The Rural Voice, 1999-07, Page 29trees to mature. Using two-year-old
hazelnut trees a grower can get a first
minimal crop in three or four years.
At first they sold their nuts, then they
began using them in their bird -feed
business. The problem with
marketing the nuts was the
uncertainty of the crop. Paul says.
"We'd have a good year then we'd
have a poor year because it was too
cold and we were losing all the
pollen."
production from hazelnut trees
in summer can be determined
by severe weather conditions
the previous winter. At minus 30 the
catkins that will produce the pollen
the next spring. start to be damaged.
At minus 35, all pollen for the next
year will be lost. No pollen, no nuts.
The Bennetts had been
experimenting with fertilizing the
trees with potassium. Though the
level of potassium in their soil was
high, the trees weren't taking it up,
an analysis of the leaves showed.
Trees that don't take in enough
potassium before winter are more
susceptible to the male flower
freezing.
Those experiments were showing
some success, when the blight hit. "It
was one of those frustrating things.
We were just getting one problem
licked when we got another one."
In the summer of 1997 about 20
trees in the grove died. Looking at
them, Bennett could see lesions but
he didn't know at that time it was a
symptom of blight.
The problem with being a lone
wolf in a new industry is that you're
on your own if something goes
wrong, Paul Bennett says. When he
saw the effects on the trees he
thought it was filbert blight but
getting it confirmed was another
matter. He finally dug up an entire
tree and sent it to Guelph for analysis
and the report came back the lab
couldn't detect the blight — yet the
trees kept dying from blight -like
symptoms.
Last spring he called in OMAFRA
advisors who initially confirmed his
fears that he had blight but couldn't
be certain.
"We know that's what it is and
we're just stopped wasting our
money," he says.
It takes 14-16 months from the
time the tree is infected before it
26 THE RURAL VOICE
shows any signs of damage and more
time again before the tree dies. Last
summer about 20 per cent of the
grove died. This year, indications are
that 60 per cent of the grove is dead.
But when an aerial photographer
came to the door selling pictures of
the farm last year Bennett noticed
something. Two of the rows of trees
seemed distinctly fuller and greener
Paul Bennett shows some of his bird seed
products while happy customers enjoy them
in the background.
than the rest of the grove.
"I thought there's some hope here
that maybe we have something —
because if we have a survivor, even
one tree that has decent nuts and an
immunity to this disease it could be
worth more than the whole grove. It
could be the Macintosh apple of
hazelnuts. I'm trying to look for a
silver lining to this black cloud," he
says.
In the meantime the trees have
been left to fend for themselves to
see if there is a fittest to survive.
Besides, it's depressing seeing all the
years of work and hope in such a
sorry state.
The Bennetts have experimented
with other types of nut trees over the
years.
Korean pine nuts are being grown
with success by one Niagara grower,
Bennett says. The trees are very
hardy but they require a mycrrhiza in
the soil to grow. The correct soil
conditions can be initiated by
surrounding the plants with pine
needles but unless the tree creates
enough needle drop of its own, the
grower has to keep providing pine
needles to supply the mould required.
After a while Bennett gave up trying
to supply enough pine mulch and the
trees have slowed their growth.
Even in a cultivated environment,
Korean pine nuts probably take 15-
20 years to produce their first nuts
and in nature, 60 years. Their
experimental group of Korean pine
nut trees are now 10 years old — and
only knee high.
Other experiments have involved
heart nut, almond, pecans and
carpathian walnut (the traditional
eating walnut).
"For the most part each of the
trees is still growing but with limited
success." Each variety seems to have
a weakness that makes it
unsuccessful in Bruce County
climate. The heartnut, for instance, is
susceptible to late spring frosts. If he
had planted the trees on the hillside
at the back of the farm they would
likely have done better, he feels.
Similarly, the carpathian walnuts
planted on that hillside have been
much more successful than the trees
planted on lower fields.
They have surviving pecans but
the Bruce County summer it just too
short for them to produce mature
nuts. Almonds find the climate too
cold at the elevation of the farm,
though down by the Lakeshore they
might do better, he says.
Still, even as he walks through
his devastated nut grove,
Bennett has high hopes for nut
growing in Ontario. Each tree can
produce 10 pounds of nuts that sell
for $1-$4 a pound. With 200 trees per
acre that's an income of $2,000 to
$8,000 per acre, he says. "It was
worth the experiment," he says.
There's a potential to expand the
market for nuts with a locally grown
nut, he says. Ontario residents don't
know what a good nut tastes like.
Most of the nuts imported to Ontario
are several years old, often the nuts
that countries with discriminating
taste refuse to eat. Fresh nuts are
sweeter, with no bitterness like the
nuts normally sold here at Christmas.
Though the investment of time,
energy and money in planting the 20
acre grove seems to have been lost, it
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