Hazelnuts 2023

Two weeks later and the catkins are all in the same state. A few more female flowers seem to have bloomed on Somerset.

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Progress of catkins (comparison of 8 Jan vs 11 Feb):

Oikos hybrid (not so much change in a month)
Early Jan

11 Feb

Oikos #2 ( Ken Select) - Seeing some elongation of the catkins, and turning a bit green vs Jan
Early Jan


11 Feb

Dorris- Maybe opening up a little bit? Hard to say.
Early Jan


11 Feb

Somerset- opening and greening a bit at the bottom
Early Jan


11 Feb

Monmouth and Hunterdon both have a couple of female flowers. I am surprised since the plants are not quite even 2 years in the ground here.


All and all it is mid Feb and I think I am still waiting for the catkins to pollinate.

Update 18 Feb
All of the bushes with catkins have at least some partially open/elongated ones. Oikos1 is still the greatest laggard. Somerset and Oikos2_ken are the most open.
Given the photos of Catkins in their different stages in the link below I would say that pollination has finally started.

Oikos1

Oikos2 (ken)

Somerset

York

Dorris

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These photos are so interesting. I really appreciate you posting them.

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Good pictures. Thanks

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Hunterdon has sprouted leaves… all the others have nothing. I hope this does not suggest that one will be susceptible to the occasional April frosts.

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are the American nuts big enough? Or small enough it’s a lot of work for the reward vs European nuts?

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The flowers look like heartnut flowers. Can’t recall if I ever saw the flowers when we lived in UK near a productive row of hazelnuts. The bushes were so big I would have had to dive into them like a thick hedge to examine them more closely.

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mine are waking up. I put in two Jefferson just last week to get some genetic variety in the patch

planning to eventually coppice with them, but hoping for nuts eventually

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nice to see…

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I’m not sure. I don’t have any European nuts to compare them to the American nuts yet. I’m sure that someone else here could probably answer your question though.

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So far I have had only one nut from one of my hazels. It is a north american type and the whole nut was ~ 12 mm, not very big. Since we are not scheduled for the emergence of any Cicada broods I am hoping for a better crop from which to judge this year.

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how old are the trees? the cicada really did so much damage to everything

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I keep my hazels as bushes, in a hedge. The oldest is are ~ 7 years old. The cicadas damaged most of the wood the size of an index finger or smaller. I ended up having to prune away a substantial amount of wood. I was able to net the smaller 2 year old bushes so they were not really damaged. But those are too young for nuts.

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Here’s my taller transplant- root layered IIRC not self-rooted- and so delayed my order as he wasn’t ready to leave its mother until spring. The rest were from band pots and are a foot or less and leafed out quick- this guy took so long I was afraid he was a goner. I have 5 in a row, that’s the middle one that can pollinate all the others.

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Hey y’all- 1- Leaves of some are shriveling and turning rust colored- maybe from sprinkler watering and sun hitting them too much? Sure hope I haven’t got some killer thing on them. Any advice?
2- a few of my shorter bushes are bending over- considering tying them to a stake which goes against what one of you said above.

hn623 2
hn623 3

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The upper section of the first picture appears to have something like small sucking insects.

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Hi Jenn:) The pure Europeans drop from the involucre when done, whereas the Americana remain in the husk, which eventually drops complete. I also know the dropping from husk trait to be also present in a few hybrids, which are also selected for that. Ive had the small americana and hybrids and find theyre awesome roasted.

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Hi Pete. How did your hazelnuts fare? Hope they made it hrough the frost ok. My Raritans suffered some die back on branches, but arenstill green… and maybe dont like my clay like Monmouth and hunderton. Maybe the early drought?
Just trying to regain some size.

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The hazels we planted 15+ years ago from Badgersett have made a HUGE hedge. They produce tons of nuts every year. We have very well-fed squirrels in our neighborhood…

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Hi Noogy,

So far all are fine, green and awaiting the years J beetle infestation. A couple of the larger ones (Ken Select and Dorris) have some nuts growing. The largest, Oikos Hybrid, does not seem to have any. I don’t know why that is. They are hopefully going to grow out into a hedge. Attached are some pics so you can see how that is going.

The hopefully filling in hedge from 2 sides:


Nut on Kens Select

Oikos Hybrid

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