The Good News

On June 17, Boema Company of Italy, sent technician Giorgio Bosio (Fig. 2) to East Lansing to tune and start the Midwest Nut Producers Council’s chestnut peeler. The peeler had arrived in Michigan in December, was moved to its temporary location in March, and was put together by MSU Ag. Engineer, Dan Guyer, in May. Instructions were implicitly stated that a Boema technician would have to start the unit. On June 18th, Prof. Guyer, Giorgio and a host of others met at the pole barn in Leslie to begin the day-long task of fitting out the unit. Pipe fittings were added, the steam generator was connected and pilot lights were lit. Later in the day, the double burner was ignited to cure the kiln like concrete oven where, later the next day, the attempt would be made to peel the shells of the chestnuts. As the afternoon progressed all 6 moving units were started and adjusted to the specifications of Boema's technician. It was an amazing site to see the water drip out of the concrete oven housing the burners as the concrete was cured. As the day came to a close, the moving belts were shut off, the gas disconnected and the barn door locked as the anticipation of the first attempt to remove the chestnut shells was less than 24 hours away. After work, Giorgio attended his first baseball game, the Midwest League All Star game at Oldsmobile Park (Lugnut Stadium) in Lansing. After a few innings of baseball, watching the antics of the “world-famous Chicken”, and downing his first hot dog and beer combo, Giorgio was asked how he liked American baseball. He commented only that he thought the Chicken was funny and wondered if there was alcohol in the beer. Later that night, as the fire flies emerged from the grass and La Luna rose in the eastern sky, somewhere over Italy, we all wondered how the events of the next day would play out.

Would Michigan’s chestnuts that had been grown with such love and devotion through the hot, dry summer of 2001 and collected during the October harvest be ready for their fateful meeting with Mt. Vesuvius, the Italian peeler? Would the Michigan grown chestnuts give in willingly to the peeler’s flame or would it turn on them, incinerating them like the citizens of Pompeii? Would the pellicle be removed from Colossal chestnuts or would it cling tight like burs to the shoestrings of a hiker? Would the smaller American-grown Chinese chestnuts fair with the Italian peeler? Would the hard work that professors Dan Guyer and Kirk Dolan, who put in inordinate amounts of time for the MNPC while working out steam, electrical and BTU specifications, payoff? Only time would tell.

I know that every chestnut grower in the state that night was going to bed rehashing the events and decisions that led to the trip to Italy 15 months earlier and the fateful decision after the trip to aggressively seek grants to help us secure the peeler. We were only hours away from the moments of discovery.

The next day, June 19th, found us all meeting at the barn at 10:00 am. Once again, the belts were started, the burners were ignited and the peeler was warmed up. Then after lunch, the first chestnut batch from the 9-month-old chestnut cache were placed in the hopper at the far end of the peeler (Figs. 3 & 11). These chestnuts were perhaps the worst of the bunch, for if the unit did incinerate the chestnuts before it could be adjusted, we didn’t want to sacrifice our best nuts for this early test. From their hopper they went riding the first elevator to the top, like children on a roller coaster. Then, once at the top, the highest point of the entire unit, the bottom dropped away and they tumbled down into the oven where the 700°F flame waited. Down the shoot they fell into the concrete covered oven (Figs. 4 & 11). Once in the flame, there was snapping, crackling and popping as sparks and smoke rose up out of the burner and ash floated through the air. Staying hidden they continued falling until they entered the thrasher (Figs. 5 & 11) which batted them around like children swinging at a piñata. Finally, with the chestnuts reaching the lowest point on the peeling unit and with the chestnuts still deep inside the machine, the chestnuts began to emerge from their adventure. Placed gently on the shelves of the escalator after burning and thrashing, they began the ride back up to the top (Figs. 6 &11).

This was our first look at the nuts since they had disappeared into the burner. To our amazement, almost all of the nuts were still intact with few partial or broken nuts visible. Some were slightly scorched by the flame and this may have had something to do with their drier than usual condition brought on by nine months of storage. Most of the nuts were shelled and peeled, but many still had partial pellicles attached. When Giorgio saw that, he adjusted the thrasher to run faster and even more of the nuts appeared on the escalator belt perfectly separated from their peels. At that point, the nuts rose on the belt until reaching the precipice of the escalator belt where they disappeared by falling into the large stainless steel steam bath (center unit in Fig. 11).

Here they spent the longest time (3 minutes) of their wild ride while working their way through pellicle-softening hot water and steam. The steam was provided by a portable steam generator (Fig. 1) kept outside the barn. Once again, the chestnuts emerged from the stainless steel chamber, this time falling onto the brushing unit (Figs. 7, 8 and 11). I hesitate to call it a brusher as it is performing at least three different tasks as the nuts move through it as they approach the finish line. This part of the peeler pulls at and brushes off any remaining pellicle. Through the action of twin rollers turning in opposite directions, pushing the nuts into stiff nylon bristles while getting a hot water bath, the nuts emerge without pellicles.

