Pinus cembra var. siberica is hardy to zone 2 in Canada. This is a slow growing nut species that grows northward in Siberia to the tree line.
Pinus cembra var. siberica is hardy to zone 2 in Canada. This is a slow growing nut species
that grows northward in Siberia to the tree line.
Northern Hazel Hybrids, part 1
Ernie Grimo
I have been interested in finding sources of hazels that would be suitable for Canadian climates that are improvements over the two native species, C. americana (American hazel) and C. cornuta (beaked hazel). Both species grow over a wide area in Canada, but neither is suitable as a commercial species for various reasons. The beaked hazel is the hardiest species native in zone 2b, but the nuts are very small and as the name suggests, the husk covers the nut and closes over the tip making removal of the nut difficult. The nuts can be produced in clusters of 5 or more nuts, 2-3 are more common making them less productive overall.
The American hazel is generally hardy to zone 4 but it does grow in zone 3 hi the prairie provinces. The fringed husk usually opens to release the nut when it is mature. Few American hazels have large enough nuts to be named for propagation. The most notable are 'Rush' and 'Winkler'. 'Rush' was a parent used to produce selections from the Geneva Experimental Station in the mid 1900's. The most notable selections were 'Gene', 'Slate', 'CheryF and 'Linda'. (Our names for the numbered selections).
Another source of hardy hazel germplasm is C. heterophylla, a species from cold regions of Asia. About 45 years ago I was given a tree by a grower in Quebec who identified it as C. heterophylla. I planted it and noted over the years that it was very regular in production with good crops of tiny thin shelled round nuts that dropped out of the husk in mid to late August. The dwarfish tree proved to be filbert blight resistant and filbert bud mite resistant. I later discovered that this tree was not a true C. heterophylla but a hybrid, likely an American hazel cross. Whatever the parentage, it has proven its potential in breeding. I since have identified this genetic source as my Asian/Quebec hazels.
In the early 90's I decided to plant out 50 of its seedlings to see if I could find trees that had unproved characteristics. These open pollinated seedlings would receive pollen from other hybrids in my diverse orchard of hazelnut trees.
The results were interesting. All of the offspring were taller trees with bigger, thin shelled, round nuts that ripened mid to late August, well ahead of the Geneva and Oregon selections. They also dropped out of the multiple cluster husks easily. About three quarters were blight susceptible and all were bud mite susceptible. The most productive trees with the largest nuts were further tested and recently named ' Aldara' (formerly Het 3) and 'Andrew' (formerly Het 1). Both are now in propagation in the nursery as layered selections. These are being tested in various locations for hardiness. One seedling, I named 'Northern Blais' from this parent source was returned to me from a zone 4 customer in Quebec, that is also under propagation. Other selections are presently being tested in my orchard. One 12 year old 7 foot tall seedling in our orchard produced 14 pounds in 2015 indicating the commercial potential of this plant source.
Heartnuts in Eastern Ontario: Six Years Later
Gordon Wilkinson
About six years ago an article was published in the SONG Newsletter describing how all of my seedling heartnut trees except one either died or suffered complete or nearly complete dieback to their roots. This new article summarizes the progress that has taken place since then. It seems clear six years later that the trunk dieback or tree mortality was caused by unintentionally planting the heartnut trees in lower terrain where cold air settles. This makes low winter temperatures more severe and hastens the arrival of autumn frosts, which prevents new shoot growth from hardening properly before winter.
Nine seedling heartnut trees were rescued from the "frost pocket" in the fall of 2009 by transplanting them to higher terrain. These trees are still alive and range in height from 6 1A to 10 1A feet. Since 2009 additional grafted and seedling heartnut trees have been planted in the higher terrain. Not all of these have survived, but some have grown very well, notably, two grafted "Irnshu" heartnut trees planted in 2010 and which are now 6 1A and 9 l/z feet, respectively.
Four seedling heartnut trees that had roots too large to allow for transplantation by hand to higher ground were left in the "frost pocket". These four trees now range in height from 8 feet to 11 V* feet. Three of these four heartnut trees produced 38 nuts in 2014. One of these four seedling trees was particularly precocious with a first-time harvest of 25 easy cracking, easy extractable, mild tasting nuts. Unfortunately, a very late frost on May 23rd resulted in no nut production on any of these four heartnut trees this year and only two nuts from trees in the higher terrain. As well, one of the four heartnut trees, which used to be 12 feet high and my tallest, suffered major winter dieback this season, dropping in height to 8 feet.
