Hazel nuts

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by sokkappa, Feb 26, 2006.

  1. sokkappa

    sokkappa Member

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    I have two hazelnut (filbert) trees. They came with the property. My neighbor has two more that look to be a different variety. When the shells turn brown and drop, I open them and find the inside is empty. No nuts at all. If I pick them while still green, there is full soft meat inside. Therefore I assume it is getting pollinated. But when it ripens the nut seems to disappear. What is the problem?
     
  2. silver_creek

    silver_creek Active Member

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    I never wait for the nuts to drop to harvest- if I do, the only thing on the ground are blanks- no nut, empty shell. The culprit are our local Stellar's Jays. As soon as they start hanging around the nut trees, I check for ripeness (if you can turn the nut inside the husk), and pick everything that's ripe. I then spread the green nuts in our sunroom to cure.
     
  3. sokkappa

    sokkappa Member

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    If the blue jays get at the nuts, will not the shells be cracked? The empty shells are entirely whole with no sign of breaking.
     
  4. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    The jays are intelligent enough to distinguish between the full and empty nuts. They fly away with the former and store them to eat later, elsewhere (so you won't find the cracked shells), and leave the empties behind for you to find.
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Blue-and-black one is Stellar's jay, as already stated. Blue jay is an eastern North American species, blue-and-white like the scrub jay but crested. Trees will have to be netted if you are losing most of nuts to them.

    We have a purpleleaf filbert in Edmonds. Jays come for the nuts well before they are firm.
     
  6. sokkappa

    sokkappa Member

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    I misspoke when I said blue jay. Old habit from Virginia! It is hard to believe that they will take away all the good ones. I collected a load of them from the ground. Every single one was whole and empty. Don't they miss some?!
     
  7. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Sometime use parthenocarpy as a keyword and
    search these forums. Your answer for why you
    see so many blanks has already been covered.

    Even a female Filbert can produce a nut without
    pollen from a male flower. Filberts are considered
    to be hermaphroditic and can change sexes on us
    as my male Filbert changed to a female years ago.
    My old female will produce snouts as we call them
    (catkins) and can pollinize itself and what was my
    original male Filbert.

    I find the Blue Jay stuff interesting as it is not the
    Blue Jays that raid my Pistachios so much it is the
    Crows that make a bee-line right for the nuts. Even
    still thanks to parthenocarpy we will have lots of
    blanks in the Pistachios, just like there is in the
    Filberts but with the Pistachios even the whole,
    full kernel nuts will fall to the ground. The Crows
    snag the nuts off the ground. The Blue Jays have
    not figured out the Filberts yet and mine that fall
    to the ground are not blanks. Last years crop had
    no blanks at all and yes I do find that surprising. In
    Oregon, Filberts are harvested just like we do for
    the Pistachios in that we sweep the fallen nuts, gather
    them up and then separate out the blanks from the
    full kernel or whole nuts.

    Next year look to see if you see any catkins on these
    Filberts in the very early Spring (I had catkins showing
    here on my Filbert by the first week of January). If you
    do not see any catkins at all then you will not have any
    Filberts with nuts in the shell.

    Jim
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I became interested in birds as a kid here in the Seattle area, noticed the Stellar's jay often being called "blue jay" by others.
     
  9. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Sometimes we get too technical for our own good.
    Say Blue Jay and everyone has an idea what the
    bird looks like. I know what you mean about
    Stellar jays and I am guilty of calling them and
    referencing them as being Blue Jays also. I
    have raised a breed of Pigeon called Modena
    for 42 years. My specialty are Gold Schietti
    and Bronze Gazzi but I have not shown them
    in years. Birds are in my blood it seems..

    Jim
     
  10. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    PS - spellcheck for anyone wanting to do a websearch . . .

    Steller's Jay

    Named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, 1709-1746, German explorer who travelled across Siberia to Alaska
     
  11. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I didn't think it looked right. Other organisms were named after him as well.
     
  12. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Steller's Eider
    Steller's Sea Eagle (the World's largest eagle)
    Steller's Sea Lion
    Steller's Sea Cow (now extinct; related to Manatees)
    and an assortment of fish, molluscs, etc.
     
  13. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Various plants from the same region, such as Artemisia stelleriana probably commemorate same Steller. UBC Plant Introductions scheme has put out a form of that one.
     
  14. Dee M.

    Dee M. Active Member 10 Years

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    The Steller Jays get all my fiberts too, and they never make a mistake about which ones are blanks. The filberts haven't seemed to be ripe enough to pick before the Jays get them but I will try Terry's idea. I tried netting but they work their way into any hole to get to them. They were here first and they are beautiful birds so I can't get too mad at them.
     
  15. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Would have had thousands of years to practice on native Corylus cornuta californica before C. avellana was introduced.
     
  16. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    When I first moved to Salt Spring, I lived on a nut farm (would also be a good description of the people who lived there!). Anyway,they had huge fishing nets that they would put over the crop to stop the birds. Then they used to pick all the Hazelnuts (filberts) off the tree, then put them onto big trays which would hang around a heated room to dry. Seemed like a labour intensive process.
    Carol Ja
     
  17. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    With resulting products priced accordingly.
     
  18. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    I wouldn't know Ron, I lived there and got them free.
    Carol Ja
     
  19. sokkappa

    sokkappa Member

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    Where is Salt Spring Island? It must be as well known as Sequim!!

    Balraj
     
  20. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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  21. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    We're the island that is in the way of the Vancouver Island ferry crossing. Okay, I'll admit that although I have heard of Sequim, I have no idea of its location.
    Carol Ja
     
  22. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Northeast corner of Olympic Peninsula.
     
  23. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    They're only 80-90km apart, with a clear channel between them - you should be able to see the one from the other on a clear day no problem. Look north-north-west from Sequim, or south-south-east from Saltspring.
     
  24. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    Oh yeah, okay I know which one you mean, I can see the ships go by down that way.
    If I'm standing on Mount Tuam, I can see as far as Rainier, has to be the right weather though.
    Carol Ja
     

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