Decline Of Filberts

My filberts, hazelnuts for those of you who are not from the Pacific Northwest, are on the decline. The four trees that have produced for years through the encroachment of the big winter pear tree and the prolific plum trees, the crowding from the roof of the shop on their east side, a severe pruning when a new sewer line needed excavating fifteen years ago and nut thieves like flocks of Stellar Jays and  hoards of Gray Diggers (large squirrels). Even with all that working against them, they produced copious amounts of tasty filberts most of those years.

The last couple of harvests, we noticed the decline of the trees. They have come down with the same blight issue that has devastated the large orchards of the Willamette Valley.

I had to do a little investigating to find out how the fungus/disease worked its way into the area and found a decent description at GardenersPath.com.

The soils and climate of Oregon and Washington State are ideally suited to European hazelnuts, which have been grown there since the mid-1800s.

In particular, Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a haven for these trees and produces more than 99 percent of the country’s hazelnuts. It’s a dream location for growing hazelnuts, with its Mediterranean climate near the ocean.

In addition to ideal soils and temperatures, another plus for this location is that the nuts were grown thousands of miles away from the dreaded EFB – for nearly a century, that is.

However, pathogens do not respect geographical boundaries, and the disease was discovered in Washington State in the 1960s. By 1998, it had spread to the Willamette Valley.

Most of the acres of filberts in the valley have been pulled out by the roots, burned and in many cases, replanted with a new blight resistant variety. But the filbert trees are not fast about growing and producing. An orchard planted today is not expected to be able to begin producing for harvest for about ten years and not reaching the mature tree stage until twenty or thirty years old. To tree farmers of all types, this doesn’t necessarily seem like a long time unless they are waiting on those tasty nuts to use in recipes or to harvest for commercial markets.

My trees seem to be on their last hurrah. Since last year the ones that are the three pollinizer trees have been hit the hardest with the blight and large sections of the trees have perished even though we pruned the branches out that died last year. I am able to spook off most of the Stellar Jays with the help of Elmer Fudd (Mike with a shotgun), and have been picking up the dropped nuts several times a day to keep the Gray Diggers from getting their share. I’ll have enough harvest for the freezer this year if I can keep the varmints at bay.

Tomorrows story will continue with the filberts…