North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Richard Moyer <ramoyer@gmail.com>]

Betsy,
I grew up in GA, and have been growing and observing fruit in central
NC, East TN and SW VA.
Glad you are asking your questions, please keep them coming.

But, in order to better answer them, would help to know where in NC
you are located, as Zone 7A winter hardiness covers a lot of area
there.  That is, parts of NC match conditions of all the states listed
above.  It's a whole lot hotter in some parts of NC than others.  If
you'd rather not name your city, just give X miles from another.
There are multiple nafex members in NC worth visiting, but helps to
know who you are near before suggesting visits.

As for hazelnuts, now that Eastern Filbert Blight is in Oregon, Shawn
Mehlenbacher at OSU is breeding for resistance.  Lewis, and Clark are
two releases.  One of these worked well in East TN, bearing large nuts
quite young before the neighbor kids ran it over.  (Honeylocust and
Amelanchier, aka Juneberries recovered better from being run over more
than once).  I'm better at limiting goat and deer damage than SUV
damage!

My Halls Giant (sp?) did well for a number of years, until major
cicada damage and then scale.  We enjoyed the nuts until the bluejays
and squirrels discovered them, then came looking early the next year.

So, hazelnuts can work in NC mountains and piedmont, but don't know
about the coastal plain.  I'd also check with Michael McConkey, Edible
Landscaping, about his experience with hazelnuts.  He in central VA.

Richard Moyer
SW VA



I have my eye on a couple of the blight immune filberts that One Green
> World is offering.  I now that in my humid eastern climate I need blight
> resistance, but will these plants tolerate the heat and produce here?
>
> Does anyone have experience growing filberts in the south/ southeast?
>
> Betsy Hilborn
> 7a NC