Hazelnut advice :)

[Will_]

Collected a few hazelnuts today
They were scattered on the ground all over the place amidst loads that had already been tucked into by squirrels (I guess.)
First time I've ever collected any. They look like these: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zme9uLIDxPY/TjpoH8curEI/AAAAAAAACGM/wg6wLhbwRTo/s1600/101_2515.JPG
What should I do with them now?
Do they just turn brown by themselves?
Was it too soon to collect them?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Will

 

[slowworm]

Crack open a few and see if they have any nuts formed inside them. I would say it's too early for harvesting them, often at this time of year ones that haven't formed any nut will fall early.

 

[ozzy1977]

Probably too early, the nuts wont have formed yet and will be little white blobs

 

[daveO]

I quite like eating them green and crunchy but it's probably still too early for them to be edible. Only one way to find out though...

 

[Coldfeet]

Yup, open them and see what you have got - I got a couple last weekend of similar colour, and they weren't good to eat.

 

[Tomcoles]

What's the best time of year to harvest as I have thousands on a tree in my garden

 

[John Fenna]

Sometimes you get a little white "proto-nut" or "milk nut" in the middle of the green nuts - I have had about a dozen of these so far this year. They have a subtle flavour and a pleasant texture but are not really worth the effort of eating.
Hazels are best harvested when they are brown on the tree or are just starting to fall by themselves ... but, by then the squirrels have normally stripped the trees bare!

 

[slowworm]

I tend to pick ours about mid September when they're turning light brown in the husks on the tree and the nuts will come away easily. You will lose loads to squirrels etc, we lose a lot to Jays, mice and voles. Our trees have just started being attacked by critters in the last week even though there's not much in the nuts yet.

Any nuts that have black blotches on them are likely to be empty or infected so just through them away. If you plan to store them then take them out of the husks as they go mouldy, and lightly dry them. If storing for a while the kernels will shrivel but can be rehydrated by boiling them for a few minutes in a little water.

 

[Tomcoles]

Thanks for the advice I won't have critter problems as I have a lovely gun

 

[Quixoticgeek]

To quote John Seymour "The best way to find a hazelnut tree is to follow a squirrel, the best way to get a harvest off the tree, is to shoot the squirrel"

Down this way they ripen around mid September.

Julia

 

[dwardo]

Sometimes you get a little white "proto-nut" or "milk nut" in the middle of the green nuts - I have had about a dozen of these so far this year. They have a subtle flavour and a pleasant texture but are not really worth the effort of eating.
Hazels are best harvested when they are brown on the tree or are just starting to fall by themselves ... but, by then the squirrels have normally stripped the trees bare!

Same here. The only time I get chance to try one is when they are under-developed like now or, from a shop Tree rats to blame.

 

[Kadushu]

Tried a nut from my cobnut tree and it was full size but white. The wild hazels here (Kent) are way behind, they are just little white blobs now. The squirrels have been stripping them all the same. Luckily I've never seen a squirrel in my garden

 

[Will_]

Cracked one nut... empty
This might be an excuse to snare a few squirrels though...
Are rat traps tied to trees a legal way to snare? (Assuming one has landowners permission etc)

 

[Kadushu]

Cracked one nut... empty
This might be an excuse to snare a few squirrels though...
Are rat traps tied to trees a legal way to snare? (Assuming one has landowners permission etc)

Not sure of the legality, but I'd be afraid of catching woodpeckers. Squirrels are suckers for live traps.

 

[slowworm]

It would depend on the trap. An open snap type trap then definitely no, as you'll catch all sorts. A livecatch trap then possibly, provided you check it regularly and release non-targets and humanely (and legally) dispatch grey squirrels. Something like a Kania squirrel trap with its tunnel entrance should prevent anything other than squirrels being killed, assuming there's no reds in the area either.

Probably not worth the effort unless part of a planned squirrel control.

 

[English-Dragon]

Found about 2 dozen hazelnut shrubs this year in a local farmers hedge rows all laden with nuts, just a matter of keeping a eye on them and getting to them when the kernel inside is nice and fat and before the local squirrel population get to them.

 

[Gaudette]

As the world hazelnut crop has failed this year I would suggest hoarding your crops and releasing them onto the world market when the time is right!

 

[English-Dragon]

As the world hazelnut crop has failed this year I would suggest hoarding your crops and releasing them onto the world market when the time is right!

LOL, I could probably go out now and get several bin bags full of them, and all are no more than a three mile walk from my house, every time I take the dog for a walk I find my self looking in the hedge rows, finding new shrubs every time.