Has anyone tried a new method of pruning or suckering, and if so, what was the result? Even if the result was worse and you went back to your original method, share your experience to build a resource for all.
We have at least one member who has stopped de-suckering altogether – and another who has doubled-down on them.
Likewise, is anyone trying anything new regarding pruning? A few members tried the radical pruning demonstrated by Associate Professor Clive Kaiser (Lincoln University). All agreed it was very intensive time-wise and produced too much waste to be dragged away, and not something they could contemplate in the larger orchards. But are those trees producing more nuts now? What might be impossible in a large orchard might be possible with fewer trees.
Send any trials to secretary@hazelnut-growers.org.nz
The International Congress on Hazelnut takes place every four years, and this year it convened in Beijing (no word yet on where the 2029 Congress will be held). The proceedings of the Congress are being compiled and will be available for purchase next year. HGANZ will either purchase a copy, or access the articles that are relevant and/or interesting for NZ growers.
In the meantime, Trevor Ranford, the Executive of the HGA, attended and presented an overview of the Australian hazelnut industry, including some of the research that they have underway in Australia. He has kindly provided HGANZ with access to his presentation (both Power Point presentation and the paper version) so that we don’t have to wait for the proceedings.
There is a lot of information, so please take your time to have a look at it, but of particular note is the work underway in Theme 1 (looking at production systems). They predict they need between 1000-2000Ha of hazelnuts to meet current and future demand within Australia, with little left for export.
From the Beijing Evening News Facebook post. The grand entrance at the Conference Centre and hazelnut-activities.
In addition, Trevor gave us access to the presentation from Chile by Jorge Mohr. Chile is the country to watch, with about 8 000Ha of hazelnuts planted and coming to production in the next few years. The main cultivar is Tonde di Giffoni, but many of the new plantings are from OSU-bred (Oregon State University) cultivars; Yamhill, Tonde Pacifica and Jefferson. In 2023, nearly 50% of their harvest was sold to Italy (presumably to have chocolate poured onto them, or squeezed into a Nutella jar).
The HGA has government support in the form of Agrifutures Australia, which has $2 million in funding to support and grow the hazelnut industry, via the creation of a 5-year plan (https://agrifutures.com.au/product/australian-hazelnut-2030-strategic-blueprint) and investment in R&D priorities outlined in the Blueprint.
In contrast, the HGANZ does not have the financial resources to fund all of the R&D initiatives it would like to, and the NZ Government-funded R&D programmes are shrinking, dying or being redirected. By having one of our committee members in the Australian conference we hope to continue to build relationships and look for opportunities to collaborate.
Les has returned and we will send out a (short) Special Edition Newsletter that will summarise the conference, give a round-up of R&D projects that are underway in Australia, and any interesting impressions and connections the McCrackens made.
Our thanks to HGA and Trevor Ranford for making us welcome.
Many thanks to all the members who took part in the Harvest Survey 2024.
HGANZ undertakes a survey of members (about) every three years. It collects general information about orchards and yields, and feedback from members about how they spend their time on hazelnuts, and what they think needs attention from the Association. This information is used to determine research priorities, and inform grant applications.
Last year we had 19 responses to the survey, and the data is presented here. All names have been removed, and the orchards are identified by region. Where members chose anonymity, the data was removed from individual tables, and only used in aggregate data so that their information couldn’t be identified.
Orchard, tree and yield data is presented in tables and graphs, while wordier responses have been summarised.
Any errors, corrections or comments, please email Christine at cinorobinson7@gmail.com.
Survey Results – Location, Size and Age of Orchards
Figure 1 shows the orchard location of survey respondants. Orchards are listed clockwise from north to south, beginning at twelve o’clock. Nearly three quarters of the orchards are in the lower South Island, from Hurunui District south.
The number of trees in each orchard is shown in Figures 2 and 3, the same information but presented in a different way. The majority of growers (10/18) farm 1000 trees or fewer. Four growers were in the mid-range with around 2600 trees. The largest orchard had 7000 trees.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Eleven Whiteheart growers specified which pollinisers they use, and all had two or more cultivars planted. One grower paired Whiteheart with Tonda Romana and Jefferson, while the other ten used Alexander, and at least one other polliniser (usually Merveille de Bollwiller) but also a smattering of less common cultivars (see Table 1).
Table 1 Polliniser Cultivars used by 10 Growers of Whiteheart
Cultivar
Alexander
Merveille de Bollwiller
Butler
Jefferson
Tonda Romana
Lansing
Waiau
Unspecified
No. of Growers
10
9
1
1
1
1
3
1
Growers of Barcelona use more pollinator cultivars, one reported using Ennis, Alexandra, Tonda Romana and Merveille de Bollwiller, while another uses many pollinators and increased the number after observing that pollination was poor when less than 10% of the orchard.
Figure 4 shows the year(s) the orchards were established. Interestingly, most of the North Island orchards were planted after 2010, while most of the South Island orchards were established much earlier.
Figure 4 Year(s) Orchard Established
Survey Results – Yield Data
Overall, it was quite difficult to summarise the data and I would be careful quoting these numbers. Some people estimated (~), one used <10kg, at least one included the polliniser nuts, while others are precise about the total weight. One orchard has been progressively pruning the last three years and knew their harvest was lower than usual. Yield information does not consider the age of the orchard, although I excluded those with young trees.
What do you consider a good yield per tree? (total dry weight in kg)
Two did not know or were unsure, and one was not producing nuts yet.
Barcelona owners expect between 3-5kg/tree (3 responses). Whiteheart owners expect between 1 and 4 kg/tree (10 responses, excluded the young orchards). One said 10kg/tree.
