The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Fruit => Topic started by: Fleecewife on July 22, 2014, 04:23:04 pm

Title: Hazel nuts
Post by: Fleecewife on July 22, 2014, 04:23:04 pm

OK I know they're not fruit, but this is the nearest place for them.

This year we have nuts growing on our hazels - just on some.  When are they edible and at what stage do you collect them?  We don't have squirrels or dormice, but we do have plenty of voles etc - what nut thieves should we look our for?  :tree:
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: Somewhere_by_the_river on July 22, 2014, 05:45:56 pm
If you don't have squirrels then voles and mice are the main culprits, though some birds, like jays, will take them too. If you wait till they are fully ripe then you won't get a look in, not least as they often drop before then anyway. I'm not sure when they would normally ripen in your neck of the woods, but here (Wales and formally the south of England) I'd be looking to pick them in September on average (might be earlier this year with this good weather) - keep an eye on them and when you see the first ones just starting to turn brown don't leave it too much longer. If you keep them in the husk they will ripen fine (they used to traditionally store them in a crock pot, something 'sound' that could still breathe), but they are edible while still slightly green and have a lovely milky texture. I've noticed that when ripened in storage those that slip out of the dried husk are usually okay, but those where the husk stays firmly attached to the shell are not good. So far it's looking to be another good hazelnut year here...
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: Bionic on July 22, 2014, 06:44:03 pm
I tried one earlier this week. All I can say is YUK. They definitely aren't ready yet. It drew all the moisture out of my mouth. I just hope I can get them when they are ready, before all the robbers
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: Fleecewife on July 22, 2014, 06:48:34 pm
Thank you somewhere-by-the-river, great info, just what I needed.  We have no jays here either but there's bound to be something else filling that niche.  Plenty of voles and mice, no harvest mice.  Sounds like we should pick and eat them at the 'just starting to turn' stage  :yum:.  There are not going to be enough to store this first year anyway so we'll just have a mini feast.  :tree:


Just seen your post Bionic -  :roflanim:   I was going to try one green but I'll give it a miss for now  ;D
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: pgkevet on July 22, 2014, 10:00:10 pm
I have many hundreds of hazel trees and bushes on my land .. and never see a nut once ripe.. all grabbed by the squirrels!

I did pick a few from a shrub in my far filed last week.. full sized and full sized kernals already and quite edible..so early on that bush. I have a few sitting in the kitchen to see if they'll brown.

I actually bought 2 kentish cob trees and planted them 2 years ago with intent to prune carefully and fit with squirrel collars but one died and the other looks sick from something like flea beatle damage.. whereas the native hazels are all unaffected <sigh>.

Ther's an awful lot of squirrel seeded saplings about too (if anyone wants to come and dig themselves a few come autumn)
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: Dan on July 23, 2014, 02:27:36 pm
Ther's an awful lot of squirrel seeded saplings about too (if anyone wants to come and dig themselves a few come autumn)

Where are you pgkevet? We'd like to plant a lot more in our margins but haven't looked at possible sources yet.  :)
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: ellied on July 23, 2014, 05:34:53 pm
Me too pkgevet depending where you are!
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: pgkevet on July 23, 2014, 05:50:48 pm
I'm near llanfyllin (welshpool area, mid wales). Ideally if anyone wants some they'd pop by while in leaf and decide which to come dig up in the late autumn - same goes for oaks, blackthorn etc.

Just before the ash dieback broke out I had a hillside with many thousands of self seeded saplings I got local guy with a heavy topper to butcher - a shame in retrospect but the things were all 5-6ft tall on potential pasture.

I threw a few of last years left over xmas nuts in a pot and the sweet chestnuts germinated...everything else probably had been treated to prevent that
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: HesterF on July 25, 2014, 12:00:23 am
We used to pick hazelnuts in Switzerland - they were always early autumn (so much for gathering nuts in May!). Here we have some huge hazel trees which are normally covered in nuts until squirrels appear from nowhere just before they become edible and clear us out. We've just planted a lot in our mixed hedgerow but I suspect we'll still not harvest many.
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: pgkevet on July 25, 2014, 07:26:46 am
I wasd riving into town yesterday and under many of the roadside trees there was mounds of nut bits on the lanes - the squireels are in full tree-strip already. So I intend to go pick a decent quantity to see if they'll brown off indoors.
Title: Re: Hazel nuts
Post by: regen on July 25, 2014, 08:36:01 am
"So I intend to go pick a decent quantity to see if they'll brown off indoors."

Good luck with that! You will certainly get some milky/white kernals where the seed testa is as soft as the cotyledons but it will be difficult to separate the husk for the nut and the nuts will not keep as the kernals shrivel quite rapidly.

If you can remove the nut easily from the husk whilst still on the tree then they will be fine but the squirrels usually get there first.  We never csee a squirrel until late august -about 2 weeks before the nuts are fit!

Regen