Thankfully, this was not the tree that yielded the high quality nuts in the previous year. What is the low temperature threshold that causes injury or mortality in heartnut trees? One authority suggested -30 degrees F. (-34.4 degrees C) (MacDaniels). Three years of hourly data from temperature loggers at my site show that heartnut trees in the higher terrain have survived winter temperatures as low as -35.3 degrees C without obvious injury. The four heartnut trees in the lower terrain have survived winter temperatures as low as -37.5 degrees C although last winter's low temperature of-37.9 degrees C seems to have caused substantial trunk dieback in one of these four trees.
It is my hope that these heartnut trees will continue to do well and will eventually yield an abundant harvest of nuts for many years to come now that most of them are planted on higher terrain. Winter temperatures, however, are so severe in this part of Ontario that there will always be some concern about winter kill or injury. The Eastern Chapter of SONG established the Hardy Heartnut Project a few years ago to discover heartnut trees that may yield nuts of acceptable quality and yet tolerate the most extreme low winter temperatures conceived by Mother Nature in this part of the world. Time will tell whether this project will succeed.
Bibliography: MacDaniels, L. H. Nut Growing in the Northeast. New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Cornell University. Information Bulletin 71.
Eastern Filbert Blight Update
Nature Tech Nursery, Ltd., Langley BC
All who have or are considering planting hazelnut trees need to consider how you will deal with Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB). While the varieties that we sell are resistant to the disease, we know now that a small percentage may still get it, particularly in areas with high disease pressure such as the Fraser Valley, usually with reduced symptoms and an ability to overcome the disease. This winter and spring we have become aware of a few Jefferson trees and a significant percentage of the Sacajawea in the Fraser Valley trial plantings showing some cankers of EFB. Current recommendations for managing the disease are pruning affected branches well below the cankers, burning the cuttings and applying fungicides, see http:// www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/filbertblight.htm. It is now recommended that young orchards be sprayed preventatively during the first few years of establishment in areas near infected areas, as this is the period for greatest risk of infection. An option likely to meet organic standards is fixed copper (check with your certifying agency). Learn more about EFB resistance and management at http://www.oregonhazelnuts.org/growers-corner/grower-handbook/ and http://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/cultivar-susceptibility-tables/hazelnut-cultivar -susceptibility.
While we are still cautiously optimistic regarding Sacajawea as a main crop variety given it's suitability for either the crack-out or in-shell markets, and it's compatibility as a pollenizer for Yamhill, it will likely require more management for EFB as long as disease pressure remains high.
President's Message
Ernie Grimo
We have been in the cusp of nut growing history in Ontario since our beginning in 1972. SONG has spawned or supported a number of groups including CANGO (now part of SONG), the Eastern chapter of SONG, The Canadian Chestnut Council, The Quebec Nut Growers, The Maritime Nut Growers and more recently the establishment of the Ontario Hazelnut Association (OHA). Never in the history of Ontario has there been so many organizations established to promote the growing of nut trees. Aside from earlier attempts to organize and establish nut growing in Ontario, the Society of Ontario Nut Growers is the first to remain in existence so long.
I attribute our continued success to the members that gave their time and energy to making SONG what it is today. Our newsletters prepared first by Doug Campbell and then by Bruce Thurston along with our educational meetings, particularly our winter annual meeting have been instrumental in keeping members updated and excited.
Our nut growing guides, first from the Ontario Ministry helped, but growers needed more. Member, John Gordon came to the rescue and wrote Nut Growing Ontario Style, SONG'S first member written manual. It was a great success and contributed to the growth and continued operation of SONG. As the books diminished in supply consideration was made to update the manual. This idea was abandoned and I decided that a completely new book should be written called Nut Growing, A Practical Guide. After more than 2 years of writing and collecting pictures, the book was published in full colour and became the new SONG manual for all new members that take on a 3 year membership.
