a-tFIL00.jpg..
The Filbert: American hazel is a small, densely suckering bush (half lilac size) that grows native here. Hybrids with European filbert (lilac large nut-bush) balloon the pea size of the native kernel to above marble size kernels of hybrids. These hybrids are winter hardy, but are only partially resistant to the Eastern Filbert Blight. Hybrids with Turkish tree hazel have larger, and thinner shell, nuts, but are just hardy enough to fruit heavily after a normal USDA Zone 6 winter, and few Turkish hybrids have shown great blight resistance, though their deeper roots give them more energy to sustain growth and bearing. Many fully resistant European filberts are being discovered. Grimonut.com has some for sale

. . Corylus avallana crosses, (complex hybrids) Slate's Hybrids - Professor George Slate ran his unofficial projects with Persians, Filberts, Persimmons, and Pawpaws at the Geneva NY Ag Experiment Station. He made many crosses with European filbert and hazel, sometimes importing named European varieties, starting with Rush hybrids (C.avallana x C. americana ). Great benefits came from Prof. Slate's work, putting two and maybe three genes for resistance in Filbert, one from each species, and using tree hazel to remove the hard helmet from European x native hybrid nuts. Eastern Filbert Blight surfaced late in his project (1970s, at his fourth and last generation),and gave us the results to evaluate for EFB resistance.

New seed and seedlings are out of productive selections remaining non-blighted.

. . Corylus avallana x colurna Tree filberts - Tree filberts are talll, several stem nut-trees with gray flaking bark, and thinner shell nuts than tree hazel. OB1, OB2 (scions only) show most promise among Tree Hazel types.  Slagel Filbert is very Eastern Filbert Blight resistant.
. . . The Chestnut; Think hybrid sweet chestnut whenever chestnut is mentioned by a Canadian nut grower, then narrow thinking toward northern Chinese, or hybrid with native of Chinese, Japanese, Chinese X Japanese, or European. Typical Chinese, Japanese, and European are too tender to grow here.  All Native Chestnut, and most Hybrid Chestnut get the bark blight. Bright winter sun during an arctic high, raises fluids under the bark, allowing rapid freezing to destroy bark (called South West Injury) on all chestnut species. Japanese is great to breed because it has disease resistance (blight and gall wasp resistance) and large nuts, early ripe due to the cool Japanese climate. Japanese Hybrids still need a lot of selecting, having a thin bark, and mild native climate.

d-sCHS00.jpg . . Castanea molllissima Hemming strain Chinese chestnut - These are from the few survivors of a bbushel of chestnut seed brought back from the Paradise Plantation, Maryland in 1962. I found it the general rule that Chinese chestnut does not survive above Maryland, but that Hemming is short season, and is one of the non-hybrid Chinese to try.  Others exist, but it takes looking. Some with thick bark turn out hardy, and some are found growing on NY Rte 5, 6 mi. west of Geneva, NY.
. . Castanea mollisima x dentata Douglass Hybrid chestnut - These originated with Earl Douglass of Red Creek, NY. His birdhouse business took him from New Jersey to Massachusetts, and he brought back hardy Chinese and Japanese. The best Chinese he crossed with a noted surviving American. After two generations, Six selections were made, which looked 1/4 Chinese 3/4 American. Selections showed 1 inch red hull nuts, and large trees with resistance. The largest Douglass trees with the largest nuts were grafted here, and are now 1 foot diameter trees. Douglass hybrids look 3/4 American. Blight is still a big problem, but it moves slower than the trees grow; some stems die as some stems grow back.
Castanea complex hybrids x crenata Ridge strain chestnut. These started from seed gathered off the earliest and best Japanese tree in Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY. The largest, earliest chestnuts come from these Chestnut Ridge seedlings, and other Japanese hybrids.
. . Castanea complex hybrids x sativa Layeroka strain European hybrids. These started with Jack U. Gellatley in the Okenogen Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Layeroka mirrors many of its seedlings, seeming to be identical twins, but have variable resistance, and usually poor bark health against South-West/freeze-thaw injury; productive trees with large early nuts, somewhat not hard/soft nuts. Simpson strain European hybrid is very much like Layeroka, but has pollen, and a round nut. Pollen is often lacking on European types. The European types go down after an arctic winter, but start up again if grafted below ground.

.. . .Pawpaw,  Michigan-Indiana sorts - Pawpaws grow locally, but selections came from material from Pennsylvania, or the Michigan/Indiana border. Pennsylvania has the earliest ripe pawpaw. The Indiana are the largest, lowest seed, and will cross to become early. Combining these into an early fruit has produced large globe fruit covering its line of nickel size seeds with flesh that one does not mind eating skin-on. Bad news is that there are comparatively few of these per row of 100. Pawpaw trees are like sumac (similar size and bark, but look like small American magnolia/cucumber trees with giant leaves) that try to run out a whole stand form one individual. In Nature this stand prospers near water with major roots just under leaf mold. To get pawpaw into this native setting we start pawpaw by acidifying soil, then keep it growing with moisture, saw dust and grass killer. Pawpaws are pollinated by carrion flies and beetles. Pawpaw fruit ripen best on the tree, or, when blown down full size, in the leaves on the ground under the tree. The ripening fruit will tolerate frost and some frozen flesh, and still ripen. Peeled and sectioned onto breakfast cereal with crumbled chocolate cookie, even almost ripe pawpaws are made to taste like a chocolate desert.  I used to send grafted pawpaws with individual tree shelters, but switched to a white plastic kitchen bags to be stapled on stakes for shade because pawpaws overheated at 80 F. (Removed shelter at 80 F weather was the instruction); In strong sun pawpaws need shade 10AM to 2 PM  White plastic bag stapled on stakes for shade the first growing season; shade whether grafts, or seed, or transplants the first season. 
. . Asimina trilob Pawpaw - PA Golden Strain Pawpaw is early ripening. Coming from the deep, cold valleys above Harrisburg, PA it ripens its whole crop in unusually cool seasons. We average an unusually cool season once in eight, or so, years. Very seldom do we get a 2900GDD year when everything ripens. All pawpaw trees survive cold winters. Most seedlings with the larger fruit ripened few fruit  in a 2300 GDD season, while that same year all their fruit ripened in Ohio, and similar climates in Pennsylvania. PA Golden 1,PA Golden 2, PA Golden 3, are grafted selections. Their rich yellow flesh indicates ripeness in September. The named pawpaws are grafted, and a few PA Golden 1 will be lifted sprouts on their own roots when specified. Taytwo, SAAZimmerman, Overlease, SAAOverlease, SAB Overlease, and Campbell's NC 1 are progressively later and larger fruit. With good growing during a warm season NC 1has ripened 18 oz. fruit(but may not ripen), 2 to 3 times the 6 ounce fruit of PA Golden and Taytwo.

