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nafex - Re: [nafex] Pine-nuts for the northeast; including P. pumilla

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  • From: "Charles Rhora" <rhoras@nuttrees.com>
  • To: "'nafex mailing list at ibiblio'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] Pine-nuts for the northeast; including P. pumilla
  • Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:14:25 -0500

Steve,

If you are looking for a dwarf type of edible nut pines ( 8 - 12 feet) then
the Pinus pumila is the answer. It is hardy enough for a climatic Zone 2, so
will do well in your climate.

Have noticed some experiences and comments on specifically the Korean pine.
My experience over the past 30 years plus, of growing these is that once the
cones are ripe, they will fall to the ground and it is only a matter of
gathering the cones up. Mind you, they do not all fall at once, sometimes
it may take 2 or 3 trips to pick all the cones up. I have had occasions
where the occasional cone will stay even later after the snow falls. These
cones are harvested from off the ground in the spring, with no consequences
to the nuts in the cone. The cones are heavy covered with an abundance of
resin, which keeps the cones tightly closed, thus preventing any critters
(squirrels or chipmunks, birds) from getting to the well protected nuts
inside the cone. Once the cones are harvested, they are kept in containers
and allowed to air dry for up to 14 days. This air drying, allows the resin
to dry up and allows the cones to open and then the pine nuts can be removed
from the cones in an easy manner. There are occasions where they will need
a little coaching to abstract the nuts from the cones.
Our orchards start producing cones starting at the age of 7 - 9 years from
seed. The first production may be only a few cones per tree. Once
production starts though, they will produce more cones per tree, in each of
the following years, with some producing up to a half bushel of cones at the
age of 15 years of age. The cones take 2 years to fully develop, with the
first year only producing a very small cone by the end of the growing
season. In the 2nd year though, the cone starts growing in size very early
in the season, usually around the 2nd or 3rd week of May until ripening time
near the middle of October up until the 2nd week of November, depending on
weather conditions. Mind you, while the 2nd year growth of the pine cone is
beginning, the tree is now producing another small cone for ripening in the
following year. Thus you have a continuous production of pine cones each
year for harvesting.

I grow several other types of edible nut pines, such as the Siberian pine
(Russian cedar - name was confused when translated many years ago), Pinus
cembra (swiss stone), Pinus cembra var. siberica, Pinus peuce (Macedonian
pine), etc.
All of those mentioned above, once the cones ripen, then the nuts fall from
the cones and one has to have in place some sort of solid material to catch
the nuts as they fall from the cones. (I use a plastic material which fully
covers underneath the trees). It is just a matter then of collecting the
seeds from the plastic. With those who have only a few trees, then the
collection is easily gathered.

As our orchards consume several acres for each, then it would be obviously
very time consuming to gather the nuts each day to keep the animals from
collecting the pine nuts. To correct this, we use a solid state "critter
blaster" with 4 speakers which will control up to 6 acres to keep birds,
deer, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, etc. away. This transmitter emits
audible signals, as well as high frequency sounds to accomplish this. It
may be run by either 120V, 220V, 240V or a 12V deep cycle marine battery
which may be connected to a solar panel for continuous use. The unit is
completely weather resistant.

For further information, please go to www.nuttrees.com

Charles Rhora.



-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steven Covacci
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 9:42 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [nafex] Pine-nuts for the northeast; including P. pumilla



Hi,
I'm looking to select a type of cultivated pine-nut appropriate for zone 6b
- Northeast. I'm actually thinking of Pinus pumilla (dwarf Siberian pine);
although it's not self-fertile, I read that the seed is reasonably large -
and I like that it's a dwarf tree - i'd rather plant 2 of these than a large
(self-fertile) tree of a different species, if it's a good seed.
Any good recommendations of self-fertile trees, in case this is not the best
solution? I know nearly nothing about non-native pine trees.
Thanks,
Steve; NJ

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