I applaud the support from our members for the part they played in making nut growing in Ontario a successful enterprise. As the acreage of hazehiuts grows in Ontario in response to the increasing need of hazelnuts for Ferrero Roche, I feel proud that we have played a part in this development.
The Orangeville Nut Planting After 36 Years
Roy Metcalfe
A Short History
The Credit Valley Conservation Authority, CVCA, and SONG agreed to a planting at the
Orangeville Reservoir, now called Island Lake Conservation Area, a relatively cold site, to test
the ability of various nut bearing species to adapt to colder areas of the province. SONG met on
Oct. 27 1979 at Orangeville and planted the seed from selected cultivars on the site prepared by
CVCA. A review of the site was done after three growing seasons, (SONG NEWS, no. 25, pp
9-12). Also, SONG held their fall 1983 and 1988 meetings at the site and it was agreed the trees
demonstrated they could be planted more widely than previously thought, (SONG NEWS, no.
24, pp 4-5, Spring 1984 and no. 33, p 4, Fall 1988).
On Sept 16/15 I revisited the Orangeville site where Bill Lidster, Operations Manager, and I spent 15-20 minutes walking through parts of the nut grove. The main reason for the visit was to see if any hazelnut seedlings survived and were they possibly resistant to eastern filbert blight. Additionally, what other nut trees adapted to the site that could be planted outside of the established growing areas? r
Grass and weeds are rampant in open areas of the planting with brambles becoming established in some areas. It was difficult to know which rows we looked at so no attempt was made to identify the trees by seed source nor walk the length of any row. Some areas had some thinning done in the early years while other areas had no thinning and were quite dense.
There were a few surviving hazehiuts that showed no sign of eastern filbert blight. There was a very large chestnut in an open area laden with nuts. Some of the walnuts showed distinct differences in growth based on seed source with some trees 60 to 70 feet high. I understand, MNR visited the site this year to examine the butternuts, possibly taking seed.
I proposed I would like to visit the site in the spring and asked if the rows could be identified
and a careful inventory be taken. Bill Lidster had no documentation so I left a copy of the sketch
map and the list of seed sources planted in each row. At some point the CVCA stopped
maintaining the site as their priorities shifted and later a memorial forest had been established
with some memorial trees being planted in open areas of the nut grove. I spoke with Bob Baker,
the forest technician when the grove was planted and now a forestry consultant, and he would be
interested in seeing the nut grove made more functional. The steps would be:
find and mark the end of each row, and inventory the surviving trees (possibly mid June
2016)
monitor the trees for growth and seed production
if the hazelnuts produce useable seed and show no EFB - a possible source of new cultivars?
for other species, a resource for future activities
As the population has grown in the Orangeville area this conservation site has become very popular and Bill asked if SONG would have an interest in assisting with the development of interpretive signage in the nut grove. Bill indicated he has some resources that can be put toward the nut grove/memorial forest. For SONG this would require some time, and I assume no money. In exchange SONG and the idea of growing nut trees as a food source in Ontario would gain some publicity.
Ontario Hazelnut Association Grant Request
The Ontario Hazelnut Association is seeking a grant of $2000 from the Society of Ontario Nut Growers to assist in funding its latest hazelnut research project.
The Ontario Hazelnut Association is applying for Growing Forward 2 Funding to establish 60 acres of hazelnuts in southern Ontario. These acres/grower trials are needed to provide the data necessary to better inform Ontario growers on the costs and income from cultivars grown in Ontario. Currently most data is from Oregon trials. These farm sites will also host educational events in the first 2 years, and data will be collected from their plantings.
Motion
A meeting was held recently to work on a grant to have 60 acres of hazelnuts planted with
10 acre lots in 6 different locations. They need partners to contribute money to get the grant. The
project will have 60 acres of hazels planted with various growers throughout southern Ontario.
The growers will be selected to ensure the locations are spread out so that there will be hazel
orchards within 2 hours of any potential grower. These sites will be used to host meetings and to
gather research. I will propose a motion at our SONG winter annual meeting to ask for $2000 for
the project.
MOTION: I, Ernest Grimo, move that we support the Ontario Hazelnut Association 60 acre grant project with a SONG donation of $2000.00 MOTION SECONDED: by Bruce W. Thurston
Provided by SONG. Feel free to copy with a credit.