This fall started with some damage from a buck. I was a little lazy this year and should have fenced off some of the best hazelnut plants that are out side the orchard fence.
This is another one I usually fence off for the winter. I would remove these damaged stems now but most of those large stem contain a large number of catkins (male flowers) that will release a lot of pollen in the spring. So right after the hazelnuts shed their pollen in March I'll remove the damaged stems at the bottom.
These stems on this plant have no catkins so I'll remove them at ground level as soon the snow melts.
This rabbit damage just happen this last month. This is more of a bush type plant with smaller stems and suckers that rabbits really like. The deer also removed all the catkins and buds on the remaining branches, so this plant will, most likely, have hardly any nuts. I have been putting a cage around this plant, because it does have a large nut, but the shell is too thick, hard to crack, and the kernel is too small.
The plant here has one of my favorite nuts which has a medium size nut with a thin shell, and a good taste. It is also a small bushy plant with small stems that rabbits like. I did clone this plant and I'm growing it inside the orchard fence where it produces a nice crop every year.
My son, Bryce, took some drone pictures of the orchard and the two new areas I just finish fencing off this fall. The fence is a little hard to see but you can see the corner posts.
This is another done picture of the original orchard that was started in 2000. I was surprised that the 100 hazelnut plants hardly show up, and the large ash and pine trees are very visible.
It pays to fence off the hazelnut plants. The plants here have no damage from the rabbits and the deer haven't removed any of the catkins. The plants on the left are all layered clones of some of my best plants and the ones on the right are hand pollinated full-siblings.
These are hazelnut plants in the older part of the orchard. I've removed over 100 plants that were not suitable with small, thick shell, bad tasting nuts, and not resistant to Eastern Filbert Blight. I then filled the open areas with clones or full sibs.
This year I've covered the green house with black plastic to keep the snow from blowing in the vents. The temperature has been more constant and never drops below zero. I thought I might store plants in the green house for the winter, but on a sunny day the temp raises to over 50ยบ F which would cause the plants to break dormancy.
While visiting Corvallis, Oregon I noticed even more hazelnuts fields when we were on the way to and from the airport. This was the last week in January and they were just starting to flower and shed their pollen. If you look closely, the ground is yellow from the pollen.
In this field the hazelnut are about 5 years old and 4 to 5 feet tall. The field was so large I could not see the ends of the rows.
The picture here shows some older mature hazelnut plants. These plants had frost on the branches which looks nice but I wonder if that hinders the release of pollen.
I wanted to end with a picture that was more green and not so black and white. I like this picture of the hazelnut's green leafy bracts called a involucre (husk) with red hairs.
