Hazelnut Grove - nitrogen fixers & economics?

Hello!

Our property (zone 8, BC Canada) has a small hazelnut grove (7 mature trees, however one is currently inaccessible due to a brutal blackberry wall). We have plans to expand it with at least 4 more trees that are waiting in our little backyard nursery in town. I have a couple questions for other hazelnut growers:

1. What plants do you grow to support your hazelnuts? I am currently thinking of clover but other low growing shade tolerant nitrogen fixers are also of interest. I'd also love to hear of any plants that people are using to out-compete blackberry as they are encroaching on 3/4 sides. We do have some vague long-term goat plans but I would have to supervise them heavily around the hazels.

2. Are you able to sell your hazelnuts as a viable crop? We have access to a small farmers market and a tourism and hospitality industry. Our area has lots of people and restaurants who are interested in local food. I would be happy to do value added products - hazelnut butters, misos, flours etc. Our conservative estimate is 100lbs of nuts per year, hopefully doubling that in 4-5 years with proper care and introduction of new trees. What process do you use for large scale shelling?

Thanks in advance permies!

Best of luck with the hazelnuts! What variety are you planning to add and what varieties are already established? Very interested in pollination / crop choices in North America.

Is there any way to plant more trees or bush-types leapfrogging over the encroaching raspberries? More shade at a scale resonant with the hazelnuts would help with the attack plan I imagine..

Rutgers University has recently put out some new Hazelnut varieties that have very high resistance to Eastern Filbert Blight.  This link provides a lot of information on how to determine if two varieties are compatible.
https://njaes.rutgers.edu/e368/

Dennis Bangham wrote:Rutgers University has recently put out some new Hazelnut varieties that have very high resistance to Eastern Filbert Blight.  This link provides a lot of information on how to determine if two varieties are compatible.
https://njaes.rutgers.edu/e368/

I actually believe that two of my varieties that are waiting in my nursery are from Rutgers. I bought them from a local nut tree nursery who are doing amazing work! They're called Nutcase Nursery in case any other BC folks are looking.

Ian Fairweather wrote:Best of luck with the hazelnuts! What variety are you planning to add and what varieties are already established? Very interested in pollination / crop choices in North America.

Is there any way to plant more trees or bush-types leapfrogging over the encroaching raspberries? More shade at a scale resonant with the hazelnuts would help with the attack plan I imagine..

Thank you! I'm not sure about the varieties - the existing ones were planted by previous owners. I have a couple trees from a local nursery and then a couple that are just seedlings someone traded me for some spare TPS seedlings.

I was actually thinking that a line of pawpaws between the hazelnuts and blackberries may work - they'll accept the initial shade and hopefully proceed to shade out the blackberries. I saw someone use them to out-compete broom once and the idea stuck with me.

Update: well, the hazelnuts suffered when we had a really bad tent caterpillar year. And now that the nuts are here, we're finding that the squirrels are chewing on the half-formed nuts and throwing them on the ground. I suspect we will have a tiny harvest if any at all. The tent caterpillars are on a cycle so I'm not worried about them, but the squirrels may become a issue!

Try and get a breeding pair of bluejay on your property mines are very good at chasing away cats, squirell, the other birds and in return I have given them my elderberry tree. Those birds work hard and deserve their some payment, and I hardly bother to take the time to process the elderberry so its a win-win for me and the birds. Actually while they are raising their young in the spring they eat alot of the pest insect in my garden.

I have also liked the idea of dutch clover, daikon radish, garlic chives and mint as a solid ground cover.