Nutt Ranch

According to the Hazelnut Growers Association, there are around 300,000 trees on over 400ha throughout New Zealand. Orchards are found from Auckland to Invercargill.

Dave Null’s property is 8ha, with about 5ha in an orchard comprising 3000 trees. The trees start bearing at year three but not at a commercial rate until about the fourth year. Dave and wife Bev established the orchard close to 20 years ago.

Their marketing philosophy is to sell direct from the property to hotels, restaurants, small specialty shops, and also sell internationally through their website. The Marlborough Farmers Market is one of their important outlets – no so much for volume but for a market presence. Dave says the market is like having their own little shop but without all the overheads.

The trees grow best in sheltered areas with good soil moisture. Trees typically grow up to 5~10 metres tall (depending on the cultivar and local conditions) and are very long lived. Dave grows a NZ bred cultivar called “Whiteheart”. The cultivar grows well in the NZ climate and is free of major pests and diseases. The Whiteheart produces a creamy white coloured nut with a delicious flavour. Larger nuts, including those from pollinator trees are used for table nuts and form part of the overall development for value added products, including pressing for hazelnut oil. The caterers that buy the nuts prefer the smaller sized nuts.

The trees are generally frost-hardy to around -14°C and can suffer from overheating and sunburn in hot summer weather. Dry autumn weather makes harvesting easier.

For optimal production you need a relatively fertile soil which holds moisture but does not become waterlogged

Harvest is in autumn. The nuts dry and fall from their husks over a six to eight week period. Dave has a machine harvestor that they imported from Italy which is like a giant vacuum. The crop is picked up from the ground, not shaken from the trees. The nuts are raked into rows and Bev and Dave drive the tractor/harvester between the rows with the vacuum hose attached. Keeping the orchard floor in good condition prior to nut fall makes the whole harvest process much more efficient.

Once the nuts have been collected and sorted from debris, they are bagged in sacks and stored in a dry environment to decrease moisture content. This can take as much as 5 months.

Mowing keeps the grass under control, which is important to prevent new weeds seeding, to allow air movement in the orchard (reducing pests and diseases), and to build up mulch around the trees (which retains moisture, suppresses weeds and builds up organic matter).

Pruning requirements in the first few years are very modest, and the main aim is to encourage the tree to develop a strong framework of scaffold branches. Some cultivars sucker freely so need to be controlled in order to optimise tree growth and production.

The trees are hardy and generally healthy. The most common activity is to spray the trees with copper just before bud burst and again before leaf fall.

New Zealand currently imports 200 tonnes of hazelnuts annually, mostly from Turkey. These nuts are of variable quality and are certainly not as fresh as local produce, so there are good prospects for import replacement in the local market.

Dave Null processes some of his product into oil and flour (used as a gluten free substitute). Hazelnut oil has a rich, gold colour and has a sweet, nutty taste. Its high flash point makes it ideal for cooking and it has a shelf life of about 12 months when stored in a dark cupboard.