In February, a small group of members gathered in Central Otago for the Summer Field Days. It’s a bit of a trek for those from central or northern South Island, but the Otago, Central Otago and Southland regions form the second largest concentration of hazelnuts in New Zealand, so it was important to see how goes the industry in the south of the South.
We started the weekend with a meal at the Monteith’s Brewery and Bar, the group growing as people arrived from out of town. The last Field Days in Central Otago was in 2018, so for some there was a lot of catching up to do.
June and Russell Aitken
Saturday morning began with an orchard visit to the property of June and Russell. They live near Roxburgh, on the banks of the Clutha river, just south of the Roxburgh Dam. They bought the property in 2000, and started planting Whiteheart and Waiau’s in 2001 (and walnuts).
The soil is unbelievably stoney, Russell says it is 50% soil. On the really hot days (38 degrees), he can’t get enough water on to the trees. Summers are usually very dry, but this year was less so. He relies on a manual watering system, running diesel to power the pumps. He has a problem with earwigs getting into the irrigation pipes and blocking the drip tubing, so he, Ross and Pete got busy investigating the problem.
Another sign of the stony soil, was the roots of the poplars snaking across the surface of the orchard. Russell said they can reach 10m, stealing water from the hazels. Alders aren’t an option in the Roxburgh climate.
The hazels are on the small size for their age, but the wide spacing between rows and open canopy allows lots of light to reach the trees.
Harvesting is a family affair, with children and grandchildren turning up each year to help with the harvest. Apart from ‘Monica’ (see photos), Russell doesn’t use much machinery to help with the harvesting and processing, and many people-hours are required to bring in and sort the hazelnuts. Harvest begins at Easter, using five people. Two blow the nuts into rows for collection by the tractor, and two use hoses to suck them up. Nutting sorting can go through to August, as everything is done by hand.
Photos: (from left to right) Waiau pollenisers planted along the edge of one block: between the rows, members examine the coming harvest: ‘Monica’, Russell’s homebuilt harvester.
Lynn and Ross Smith
We left June and Russell to travel 15 minutes down river to the property of Lynn and Ross, who farm on the river flats near Ettrick.
Their Whitehearts were planted between 2007 and 2013, with Alexander, Merveille de Bowiller and Waiau’s as pollenisers. As well as 2.5 Ha of hazelnuts, they have 0.5 Ha in apples and Ross manages a commercial apple orchard. Most of his time goes into apples (work and his own), with the annual spray regime, pruning and harvesting, taking up most of his time. Once the apples are finished at the end of March, he turns his attention to the hazelnuts, which receive less attention.
The orchard is topped by a high-tension pylon running diagonally over the orchard. Ross noticed that he gets very few nuts on trees under this diagonal zone. A bit of quick googling followed while standing amidst the rows, and it seems that the electromagnetic forces can affect pollen, either causing it to clump together or repelling grains. Whichever is correct, the pollination dynamics are changed, which probably causes the reduction in nuts that Ross observed.
Photos: from left; members walk down a row; and Pete tries out the backpack blower, which Ross prefers to the handheld blower.
Electric Cherry https://www.forestlodge.nz/
Sunday morning the group met at Electric Cherry, which promotes its zero fossil-fuel/100% electric orchard credentials. Members took the $150K Monarch electric tractor for a spin, looked at the 216 solar panels, and checked out the 3 x 100KW storage batteries in the shed. In essence, they generate twice as much power as they use, and it’s sold back to the grid at wholesale rates. Here’s a couple of YouTube videos with more technical detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhnU2wlBnFs
Photos, clockwise from left: the electric tractor; electric tractor; screen showing real-time energy production and buy/sell fluctuations from the market; some of the 216 solar panels.
Off to the orchard with a few facts to set the scene: Electric Cherry farm 9300 trees on 6Ha. There are five different varieties, so harvest runs from mid-December to the end of January. About 40% of their income comes from selling to the Chinese New Year market and it takes about three days for the journey (via Tarras airport) to China, where a kilo will sell for between $60-80. Size is critical, a 30mm cherry receives a premium price, and anything under 26mm is not worth picking. This year they picked 77 tonnes, 50 in 2024 and 12 in 2023.
This is the interesting bit for hazelnut growers, as this orchard adopted a pruned form developed in Washington State. The growth form of the trees is called the Upright Fruiting Offshoots (UFO), saplings are planted at a 45 degree angle, and clipped to trellis wires as they grow (see link below for the technical description). The first few years require extra pruning, but eventually the vertical shoots are bearing fruit. The planar growth form allows maximum light from both sides and the top. This also allows for even spray application. Pickers love it, as ladders aren’t required and it is easy and quick for them to move along the rows.
Photos: clockwise from top left. Information sign for pickers and visitors; one tree showing its upright stems and close-up of a 45 degree trunk with vertical shoots; wide rows for max. sunlight; colour-coded layout of cherry varieties; end of rows showing the frost/hail/bird netting totally enclosing the 6Ha. Cat adopted them and is now member of bird control team.
Dunford Grove https://dunfordgrove.com/
Relative newcomers, Jocelyn Robinson and Sandy Black, bought the established property in 2015, knowing nothing about olives or hazelnuts. Gradually, with many “learning opportunities” they mastered the art of growing olives and now produce their own olive oil which is sold online, at local markets and specialty shops in the lower South Island.
There was a lot of interest in the olive harvest equipment progression, from the very slow hand-picking of the early days, to their current loader (imported from Madrid) and shaker, which can harvest 25 trees/hour (though each tree still needs a visit from someone with the pole harvester). All told they have 1000 olive trees.
Olives flower in December, and ripen in May and June, so sometimes frost can be an issue. Trees are pruned every year as olives grow on new wood. Advice on pruning can vary, but the most memorable advice given to Sandy was “prune so a chicken can fly through it”.
Most of their income comes from the olives, with the hazelnuts receiving less attention. There are 400 Whitehearts, with a row of pollinaters planted in a row to the north of the block, and Sandy says they seem to produce nuts equally down the rows. The rows are 4m apart, so the trees have space to spread out without interfering in the canopy of neighbouring trees.
Once again, there was a progression of harvesting equipment as they tried to find the best equipment for the job. They settled on the Beck Turboharvestor made in Invercargill. One ingenious trial involved a street sweeper with a reversed head, so that the nuts were pushed to the middle of the row. Another trial used the olive tree shaker, which was effective at bringing nuts down, but Sandy does not recommend – sorting the nuts was hell.
From 400 trees, they collect about 1.4 tonnes, which is an average of 3.5 kg/tree, above the industry average of ~2kg/tree. Teasing out which factors are key here is difficult, but the wide rows which allow for spreading, complex branch formation, with sunlight hitting all sides of the tree probably contributes. Irrigation-wise, trees get 21L/day.
Photos: clockwise from top left. Wider than average rows allow the trees to spread out without shading each other; harvesting equipment; hand-held pole used for harvesting olives; the loader and shaker (white wings open and circle the tree, rubber clamp at knee height); members enjoying morning tea before the tour began, Lake Dunstan in background.
The purpose of Field Days is twofold. Firstly it’s about bringing hazelnut-people together, forming a support network of like-minded people. And secondly, it’s about sharing knowledge, ideas and experience. The growing conditions in Central Otago are very different to those of most growers, but the trees are the same. As always, there was a lot of interest in equipment, whether it was new, adapted, or old and trusted. We thank everyone that attended, and our hosts for opening their properties for our visit.
You must be logged in to post a comment.