I just might be, but that is another story.  I am talking about the crunchy type of nuts that grow on trees.  I must say that I am a fan of nuts, but I never really gave much thought to the trees themselves.  That is until the other day.  I received an e-mail from a person wanting to know how long it would take a tree to produce nuts.  Of course, it all depends on the variety of tree, but I thought I would at least try to come up with a ballpark figure. 

The gentleman that wrote in was interested in Hazelnut and Pecan trees.  I was able to find out that Hazelnut trees will first produce nuts when they are 3 or 4 years old.  They will reach their mature production at 8 to 10 years old.  As far as the Pecan trees go, they will produce nuts at 10 to 14 years old and hit full production at 18 to 22 years old.  I also found it interesting that, in some varieties, nut production can occur sooner in grafted trees then the ones grown from seeds.    

The information that I ran across was from a well put together PDF file from Agricultural Extension Service from the University of Tennessee.  It has information on pollination, life expectancy, the recommended spacing, and how many years it takes for nut production.  I found it interesting, so I thought I would post the link (www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/spfiles/SP307-P.pdf).