Hi there! I am looking for two filbert or hazelnut trees for our garden. They must each be of a different variety. We have two hazelnuts in our garden at present but they don't produce fruit and we suspect this is because they cannot pollinate each other. I'm aware of the Eastern Filbert Blight disease and ideally we'd like to find trees that are blight-resistant. Any links to Canadian suppliers would be much appreciated!
Don't know where you can get the plants, but this document has a list of blight resistant varieties in it: http://www.bctruffles.ca/Content/Documents/Publications/Plant_Health_Protocols.pdf ...it's about truffle growing, so perhaps you can grow some of them as well!
You have to find a BC supplier as you cannot import hazelnuts into BC currently. I sold my last few in Sept. I have quite a few hazelnuts from my trees this year, and may grow a few seedlings to sell next spring.
There are some local sources mentioned in the thread British Columbia: - Where to buy hazelnut trees | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
That would be me in Squamish. I have one seedling left, along with a couple of rare Turkish tree hazels that I am going to keep for myself. I wish I had grown more due to very high demand...
thanks to everyone who posted a reply! Since I wrote I've seen a number of hazelnut or filbert trees with very few nuts. Apart from the obvious causes, squirrels and birds, has this been a poor year?
Seedlings, of course, will not be clones of named forms with specific attributes like blight resistance.
Lots around here (mid Van-Isle); though a middling harvest in the grand scheme- I've had better years. Have you noticed if the trees you're seeing are past producers, or is it perhaps a lack of pollination? Both in the Fraser Valley and the Comox Valley I've seen specimen sized suburban filberts growing alone: what's left of former nut groves gone to subdivisions. This might explain the reasons behind large, solitary non-productive trees you sometimes see in yards (as in 'why would they only plant one?').
We had quite a few nuts on our hazel nut trees this year. However, the stellar jays, bears and squirrels enjoyed their share of the bounty. My kids have eaten quite a few as well so I am saving the rest for growing next year as seedlings. I purchased a few different named varieties from Grimos a few years ago and they have done quite well. My Royals, Butlers and Barcelonas hardly had any nuts however. They are isolated from my main hazelnut orchard, but are supposed to pollinate each other.