To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Hazel flowers
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:56:48 -0700
When the catkins are shedding pollen, If you look carefully on the
twigs, you should see what look like buds with tiny red thread sticking
out of the tips. Those are the female flowers and the red threads are
the stigmas. At that time, there are no ovaries or much of anything
else. If they are pollinated, it will stimulate the development of
ovaries in late spring and they will begin to develop into nuts. Hazel
is strictly outcrossing and the pollen must come from an unrelated tree
- it's own pollen won't work at all.
I'm in Oregon where 95% of the commercial hazelnut production occurs,
and the trees are everywhere here, both in orchards and as volunteer
seedlings.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at
http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association
"Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
On Oct 18, 2004, at 1:17 PM, Mark_Bugaieski@rlicorp.com wrote:
I'm a rookie and mostly lurk on this list to learn from the masters -
question: My Hazel bushes are finally at bearing age and the flower
catkins (right terminology?) are out this fall. Do they germinate now?
Do
they stay on the bush and "bloom" in the spring? Are they wind or
insect
pollinated?