Woody Agriculture Weblog
The Future of The World Is Nuts!(TM)
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Hybrid bush hazels have nuts and husks that can be quite variable, as a consequence of having 3 species in their gene pool. Typically, most have a husk (involucre) which nearly or completely covers the nut during the growing season. When the nut ripens, the husk does also, and eventually dries and opens, allowing the nut to drop free. For smaller plantings, the nuts MUST be picked before this happens. By the time nuts look like those in the picture, with nuts entirely brown and the husk dry, brown, and open, most of them will have been harvested by mice and birds, which do NOT wait for the husk to fully ripen.
It is common for new growers to watch their bushes carefully as their first nuts ripen, waiting for the nuts to "look" ripe, and the right time to pick; and watch conscientiously, day after day... until the nuts are all gone.
Hazelnuts are immensely attractive to many animals- attractive far beyond our normal expectations for fruits or grains. It appears that the flavor and aroma of hazelnuts qualify as one of the great universally attractive tastes. Bacon is one; bacon can be used as bait for everything from bears to mice to fish; and hazelnuts seem to have at least that same extraordinary degree of allure.
Fortunately for the crop, hazelnuts are actually ripe, and the nuts physically separated from the bush, as much as two weeks BEFORE the husk starts to show ripeness- and it is the husk ripening that triggers the animals to start gathering. Before the husk ripens, which includes both opening and drying preparatory to dropping the nut or cluster, the husk serves as a fortification against insect and animal attack; it is closed tightly, and full of chemicals that are designed to discourage anything from breaking in.
Last update: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 at 2:47:12 PM.