. . Persimmon - Mid-western native persimmon from central Iowa east to central New York are the hardy, soft, apricot-like persimmon, hardy and early enough to grow and ripen here. When late ripening, this orange fruit is often left on the trees for winter decoration. Its value as food is often overlooked because when it looks ripe it is puckery, and when it looks past ripe it is edible. The trick is to prick at, and smell persimmon, or pick it up, and break the skin. If a sweet apricot-like smell is smelled, it is ripe, and non-puckery.

. . Diospyros virginiana Native Persimmon-Usual ripening order of the persimmon is: NC 10/Dickie (early September), Szukis, Yates/Geneva Long (late October), Prok, SAA Pieper. SAA Pieper persimmon is an Iowa selection which always ripens all of its crop in one week in late October here. These named persimmons are grafted, or on-own-root. Because the Piepers ripen late here, and have small fruit, the fruit hangs ornamentally on the tree into winter. Some persimmon seedlings are female, but most are male, and bear no fruit. Some seedlings are too tender to retain bark through our winters. SAAPieper is the hardiest, so provides a good rootstock, or good fruit. Dickie and Campbell's NC 10 are the earliest ripe with fruit dropping September/October. Szukis has both sexes in the same tree, but mainly male. It will pollinate itself, and all the other local varieties. Usually persimmons, like apples, are larger with seeds than without. Seedless native persimmons are a trick of chestnut pollen, triggering fruit-set on persimmon. Geneva Long has many Oriental traits, and similar taste. It is from Professor Slates hybridizing at Geneva. DNA tests are needed to confirm it to be a hybrid. Prok/Korp (sisters) are the size of the smaller Oriental persimmons. They ripen in late October as large, soft American persimmons, but as the season cools, and drying takes over the ripening, the fruit size reduces to produce sweet, large dates.  Yates is a quality tree and fruit that ripens most of its crop here before going to "Dates".  If weather remains warm enough to let persimmons color orange, each will ripen to dates.  I leave persimmons a few years, marking them for color, then cut out those remaining grey.

                
. . Morus alba x rubra Illinois Everbearing and Collier are purple mulberries, 1.5"long by 0.5" diameter. IL is very hardy and erect.  The Semi-weeping Collier is easiet to train low for picking.
. . Cornus mas Cornelian Cherry Dogwood - BlackPlum is known for its early ripe, inch long fruit, and a very dark green glossy leafed large bush: small yellow flowers are never frost injured.  Graft early as the stock bushes begin to flower.
. . Elaeagnus umballata Autumn Olive is a spreading bush which enlivens trees they are under by fixing nitrogen. Autumn Olive, Mulberry and Cornelian Cherry Dogwood like limestone (sweet) soil, easily seed into it, and associate well with walnut, hickory, and pecan. Autumn Olive berries are refreshing like lemonade while picking up nuts. Mowing is needed to keep the grove open because the Autumn Olive bushes can take over.
. . 30"x4"Diameter tree shelters are a big help in starting transplants in little green houses. I send bare root seedlings which need the transplants to grow vigorously on stored energy. New rooting follows vigorous top growth which risks desiccation in a drying wind. Sustained growth is possible in the moist air of a greenhouse, and that is what tree shelters provide. They should be fitted so that a transplant is topping out of the shelter with the third or fourth leaf. If the shelters are to remain for months, or for years with filbert only, 3/4 inch holes should be drilled, 6 at six inch centers Swiss cheese pattern to let the wind  ventilate, chill, and vibrate the tree for hardening-off. Shelters for filberts do not need holes, and should not have them because filberts are exceedingly hardy, and the shelters on filberts should be renewed to cramp-in and kill suckers in leaves, and do not encourage mice and mouse nests with any holes. I sometimes send filbert sprouts as 18" cuttings for rooting when generated from underground, and have tiny to small roots, thus must have a nurse tree shelter.  Guard tree shelters made from yellow plastic drain tile are needed to be left on older filberts to discourage  rabbits and suckering.
. . The book, Nut Growing Ontario Style, is a 172 page soft cover manual published by the Society of Ontario Nut Growers. There are chapters on each species of nut, pawpaws, persimmons, grafting, and our attempts at breeding.

Send to: John H. Gordon Jr., 1385 Campbell Blvd, Amherst, NY 14228-1403
   [email protected]