Description
Mother hazelnut produces abundant pollen, large kernels with excellent flavour rivaling premium Italian cultivars, a high resistance to bud mite and high level of tolerance to EFB without the Gasaway gene. Sacajawea has incompatibility alleles S1 & S22 Both alleles are expressed in flowers; only S1 is expressed in the pollen. Montebello, a maternal grandparent, is partially self-fertile in a self produced cultivar OSU 43.091. The seed came from an isolated grove of Yamhill (S8 & S26) & Gamma (S10 & S2). Both Yamhill and Gamma are OSU bred EFB resistant hazelnuts possessing the Gasaway gene. The chance of having the EFB resistant Gasaway gene is 50%. Seedlings from this grove will tend to have superior genetics courtesy of their parentage. A great addition for orchardists wanting trees for improved pollination & nut production.
This interesting article touches on the genetics and production evaluations. The paternal parent ‘Sant Pere’ has alleles S22 and S26. The maternal parent OSU 43.091 (S1 S1) is listed as from a cross of ‘Montebello’ (S1 S2). The maternal parent having two S1 alleles is a little quirky and thumbs its nose against the incompatibility “rules”. https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/43/1/article-p255.xml
- Seed Count: 10-12
- Collection Date: Oct 2023
- Maternal incompatibility alleles: 1 & 22
- Hardiness Zone: 5-9
- Height and Width: 5m x 6m
- Preferred sites: full-semi sun; well draining moist garden soils
- Germination test type: hand sort-smash
- Family: Betulaceae
How to germinate Corylus seeds:
Soak in very warm water 24 hours with a couple of warm water changes just to keep the temperature up. If you are able to submerge them its best. Many tiny bubbles will indicate air/water displacement as seed soaks up. Place soaked up nuts in a resealable baggie containing screened fine bark mulch or similar. Cold stratify for 3 months. Give gentle warmth once cold stratification cycle is over. Keep an eye on the nuts as they can sprout rather quickly and it’s best to transplant them when the root is no longer than 2-4 cm. I prefer growing them in a communal pot to save space and to protect them from raiding rodents. Provide strong indirect light and warmth. If any do start sprouting while in cold stratification it’s perfectly okay to transplant them, just make sure they don’t freeze as this messes up their growing mojo.
