Background
Introduction
I first became interested in hazelnuts based on Lois Hole’s description of hazelnuts in her books. These hazels were American hazelnuts that seemed to do well in and around central Alberta. I then came across Phillip Rutter’s cross-breeding work in Minnesota and he claimed that some varieties were hardy to zone 4. I decided to experiment and see if I could grow hazelnuts here in southern Alberta, Canada. I discovered Grimonut nursery where they sold bare-root hazelnuts over the Internet, so I purchased 4 plants and they survived. However, so far nut production seems a hit and miss affair.
I have since done more research and read about the history of hazelnuts in Canada from a number of sources:
British Columbia
“Back in the 1920's, James U. Gellatly of West Bank, British Columbia recognized this great diversity of hazels and anticipated that some very attractive nut producing hybrids could be created to suit Canadian growing conditions. He took the large nut European filbert with its delicious kernels and he crossed these with several of the super hardy northern Canadian hazel species. Thousands of seedling nut bushes were produced and from these, selections were made which combined the most desirable characteristics of nut size, quality of kernel, productivity, extreme hardiness and vigorous, pest-resistant bushes. Gellatly was remarkably successful in achieving his objectives. Later on, he expanded his hybridizing goals to include Turkish and Chinese tree hazel species. Ultimately, he wound up with many superior hybrids which carry such interesting names as Chinoka, Manoka, Petoka, Faroka, Myoka, Morrisoka, and even Gellatly 502. The "oka" of these names refers to the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia” (ECOSONG, 2010).
ECOSONG. (2008). The Nuttery: 6 (1). Retrieved JanuarApril 7, 2010, from http://www.songonline.ca/ecsong/vol6no1.html
Faroka is a cross between C. colurna x C. avellana.
Ontario
Grimo Nut and University of Saskatchewan seem to be two places in Canada that are currently active experimenting with hazelnuts. Grimo Nut provides the following documentation on their web site:
“During the 20th century, efforts were made to breed hazelnuts suited to eastern North American conditions. Breeding projects were aimed at producing northern hardy trees, large nuts, bud mite and eastern filbert blight resistance. Pioneering efforts were made by J.U. Gellatly of British Columbia, George Slate of Geneva NY Experiment Station, Cecil Farris of Michigan, and Carl Weschcke, whose work was taken up by Phil Rutter of Wisconsin. The breeders crossed European bush and tree hazels with native hazels creating northern hardy selections, but with variable blight resistance. Oregon State University at Corvallis, has recently produced more blight resistant selections. We use our orchards to screen cultivars and seedlings from these breeders along with our own for disease resistance. Our seedlings come from these selections now. We expect 70% of the seedlings to carry the blight resistance genes.” (Grim0 Nut, 2010) (http://www.grimonut.com/catalog.php?catID=61)
Saskatchewan
Bob Bors from the University of Saskatchewan provides the following information:
“Starting in the in the 40s, Les Kerr of the Forestry farm (Saskatoon) intercrossed wild hardy American Hazelnuts with cultivated European Hazelnuts and bred them until the early 1980s. The University of Saskatchewan took over his breeding program in the mid 1980s and began collecting his better selections from many sites throughout Saskatchewan. In the late 1980s, Rick Sawatzky (of the U of S) began crossing these selections with pollen from Oregon State University with a goal of increasing nut size and quality. The seedlings we have been selling since 2007 are from our best F1 hybrids. F1 hybrids tend to be half way between the parents, but what we really want is the best characteristics from each parent. We hope to find in this generation, hazelnuts of superior nut size and quality to make this crop worthwhile commercially” (Bors, 2010).
Bors, B. (n.d.). University of Saskatchewan hazelnuts. Unpublished document.
I first became interested in hazelnuts based on Lois Hole’s description of hazelnuts in her books. These hazels were American hazelnuts that seemed to do well in and around central Alberta. I then came across Phillip Rutter’s cross-breeding work in Minnesota and he claimed that some varieties were hardy to zone 4. I decided to experiment and see if I could grow hazelnuts here in southern Alberta, Canada. I discovered Grimonut nursery where they sold bare-root hazelnuts over the Internet, so I purchased 4 plants and they survived. However, so far nut production seems a hit and miss affair.
I have since done more research and read about the history of hazelnuts in Canada from a number of sources:
British Columbia
“Back in the 1920's, James U. Gellatly of West Bank, British Columbia recognized this great diversity of hazels and anticipated that some very attractive nut producing hybrids could be created to suit Canadian growing conditions. He took the large nut European filbert with its delicious kernels and he crossed these with several of the super hardy northern Canadian hazel species. Thousands of seedling nut bushes were produced and from these, selections were made which combined the most desirable characteristics of nut size, quality of kernel, productivity, extreme hardiness and vigorous, pest-resistant bushes. Gellatly was remarkably successful in achieving his objectives. Later on, he expanded his hybridizing goals to include Turkish and Chinese tree hazel species. Ultimately, he wound up with many superior hybrids which carry such interesting names as Chinoka, Manoka, Petoka, Faroka, Myoka, Morrisoka, and even Gellatly 502. The "oka" of these names refers to the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia” (ECOSONG, 2010).
ECOSONG. (2008). The Nuttery: 6 (1). Retrieved JanuarApril 7, 2010, from http://www.songonline.ca/ecsong/vol6no1.html
Faroka is a cross between C. colurna x C. avellana.
Ontario
Grimo Nut and University of Saskatchewan seem to be two places in Canada that are currently active experimenting with hazelnuts. Grimo Nut provides the following documentation on their web site:
“During the 20th century, efforts were made to breed hazelnuts suited to eastern North American conditions. Breeding projects were aimed at producing northern hardy trees, large nuts, bud mite and eastern filbert blight resistance. Pioneering efforts were made by J.U. Gellatly of British Columbia, George Slate of Geneva NY Experiment Station, Cecil Farris of Michigan, and Carl Weschcke, whose work was taken up by Phil Rutter of Wisconsin. The breeders crossed European bush and tree hazels with native hazels creating northern hardy selections, but with variable blight resistance. Oregon State University at Corvallis, has recently produced more blight resistant selections. We use our orchards to screen cultivars and seedlings from these breeders along with our own for disease resistance. Our seedlings come from these selections now. We expect 70% of the seedlings to carry the blight resistance genes.” (Grim0 Nut, 2010) (http://www.grimonut.com/catalog.php?catID=61)
Saskatchewan
Bob Bors from the University of Saskatchewan provides the following information:
“Starting in the in the 40s, Les Kerr of the Forestry farm (Saskatoon) intercrossed wild hardy American Hazelnuts with cultivated European Hazelnuts and bred them until the early 1980s. The University of Saskatchewan took over his breeding program in the mid 1980s and began collecting his better selections from many sites throughout Saskatchewan. In the late 1980s, Rick Sawatzky (of the U of S) began crossing these selections with pollen from Oregon State University with a goal of increasing nut size and quality. The seedlings we have been selling since 2007 are from our best F1 hybrids. F1 hybrids tend to be half way between the parents, but what we really want is the best characteristics from each parent. We hope to find in this generation, hazelnuts of superior nut size and quality to make this crop worthwhile commercially” (Bors, 2010).
Bors, B. (n.d.). University of Saskatchewan hazelnuts. Unpublished document.