What was the size of your harvest in 2022? (total dry weight in kg).
The total was 25,591kg from 13 responses, which includes Whiteheart, Barcelona and Ennis cultivars.
Barcelona = 2.6kg/tree (not reporting because of anonymity)
The cultivar Ennis out-performed Whiteheart and Barcelona by a large margin. Grower requested anonymity so no data presented here.
Survey Results – Losses at Harvest
Do you measure yield loss from field harvest to shipped product? (i.e. blanks, rotten nuts etc.) If you do, what is the approximate percentage?
Variable answers as expected and the loss varies from year to year according to the weather. As a generalised summary, dry summers lead to more shriveled kernels, and wet summers lead to more mould and higher losses. The Barcelona tip is prone to black mould which is tricky to detect without cracking. From those who hazarded an estimate, anywhere from 5-20% loss. Also losses from wind, the previous season cling-ons mixed in with current season, and late nut fall which was not collected.
One member with a scientific mind and young trees, calculated losses of 44% for Whiteheart, 33% for Jefferson and 37% for Tonda Romana.
Survey Results – Pruning, Processing and Orchard Workers
Do you follow a particular pruning style? (e.g. vase, height-restricted, mainstem)
The majority prune to vase. One member prunes to limit height and two prune to a mainstem.
Do you sell to a processor, or sell them yourself?
Ten members sell to a processor. Two sell some to a processor and sell some themselves, and three sell all their harvest themselves.
Do you employ others in your orchard?
The majority (13 members) do not employ anyone in their orchard. Two employ family and/or friends and two employ seasonal agricultural workers or students.
Survey Results – The Big Issues
What is the biggest orchard issue that you face? And what is the biggest orchard issue that you would like more information about? (orchard management, harvesting equipment, pruning, etc..)
Issues around harvesting were the main problem. Members found the time required to harvest and sort nuts was difficult to manage alongside other commitments. One had difficulty completing the harvest within the weather window and another had trouble sourcing spare parts for harvest equipment.
Low economic returns were a problem, with low yields per tree (especially of Whiteheart). This made it uneconomic to mechanise nut-sorting for at least one member.
Three members mentioned pruning, one of whom also wanted more information about how pruning affected nut flower initiation.
Two members found it difficult to source young trees.
Only two members mentioned control of suckers as an issue (surprisingly!). However, a third would like more emphasis on finding and promoting the use of non-pesticide alternatives to agrichemicals.
Tree health and management was mentioned by one member, and another would like a soil test but the cost was too high. Bureaucratic costs were another issue.
One member is interested in converting from diesel-powered harvest machinery to electric.
And finally – how to detect a bad nut.
What are the 5 most important areas for research for the industry?
Growers’ Ranked Responses of Research Priorities for the Industry
New cultivars
11
Pruning and light interception
10
Canopy management for mature trees
9
Plant nutrition (soil health and/or fertiliser applications)
9
Pollination efficiency/compatibility
8
Nut bud initiation
6
Sucker control
6
Training systems for young trees
4
Phenology
2
Other areas of research were suggested by members.
A best-practice guideline for collecting, cleaning and storing hazels would be an advantage. Ensuring that the orchard floor is clear before harvesting would reduce the number of bad-tasting and unusable nuts. Also whether washing the nuts is changing the flavour (for the worse, in one member’s experience). And finally, the correct temperature for drying nuts, one member recommends drying at low temperatures.
Members would also like to see more promotion and marketing of hazels, and that returns on in-shell nuts have not reflected inflation costs.
Research into the ability of hazels to stabilise soils and survive climate change issues.
Are there any other comments you would like to make?
The big theme is around the low yield per tree, coupled with the low return when selling and lack of NZ-grown hazels in the shops. Difficult to compete with cheap imports, when consumers do not know and value the taste of a fresh nut. On the topic of yield, the orchard yield is far below that of individual trees in the back garden, so what needs to change in the orchard to bring yield up?
And the final point took the opposite tack, about where to source large quantities of seedlings if the industry were to explode.
Alison’s property and field trial near Rotorua. Left: evidence of a larval activity, frass is pushed out of the tunnel as the insect larva tunnels into the trunk. Right: Alison cleaned away the frass to reveal the entrance and the damage done to the outer bark. (Photos courtesy of Alison Bentley.)
Turns out, New Zealand’s native puriri moth (Aenetus virescens) loves hazelnut trunks too. Originally thought to be lemon borer, seven of the 62 hazels in Alison Bentley’s trial developed these signs of incursion.
Alison works to organic principles and didn’t use pesticide to kill them. On one tree where the burrow was low on the main trunk, she amputated below the burrow, the tree re-sprouted and she chose three leaders to form the new growth. On others, no action was taken, and the larva didn’t kill the tree, but slowed it down.
Murray Redpath, who lives in the Bay of Plenty, has a lot of experience with puriri moths in his orchard. His property is surrounded by native bush, and at night the puriri moths invade, apparently loving all the exotic trees.
Puriri moths are endemic to the North Island, so they were a novelty for the South Island members. Normally they complete their life cycle in native plants like puriri trees, putaputaweta and kohekohe, but clearly they have taken to the introduced plants like moths to a candle.
Below is the link to the Landcare website which has photos of the larvae inside the trunk of trees (not hazels). The extent of the burrows demonstrates why it is so difficult to kill the larvae, PLUS the larva creates a cap to seal the tunnel while it pupates. [Ed: the photos are copyrighted so I couldn’t copy them over for easy viewing.]
Another annoying fact, from the human perspective, is that the caterpillar spends between 5-7 years in the trunk before emerging as New Zealand’s largest moth.
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