Jenny and Mark Harris Orchard – Rangiora/Cust
by Rose McDermott
It’s a labour of love to keep a hazelnut orchard, rather than a commercial enterprise – particularly given the investment in machinery.
For orchard maintenance, Mark and Jenny have given up on de-suckering and spraying, the yield didn’t justify the cost of the sprays. Their approach is minimalist, which has so far not affected yield. Pre-harvest they flail mow the orchard floor, blow the nuts, then harvest. On a good day they can harvest 2 blocks in a day. Post harvest they water the trees through autumn for the next year’s crop.
Photos: Hardy hazelnut members gather in the frosty morning to view the trees and harvesting equipment.
Sarah and Malcolm Shore Orchard – Rangiora/Cust
by Rose McDermott & Sarah Shore
The orchard was planted in stages from 2004-2007, starting from a completely bare paddock with no shelter. The main crop variety is Whiteheart, with Alex, MDB and Waiau pollenisers. The pollenisers are distributed through the blocks, which at the time was considered good practice to optimise pollen coverage. In practical terms this has complicated orchard management because each variety has different spacing and pruning needs, and nutfall is at different times. Most of the growers with established orchards agreed that on balance it’s preferable to have pollenisers in dedicated rows. Clive Kaiser pointed out ideally the pollenisers should be planted upwind to the target trees, based on the prevailing wind during pollen shed. In this orchard this would mean at the ends of rows rather than a complete row. The end trees are now struggling due to competition from the poplar shelter belt, and Clive suggested that it might be time to remove the shelter. The pollenisers could act as shelter for the crop trees, and it’s an advantage to have them exposed to wind to move the pollen across the orchard.
Conversation turned to the increasing difficulty of identifying compatible pollenisers that shed pollen at peak flowering. Climate change is starting to affect established flowering patterns. Murray pointed out that pollen shed in his orchard has moved earlier by a couple of weeks since he started growing hazels and some of his previously compatible combinations now no longer coincide.
On the perennial problem of suckers, Clive mentioned the practice of applying a 20% ammonium nitrate spray when suckers are very small (spring). The nitrogen soaks into the soil afterward and acts as fertiliser. [more information in Snippets – Ed]. This would be worth trialling to confirm whether or not this was worth doing (which would need some funding). Clive also asked if anyone had tried using a leaf blower to blow pollen in the orchard to help with pollination, but drew a blank – not something anyone had thought of doing.
As for all growers, the main limitation in this orchard is never having enough time, and with close to 7000 trees the issue is magnified. The current management strategy focuses on making access below the trees safer and more comfortable – removing low branches that hit people in the face or obstruct spray booms and harvesting. Sarah showed us one block that they pruned last year, and an adjacent block that is due for pruning this year. A side effect of the dense low growth is that the ground beneath the trees stays shaded, so retains moisture more than open ground. The surface texture is generally fairly loose, which is a nuisance for harvest – there are clouds of dust in anything other than the most ideal conditions. They’re hoping the improved airflow may help stabilise the surface with a better level of grass mulch.
We also looked at 6 trees that Sarah pruned heavily following the summer 2022 field visits. Three were pruned that summer and 3 the following winter. Peter Barrowclough did a similar pruning exercise in his orchard at the same time and Peter and Sarah both agreed that it was hard to handle the amount of wood removed. Sarah pointed out that summer pruning meant 2 seasons with zero crop. Winter pruning allowed the original year’s crop to be harvested with a zero year following. Fruiting buds are still limited in both cases, as evidenced by a lack of catkins. Clive pointed out that this is unsurprising given the lack of complexity in form – almost all the growth has been vertical so far. Clive discussed the need for more laterals off the vertical branches to create more complexity, with the aim of hedging across the top to encourage more nut production while increasing accessibility for maintenance: it is easier to maintain the trees (for example check and treat big bud mite) if the working area of the tree is in the region of hip to shoulder of the person doing the maintenance work.
Before leaving, we looked at the Feucht mechanical harvester they’ve had for the last 2 seasons. As with all harvesting solutions, it’s a trade-off between several factors: speed of harvest, completeness of harvest (how much is left behind), quality of harvest (what else is picked up) and cost. The Feucht is a reasonably compact unit and is self-propelled, so it doesn’t need a large tractor to drive it. It covers about 1200 trees a day very comfortably, which makes it possible to harvest each block multiple times. Most soil, leaves and twigs drop out and are left behind on the orchard floor. However the pickup is probably only about 70% of nutfall at the time, with further loss because it can’t manage the end of season when the grass is wet. Sarah compared this with the NZ-built TurboVac they used previously, which manages 100% pickup but only about 120 trees a day for a single operator. The Feucht provides them with an achievable and acceptable base harvest, with the TurboVac as follow-up.
Photos: Lots of interest in the new Feucht mechanical harvester!
Ann Joseph – Lincoln
by Rose McDermott
This orchard was planted 18 years ago over a period of 2-3 years. Some trees were lost in to the liquefaction following the earthquakes, and replaced. Pollinators are interplanted with the Whitehearts. Irrigation was initially supplied by sprinklers emitters but after continuous hare damage these were replaced with drippers, still not a reliable system.
After a career in catering, Ann’s intention from the start was to combine the orchard work with adding value to the harvest. A commercial kitchen was built in the barn and she developed and produces a range of products..
Backpackers work on the harvest for her, and are paid by the volume picked up. To get pickers she places an ad on the Backpackers Board and provides accommodation but not food for them. The harvested hazelnuts are dried on large mesh tables then stored in onion sacks and hung in the barn to keep dry and away from pests. Ann doesn’t keep a record of her yield. Suckers are managed with buster and a pole hedgetrimmer.
Photos: Inside Ann’s processing shed, with nuts on the racks to dry and hanging up. Ann developed a range of her own products, which are sold at local markets and online.
Bronwyn and Evan Jeffs – Prebbleton
By Pete Barrowclough
Our last visit for the weekend was to Evan and Bronwyn Jeffs. Their orchard is near Prebbleton and they have around 400 trees, with two main varieties, Whiteheart and Barcelona. They are new hazelnut growers having purchased the property with the Hazelnut trees already established. However they are both experienced with rural properties having owned a block of land previously. Bronwyn has been enthusiastic about finding out about Hazelnut production and I have been able to give them some advice in the past couple of seasons. Bronwyn has diligently tidied up the trees. They have purchased a Beck NZ made harvester, and completed their first harvest in the previous season. Bronwyn has taken on board the discussions around getting more light into the trees and has recently completed some thorough pruning. The group was complimentary on the state of the trees and the order in the orchard. It was great to see new participants in the industry getting stuck in.
Photos: The Jeffs acquired a small, overgrown hazel orchard and set about pruning the trees and grooming the understorey.
