ABOUT US
How can you be confident that we are the best for the most comprehensive and up to date advice? We grow pecans on three farms that we own that total over 1,500 acres and we have a new 2,000-acre orchard under development. We have the best and largest pecan tree nursery in the southeast with the most comprehensive nematode and nutrition program in the industry. We have a very efficient pecan cleaning plant capable of cleaning 25,000,000 pounds per season. We are also Schermer Pecans, a family brand of pecan products centered around fundraising and direct to consumer sales.
Pecan orchards have been in our family for five generations and Frank Wetherbee started Nut Tree Pecan in 1968. Since he began his pecan career, he has been an innovator in all aspects of the industry from being the first to irrigate a pecan orchard (link to article here) to having the second mechanized harvester in Georgia. He was one of the first to use air blast sprayers and tree shakers to care for and harvest his crop. Frank also founded the only privately held shelling co-op in the state that yielded significantly higher prices to its grower members from 1968 to 2002.
When he purchased Schermer Pecans from Mason McGowan in 1975 he became one of the first and the largest growers with direct-to-consumer distribution of his crop. Frank also contributed to the industry with many leadership positions and was a key figure in attaining federally backed crop insurance. He was the leader and organizer of the most successful attempt at a federal marketing order in the 1980’s that passed many legislative hurdles but was eventually defeated in congress. We are extremely fortunate to have a marketing order in place today thanks to the excellent leadership of Mike Adams, a large Texas pecan grower and very good friend of ours.
MEET THE TEAM
Putt Wetherbee
Frank’s son, Putt Wetherbee now owns and runs all the entities and continues his father’s legacy of innovation, leadership and a constant focus on improvement and creating more value for pecans. Some of his accomplishments include a 50% increase in pounds per hour in the cleaning plant with a simultaneous 60% reduction in man hours. He is also pioneering high density planting and developing best management practices that show potential production improvements of 100% over conventional orchards.
Putt and his team of employees and vendors have made measurable production improvements to challenges like alternate bearing (Link to chart here). They continue to make strides in areas like sustainable crop nutrition, irrigation and tree hedging to increase orchard performance. Like his father, he is never satisfied to think that success means that we cannot continue to improve.
J.W. Christiansen
J.W.Christiansen is a key member of the team who was a pecan grower for over 40 years. J.W. is known in the industry from coast to coast and has held top leadership positions in almost every pecan organization in the Southeast. His behind-the-scenes contribution to the industry is tremendous and he has been a member of the Nut Tree Family since 1980. His current role of mentor and general advisor/manager is invaluable to all our operations.
BECOMING A TRUSTED RESOURCE FOR PECAN GROWERS
This website is designed to be a constantly updated and valuable resource for pecan research and management. We invite both the casual and serious grower to explore all the features to enhance your pecan knowledge. We do not claim to know everything about growing pecans, but we work hard every day to learn and share improvements in production sustainability, processing, and marketing.
We hope you will take advantage of all the information consolidated here in this one site about all aspects of pecans, from new varieties to crop care. We love what we do and all the people we work with to grow and move forward in this incredibly dynamic world of pecan production. We welcome you to contact us anytime to discuss your plans or concerns. We love talking about pecans as much as growing them!
