Tag: OSU

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.

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The hazelnut tree is a wonder

Jeff Olson, Extension agent, Oregon State University

HGA newsletter, Autumn 2003

Horticulturally speaking, the hazelnut tree is clearly out of the ordinary. It is more than just nutty. It is unique and wonderful. The way in which it achieves pollination in the winter and completion of nut set in the spring, is like no other horticultural crop that I have ever heard of. It is a “one of a kind”, just like some of the people in our industry!

Over the years, many researchers have investigated the growth and development of the hazelnut, in an attempt to unlock some of the secrets of this unusual plant. In fairly recent times, 1979, Dr. Maxine Thompson, of OSU, published a very informative article about the growth and development of the hazelnut flowers and nuts. It is one of those information-packed articles that is peppered with words like: megasporocytes, achesporial cells, funiculus of the anatropous ovule…you know what I mean, light reading.

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