Ideas vs Reality

December 2003 - 70% walnuts, 30% hazels. Block size 70 m x 70 m. All planted by 2008.

March 2004 - 50% walnuts, 50% hazels. Block size 70 m x 90 m. All planted by 2008.
Changing the proportions gives a better hedge (!) against adverse climatic conditons (we seem to be at at the extreme for walnut tolerance) and also gives a much faster time to cropping (which helps make it a more viable proposition).

July 2004 - 40% walnuts, 60% hazelnuts. Block size 70 m x 90 m apart from three triangles in the top area. All planted by 2009.
Changing the top area from one rectangle to two triangles provides three times as much cropping capability for the area, a point not lost on our business consulltant. In the process we have 'lost' an area of native bush, but we get natives throughout the Italian Alder shelter belts in compensation. Additional hazels mean walnut planting gets put back one year. We were going to plant one block of hazelnuts this year but have ended up putting in two - the irrigation operates in pairs of blocks, and it will help us really get underway.

June 2005 - less% walnuts, more% hazels. Block size 70 m x 90 m. All planted by 2008.
A bit worried about the climate, particularly the frosts, and whether the walnuts have much prospect of thriving in the location. Giving serious consideration to a higher proportion of hazels, maybe with walnuts interplanted as an upper/lower tier dual cropping model. Wondering whether we should stick to all Whiteheart hazels (good for the blanched nut market) or add in some other varieties which maybe better for table nut (in-shell) sales or oil production. Also keen to keep one block aside for experimental crops like pecan, heartnut and pistachios.

July 2007 - less% walnuts, more% hazels. Block size 70 m x 90 m.
The hazels planted in the first three years haven't developed as well as we had hoped and expected, we believe the wind to be a major factor (the trees are suffering whiplash). We have also now been advised that they may be suffering from bacterial blight, although our consultant, Stephen Brailsford, initially indicated that there were no major diseases affecting hazelnuts in NZ - so we are a bit annoyed at being misled (or at least mis-advised). Blight is apparently worse on trees which get heavily frosted, which of course ours do, or which are under stress (which of course ours are from the wind - which we were also assured to start with shouldn't be a factor). We have committed for this year's planting to the upper/lower tier dual cropping model, and have put aside the block adjacent to the houseblock for 'experimental' purposes.

Overviews of the blocks planted so far >>