Once ready, you can harvest the pecans one of two ways: either collect them off the ground as they fall, or shake the tree to dislodge them. Inspect the quality of the nuts. Look the pecans over, and discard any with worm holes or other signs of damage. 

The Pecan is a nut tree native to the Mississippi flood plain. Pecans are widely grown across the southeastern U.S. and in the bottom lands of Texas and northern Mexico-- any place that has rich soil, long, hot summers and cool winters.^[1]. Pecans are favorites of bakers and confectioners, especially during autumn and the holiday season.

Harvesting pecans after they have fallen to the ground can be back-breaking, tedious work, but, with a little preparation and the right tools, manual harvesting of pecans can actually be quite enjoyable especially on a crisp autumn day.