I think it depends on your squirrels, but mine detest capsaicin so I heat and strain a red pepper flake-garlic concoction and apply via spray to things regularly. I don’t think it works for everyone, but perhaps because there are many other things available in my property it deters mine (and chipmunks). If your trees aren’t huge and you have a single trunk or tight multistem, I’ve used insect netting bags that cinch at the bottom to protect peaches.
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I’ll give that a try. Thank you
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Mine goal is similar. I needed a small hedge and was hoping to be able to get nuts out of it too. It has taken many (~ 6) years to get bushes to the point of significant flower / catkin numbers to produce ~ a gallon of nuts. Since I have just gotten to the production stage I don’t think the squirrels and other potential pests have learned about the productivity of the hedge. (Japanese beetles are the exception; the know all about the hedge.) So far I am very happy with hazels as a nice looking 8-10 ft bush that grows in an area that is often a bit soggy and does not really get full sun. Aside from the j beetles, these bushes have not required much work at all on my part.
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The one that hasn’t been eaten to the ground is an attractive large shrub that doesn’t seem to require any from me. I am intentionally growing it in the multi -stem form.
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Any opinion on OSU varieties?
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All of my hazels get something akin to partial sun, mostly in the afternoon and grow in a somewhat moist area of the yard. I have only two of the OSU varieties: Dorris and York. I have had Dorris longer, it is a nice bush now, ~ 8 ft tall. It hasn’t (yet) any signs of EFB. For me it flowers (both male and female) in the middle of the period in which all of the OSU and Rutgers European type varieties flower, which is generally before the hybrids from Oikos. This last year was the first for nuts; I got about a pint from Dorris but am expecting more this year. The nuts were of course larger than all of the hybrids. They were also larger than the Rutgers varieties but those bushes are so new they only gave a handful of nuts each. York is also new, I got only a handful of nuts from that one.
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Hi Sarah,
The OSU varieties emerged to deal with the EFB isolate that showed up in Oregon that wiped out the industry. These contain the Gasaway gene, which provided resistance to the 1 strain of EFB. Jefferson and Yamhill are the main crop varieties with others selected as pollinizers. Poly O, wepster, and Mcdonald are newer main crop varieties. These are great nuts with varieties like Sacajawea being outstanding quality, resstant to EFB, and a foundational parent of Rutgers’ Monmouth and Hunderton.
If you are east of the rockies, go with Rutgers varieties.
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We are not far from Oregon, so I thought the hazelnut problem would apply. But we do have dry summers, I don’t even know what EFB is.
I would go to burnt ridge nursery online and get some of the latest releases. You have less to worry about than we do in michigan. How cold is it there? That would be the only factor Id be concerned with.
We are in 8a, so I think cold would not be a problem.
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Depends on their resistance to big bud mite, and sprays for efb are available. $ Should be very low input if right varieties are chosen for location. Japanese Beetles are an issue for me but aim on working on their numbers long term. Right now on small plants, they can devastate them.
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My 6 Hazels are the most non-spray trees I have (though I do a copper dormant spray) and I haven’t had any disease issues, but as Noogy mentioned they are Japanese beetle magnets and will strip them bare
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DragonflyLane, Per the article, Gasaway resistance gene has been overcome in Oregon but was known to be compromised in the eastern U.S. Nothing new in this, was an expected result, just a matter of time. Now the breeders look for a few more genes to stack. The problem right now is that there are no tested and proven productive varieties that can replace Barcelona and the Gasaway offspring. It will be about 10 years before they get things geared up enough to grow new varieties with stacked resistance genes. They should have been working on this 20 years ago!!!
It highlights one of the problems with plant breeding. Breeders rely on a single gene to provide resistance to a pathogen. Eventually the pathogen overcomes the single gene. Multiple stacked genes have a much better chance of long term durable resistance.
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I went and ordered from Stark’s, I got Lewis, Clark, Ennis, Hall’s Giant and Casina.
Most were $18, I missed out on Barcelona by minutes. Hall’s Giant was a bit more $$$.
I can put in pots and if I change my mind on any variety, I can sell locally.
It’s just a bummer and I imagine that we would be susceptible where we are, we aren’t that far from Oregon and also, we always get peach leaf curl so I have to spray ahead of time now and it kind of sounds like EFB might like the same conditions that peach curl does, both are fungal.
I wonder if my copper indoor and dormant oil spray would help hazelnuts avoid EFB?
With the barcelonas the chemical inputs are too great.
Eventually the EFB isolates will arrive through irresponsible shipping from out east…
What do you mean by the chemical input is too great?
Thanks!
I have had a similar experience. My hazels get a bit of dormant oil in mid ish march after all of their catkins are expired. If it we not for me spraying the apples and peaches at the same time they would likely not get that at all. That said, if my Dorris or York end up getting EFB my likely response will be to pull them. The low maintenance aspect of the nut hedge is critical for me. So far the bushes may have disappointed a bit in terms of time to bear and size of nut harvest but in terms of not making extra work for me they have been very good.
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