sutton023

This is an email from 2011 - the very first time anyone EVER asked about hybrid hazel flavor.  This is my response- I've deleted the persons name and email, since I haven't asked permission- From: @amorino.fr Date: November 21, 2011 8:08:58 AM CST To: "info@badgersett.com" Subject: Inquiry Hello, I am currently living in France and working for an Italian gelato company..we use Piedmont hazelnut paste and roasted nuts in the production of our different ice creams...I would be interested to know about your hybrid nuts and how they compare taste-wise to Italian hazelnuts.  I see your products are available at Heartland...I ate there in August ( I didn't notice your products at the time)...I may ask my Highland Park based brother to pick up a packet and send them. Kind regards, Dear Mr.-- I'm delighted to have your inquiry!  You'll be interested to know- and I hope, appalled, as I am- that your inquiry about the actual taste of the hybrid hazels is the first...

We have a whole lot of directions we work on with the hazels; including "big nuts", "really thin shells" and "great flavor" - oh, and "a crop , that ripens no matter what".  Here, for example is one of our research plants - fully ripe now, although so many hazels are ripening very late this year: It doesn't look that impressive- until you crack it- and it's pretty nearly  all kernel... Don't forget!  This Saturday is Field Day.  Tons to see, although most hazels are not ripe.  And; be aware, starting this year, we're having TWO Field Days; 3rd Sat in August for hazels, and now last Sat in Sept, for chestnuts and hickory/pecans.  Come to both is you can!

We're spending a great deal of time right now watering - but only hazels (or other) that were planted THIS year.  Anything planted last year, for us, is not stressed - yet.  Though it might be.  Anything planted 2 years ago; we consider safe and not in need of supplemental water except perhaps in extreme circumstances (or on sandy soils, maybe). But; yes; this kind of extreme heat and dry weather can kill tubelings planted this year; they're still tiny. Get them watered if you have ANY doubts about it. Meanwhile: Our friend Hank Roberts made this comment on the last post: "I know you're too busy to be blogging these days, just thinking about y'all while watching the weather. I know a tiny bit about heat stress on corn and soy (both the limits during critical periods and the overall degree days, I think?), but nothing at all about what factors combine to affect success with your woody crops." Yah, busy, but it takes a while for the pickup water tank to fill; 45...

To our surprise and delight, we find that Badgersett Research Corp is going to be harvesting neohybrid hazelnuts by machine, the very first time this has been done anywhere - this week. Thursday, Sept. 15th, to be exact, if present plans stay on track. That will be the first day; we plan many more to follow. First harvest will take place on the Illinois hazel field we picked by hand last year; after several days there, the machine will come to Badgersett Farm #1, in Minnesota; picking in MN will be Sept. 20, 21, 22; press event to be set. (Yes, we did pick a few some years ago , from the Badgersett hazel field at Arbor Day Farm, but that was just a demo/trial, not a real harvest. This is- real harvest.) The machine is an older model self-propelled BEI blueberry picking machine, purchased in Michigan, by hazel growers and close friends who wish to remain entirely anonymous. And while Badgersett does not own this machine, we nonetheless have exclusive use of it for 2011, and wi...

Here's the very quick skinny on how the hazelnut harvest went at the Illinois planting: really good; considering. Sorry to say Dr. Brandon has all the photos at the moment, and he's up to his neck in the regular alligators; and I'm in Virginia. Details: alas, only about 20% of the nuts we saw in mid-August were still on the bushes when we arrived Sept. 4. Three factors; we'd had several days of very high winds just before (the kind that blows semis off roads); deer had been eating a couple specific breeding-lines of the hazels far more intensively than we'd ever seen before, and there were more tree squirrels in the plantings than we'd expected (gray squirrels, is what we saw). We did pick up a fair number of good nuts from the ground, but only a tiny fraction of what had been blown off, of course. Sept. 4 is extremely late to start harvest, of course, so this was not entirely unanticipated. We kept hoping a machine would materialize, which made us pu...

First; look at this video . It'll take a few minutes. The first 30 seconds or so of film show UNfertilized row; after that (when the bushes get big and green) the rows were fertilized. That is our Badgersett Research Corporation expansion farm in Illinois. You are looking at some 3-4 miles of harvestable hazel bushes; with a substantial crop ripe; right now today. So far, both BEI and Korvan have failed to respond to our repeated requests for a picking machine, to start working on real machine development (in spite of our offer to pay up to $3k in costs). We will be picking these rows by hand; on Sept. 2/3/and 4. All day; fast; all the people we can get. Almost everyone there will be volunteers. We're expecting to harvest up to 2 tons of dry nuts; perhaps more. These will finally give us the nuts needed to work seriously on cracking/sorting etc. machines. We're hoping Lee Pothast will be working on this harvest to develop his husker further. If you want to see what a...

We held the Woody Ag Short Course last weekend, with 18 attendees. Philip ended up with some serious stomach trouble for the weekend, so I ended up doing all the lectures. A little more than I bargained for(!), but it seems to have worked out alright. We had two days of intense presentations, including a new introduction to the Badgersett NeoHybrid breeding program, and the hands-on nut quality workshop. Half of the attendees managed to stay to stretch their legs on the farm tour Monday, which included Philip's hands-on introduction to our proprietary in-field propagation method. The audio and presentation timing for the course was recorded this time around, and we expect to have a "first cut" set of DVDs ready to send out at least within the next few months. We will send this to all previous attendees as well, since we've been promising to send the presentations ever since the first short course in 2006. Technology and personnel will make this a lot more straightforw...