Nuts, Weeds and Nourishment

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Barren trees, poison aok and meatless moms

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID JOHNSON

I planted two filbert (hazelnut) trees seven or eight years ago. While the trees have thrived (they're 10 feet tall), they've never produced any nuts. Some little, long, squiggly things appear on them, and I get hopeful—but no crop. What's wrong?

Your trees probably aren't being properly pollinated. (The squiggly things are staminate, or male, blooms. The pistillate, or female, blooms spend the dormant season inside buds and emerge as tight bundles of bright red strands at blooming time.) Two things may be contributing to the problem.

First, filberts are wind-pollinated. Just two trees in a yard would have to be planted very close together to effectively pollinate each other.

Second, most filberts are self-sterile and require another compatible variety in order to produce a crop. While some nurseries do advise that two plants are needed for cross-pollination, what the unwary buyer sometimes gets is two trees that were produced in a stool bed from a mother tree. This clonal reproduction results, of course, in two trees that are the same clone; genetically, they are identical.

I'd suggest you get another filbert of a different variety. The variety Royal is a very effective pollinator and is available from several mail-order nurseries in the eastern U.S.

Plant one close to your other trees. . . and then be prepared to battle the squirrels and blue jays for the crop.

—Cecil W. Farris

Cecil W. Farris has been breeding filberts for 25 years. He has written and lectured extensively and is an active member of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

Mother's Milk

I've been told that I'm endangering the health of my five-month-old son, whom I'm nursing. I don't eat meat—red meat, poultry or fish—and friends say this could harm my baby's development. My daily diet consists of half-a-gallon of milk, oatmeal with one-fourth cup of wheat germ, one egg, a peanut butter sandwich, and fruits and vegetables.