The harvest is in and I was gratified to see that 5 of the 6 plants I selected last year as seed sources were again in the top 8 producers. (The 6th had extenuating circumstances of severe crowding). This consistency between years indicates these lines are not prone to biennial bearing (i.e., alternating boom and bust production). The top 4 all produced 5 or more pounds of husked (dehusked?) nuts (moisture content not standardized. Data collected after 7 – 10 days of drying). I was especially impressed with the top producer, E027, who was also last year’s top producer. It went from 13.7 pounds in 2022 to 6.7 pounds but was still ahead of the second highest producer by almost a pound.

Some of you will know that here in southeastern Minnesota we were in extreme drought for a number of weeks this summer. I irrigated just 3 times and feel it did help fill nuts and preserve the health of the plants. The above data are more impressive when you understand that there were a larger number of blank/empty nuts this season. This is the plants’ damage-control mechanism when it senses it cannot fulfill its commitment to fill all the nuts it has started. Thus, many more nuts were initiated but tossed out in the post-harvest processing. In a “normal” year those blank nuts would have been filled – resulting in even greater yields. And most of these are only in their 3rd year of bearing – there are greater yields ahead!!!

Below are photos of the 6 seed lots being offered this year (grid = 1/4″) and a couple of the planting. At the end are links to the order forms. ORDERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 15th! I have limited space and only grow on a pre-order basis, not on speculation that I can find buyers once they are started.

I hope I can help improve your planting’s genetics/production. Thanks!

Seed Order Form

Plant Order Form

Updated 1/25/24