 cm
Sun
Full

Pecans through the year

Against the frost risk in Ecatepec de Morelos

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Plant Harvest Today

Why these dates

Plant dormant, and give it room: a mature pecan is a very large tree. Northern cultivars ripen weeks earlier and are the only sensible choice outside the deep south of its range.

The tree is hardy to about -25C. The limit on where pecans crop is summer heat accumulation, not winter cold.

Pecans are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Ecatepec de Morelos is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Ecatepec de Morelos sits in zone 9b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 7, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for Ecatepec de Morelos →

Growing pecans in Ecatepec de Morelos

When should I plant pecans in Ecatepec de Morelos?

Aim for 17 Nov - 26 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Oct - 14 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will pecans be ready to harvest in Ecatepec de Morelos?

Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 30 Nov, based on 180 to 220 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will pecans tolerate?

The tree is hardy to about -25C. The limit on where pecans crop is summer heat accumulation, not winter cold.