tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799810291020405064.post1640036730650546376..comments2023-08-26T08:36:32.116-05:00Comments on The Badgersett Growers Blog: Still time for Holiday Nuts!Philip Rutterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11041935672454266013noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799810291020405064.post-81678426983586295432010-12-26T12:03:37.844-06:002010-12-26T12:03:37.844-06:00Eric- good to know. :-)
You're right, it...Eric- good to know. :-)<br /><br />You're right, it's still work to get the nutmeats out after cracking. There are a few of the first cycle hickories that come out easy; but they're overmatched by the number where even after drying the nutmeat fills the space so solidly they either crush during cracking, or adhere tightly to the convolutions of the shell. Super meat to shell ratios; but lousy cracking data.<br /><br />You're absolutely right that we're already working on finding the genetics for hickory hybrids that are easier to get out. <br /><br />One hope; we still have some 400 or so trees in the first cycle that haven't born nuts at all; due to being put on the back hill (and back burner) with no fertilization or grass control whatsoever for their first 20 years of life. They're getting fertilizer now, since we can see from the small test group (that did get care) that they're really worth looking at. It's not at all impossible that some of these will prove much easier to work with.<br /><br />Otherwise; we're setting up to start Cycle 2 on the neohybridization program for the hickories; selecting the ones that test out the best from Cycle 1 to cross with each other. Planting the first one this year, we expect.<br /><br />Hickory generation time is still running around 15 years though. We DO have several plants that came into production sooner than that; and we're crossing them, OF COURSE. :-)<br /><br />Experience from other crops (chestnuts have a known track record in breeding for precocity, going back to pre-blight days) we can hope that the Cycle 2 stuff, bred for precocity, will cut 2-3 years off generation time in the first attempt.<br /><br />But- we can't, yet, combine nut characters with precocity...<br /><br />So. It might be better to cultivate the ancient custom of the family sitting 'round the fire, after dinner, singing songs or telling stories, as everyone cracks out and cleans hickory nuts to go in the fudge...<br /><br />:-)Philip Rutterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11041935672454266013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799810291020405064.post-6490245851441435212010-12-26T11:39:39.722-06:002010-12-26T11:39:39.722-06:00Thanks for the hybrid hickories!!! They went into...Thanks for the hybrid hickories!!! They went into a standard Betty Crocker recipe that came out very well! I was very appreciative of the fact that these nuts are hand-crackable - but it was still a lot of work to get the nutmeats out... How long (generations/years) before you have the genetics in place to let the nutmeats fall out?<br /><br />EricEric the Redhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08625303374761683901noreply@blogger.com