Hazelnut Growers' Association of New Zealand

One in 8000!

From ‘Sun-Diamond Grower’, written by Jamie K. Hartshorn

HGA newsletter, January 2004

That’s about how many hazelnut seedlings Oregon plant breeders must go through before one is worthy of release.

It pays to be patient if you’re a plant breeder. Take scientists at Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station for instance. Their quest for a new hazelnut variety for the kernel market took some 17 years from initial trials to final release. Many thousands of seedlings later, along came ‘Willamette’, introduced in 1990. “The new variety has shown both positive and negative points,” says Dr. Shawn Mehlenbacher, associate professor and plant breeder with OSU’s Hazelnut Breeding Program. The largest planting to date is a 40 acre block that went in last Spring, “but most growers are taking a wait and see attitude,” he says.

Off to the market

HGA newsletter, August 2003

We’ve spent all year fertilizing, mowing, pruning, worrying, planning, pollinating, spraying, raking, rolling, harvesting, cleaning….a lot of organised work to get those little nuts into those sacks. It’s easy to think that this is the end of the line and look only to next season’s production. There is one other job that is at least as important as all of the production work put together…..and that’s MARKETING.

As hazelnut producers we have several options open to us for the disposal of our nuts once they have been harvested and all of those options involve planned marketing. We can sell to a processing company as a commodity, or sell to an agent, or we can package and sell our nuts directly to the public either in shell or, with a bit of work, as kernels. Or we can develop a range of products to sell or a combination of any of the above options. Our marketing can be as complex or as simple as we make it but we always have the choice as to how much control we have over our products.

Alan Mathewson

Canterbury

HGA newsletter, August 2003

From 2300 Sheep to 2300 Hazelnut Trees in a month! YOU MUST BE NUTS !!!! was the reaction of some of the relatives when we told them we had purchased a property and were going into Hazelnuts. I had been farming (sheep and a few beef) in the Five Forks downlands area of North Otago for the last 14 years in partnership with Janet. Some years ago

I put in a shelter belt on a paddock near the house with the idea of putting it in Hazelnuts. Local growers Don and Helen Newlands informed me of a field day on his property. I ordered 1200 Hazelnut plants and pollinators from Hazelnut Nurseries and then started looking at where to put them! We decided a separate block from the farm would give more options, so for several months looked around the Oamaru area for a suitable block.

Chairman’s report 2003

By Keith Hanning

HGA newsletter, August 2003

I would like to give special thanks to past president David Murdoch, who has served the Hazelnut industry over many years, driving development, in an advisory capacity, and as a nurseryman. Also David Null, “Nutt Ranch” Marlborough. David compiles the newsletter and adds some very interesting technical and management details each issue.

The new committee is made up completely of enthusiastic hazelnut growers.

Dave & Bev Null

Blenheim

HGA newsletter, winter 2003

In this issue our growers’ corner takes a look at the hazelnut operation at the Nutt Ranch in Blenheim, and we are listening to Bev and Dave Null.

This property was purchased in 1995 as 8ha of pasture land. The land was purchased with the growing of hazelnuts in mind. The land is marginal for horticulture use and is in a dry area of Marlborough.

Pollenizer management in a hazelnut orchard

S.A. Mehlenbacher and A.N. Miller – Oregon State University, 1988

HGA newsletter, Winter 2003

Three factors must be considered in choosing pollinizer cultivars: 1) the amount of viable pollen produced, 2) compatibility, and 3) time of pollen shed.

The amount of viable pollen produced by a hazelnut tree is largely a function of the number of catkins on the tree and the viability of the pollen produced. Some cultivars set pollen in abundance Others typically set very few catkins. Some cultivars drop their catkins prior to pollen shed. Since one good Daviana catkin is estimated to produce 4 million pollen grains, the amount of pollen produced by a single pollinizer tree is tremendous.