These long slim flowers that form on the hazelnut trees are called Catkins. Would you be surprised to learn that the bees are not actually helping pollinate the trees? The bees are cute, we love bees, they help pollinate the apples and all sorts of other plants around the farm but they are actually “stealing” pollen from the hazels.

Hazelnuts are wind pollinated aka anemophilous. Hazelnuts are also monoecious, meaning they have both male and female flowers on the same tree. The male flower forms Catkins, and the female part of the flower is a tiny bud that is often too small for the bees to get into and pollinate. Though hazelnuts have both male and female flowers on the same tree, they are self-incompatible, meaning they cannot set nuts with their own pollen. There has to be a compatible pollinizer, from a different variety, that is planted nearby for the wind to pick up and carry the pollen throughout the orchard. It is also recommended that you have at lease three different pollinizers in an orchard plot to cover early, mid and late blooms in the crops.

At the farm we grow six main varieties of certified organic hazelnuts. In organic farming we find that variety of diversity is key for healthy plants and a functioning ecosystem. This biodiversity honors the role that each species, no matter how small has to play. Even though the bees may not be really helping the orchard, the orchard is helping the bees and there is enough pollen to go around. Nature is a wonderful role model.