✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Temperate tree nut · Drupe seed

Pecan

Carya illinoensis · Juglandaceae

Pecan is a warm-temperate tree that grows best in the 15–35°C range with 600–1200 mm of rain, cropping over a 140–210-day season.

Optimal temp
15–35 °C
Annual rain
600–1200 mm
Max altitude
800 m
Cold limit
5°C
Growing cycle
140–210 d
Climate-fit land
19 % world

How it grows

Pecan
Photo: SnickeringBear · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pecan
Photo: Jonathunder · CC BY-SA 3.0
🌳 On a tree

Pecan grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

Where Earth's climate suits pecan

Global climatic suitability map for Pecan
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
19% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production
FAOSTAT reports this crop only inside a broader category, so standalone country tonnage is not shown.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Russia
United States of America
China
Canada
Argentina
Australia
Turkey
Ukraine
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 15–35°C · tolerates 5–40°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 600–1200 mm · tolerates 400–1800 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 5.0–7.5 · tolerates 5.0–7.5
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±40° · soil pH 5–7.5.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 140–210 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Hard freeze. Tolerant of chill but killed once temperatures fall below about -1°C.
  • Drought. Relatively drought-hardy, but a failed rainy season still cuts yield sharply where irrigation is absent.

Related crops