At this point they were collected at the end of the line (Figs. 9 & 10). Taste testing showed them to be uncooked and peeled and some had a subtle smokey flavor. Later better quality, but still drier than normal, Chinese chestnuts and ‘Colossal’ chestnuts were place in the peeler and peeled with just as good results.

Clean up required removal of the burned shells from the thrasher, sweeping up general debris from the floor under the brushing unit, and a quick hosing of the belts. A better performance could not have been anticipated.

What we observe in ‘Colossal’ trees in the East Lansing and Benton Harbor areas is flower development significantly affected by the frost next to trees where flower development appears more normal. If you look at the photos accompanying this story you will see that in the last week of June, last year, female flowers were large and numerous with, in some cases, two females flowers borne on one single male catkin. That is when you start obtaining high yields in ‘Colossal’. This year, in comparison, it is easy to see that there are fewer female flowers and that they are smaller than one year ago meaning they are at least one week behind. While you can still find two female flowers on a single catkin, it is rare in our orchards.

Male catkins, the showy flowers of chestnuts that produce the pollen, are usually in full bloom before the 4th of July. This year, the male catkins are behind in their development, just as the female flowers are. The pollen on ‘Nevada’ is obviously behind last year. Pollen on the variety ‘Okei’ seems to have developed normally, but that puts it well ahead of the female flowers on ‘Colossal’ trees in the same orchard. We not only need to be concerned about the late developing flowers and their size, we must also be concerned about the synchronization of the receptivity of female flowers with their pollinizers.

As one of our members astutely observed in an email message, it is very important to be specific about the effects of the frost. Different species of chestnut as well as varieties may have responded differently. Certainly trees up north will have been in the bud and may be less affected. Older trees may have been affected less than younger trees and trees with substantial growth by the time of the frost may behave differently than trees that were just leafing out. Trees in an orchard on a hill may respond differently than trees in low areas within the same orchard. As difficult and as disappointing as these times may be, they teach us many valuable lesions about chestnut growing for the future years. For example, in the 1980’s and early 90’s many people didn’t think ‘Colossal’ trees would survive the cold winters in Michigan. After they survived the record-breaking cold winter of 1993-4, we put that rumor to rest.

Right now it appears that many ‘Colossal’ chestnut trees in East Lansing and Benton Harbor do not have as many flowers as last year and they are smaller than the same time last year. Taking good notes on the various seedlings and varieties and how they responded will help us choose better varieties for our area in the future. Watching how Colossal responded in different locations in the orchards will help us learn how to establish orchards. Finally, determining how the frost affected the trees throughout the state will help us learn how to quantify losses early in a season so we can make business decisions based on potential crop size. As it is, each event like this is a first time for us and we must learn as we go.

Currently, drought conditions are beginning to show around the state. Grass is dying and crop are beginning to be irrigated. I have seen some very dry chestnut trees and have heard of leaves falling off trees. Give the trees what they need. Break from early spring irrigation habits and irrigate more frequently during dry spells like this.

MNPC Summer/Harvest Meeting

This year the summer and harvest meetings will be combined and held at Herb and Carl DeKleine’s farm in Hudsonville, MI. A farm specializing in pick your own peaches and cherries, the DeKleines began planting Chinese chestnut seedlings several years ago. Met with frustration and slow growth they switched to ‘Colossal’, ‘Nevada’, ‘Okei’ while keeping some of their more promising Chinese chestnut seedlings.

Got Chestnuts? Now What?
Dennis W. Fulbright

Many of you still have not joined CGI, the Michigan chestnut growers cooperative. I want to make sure you understand that the Midwest Nut Producers Council is not a marketing or business- inducing organization. As a non-profit, the MNPC can foster research projects to help our growers learn about marketing and we can attempt to educate the consumer about the value of eating chestnuts, but we can do very little to help you market your chestnuts. When fall comes and your chestnuts are ready for market, we will not be able to help you determine prices and there is really no one in the office other than Mario and me to help you find markets.

Our goal here is to help growers establish a chestnut industry. We feel strongly that 100 growers in competition with each other in this small state can quickly saturate the small market. Feeding into larger markets like Chicago and Detroit requires much larger amounts of chestnuts that few, if any, individual farms in Michigan are ready to meet.

The only logical way to market this crop is to work together so that chestnuts can be accumulated and sold at farm-fair prices to good customers willing to meet the price of production. A cooperative offers an opportunity to work together and increase the size of your crop so that growers can meet the challenge of professional markets. Without a cooperative you will need to find these markets on your own and be able to supply the required amounts of chestnuts.

What if you don’t join CGI, will CGI market your chestnuts? The answer to this is “maybe.” CGI will take and market its members’ chestnuts first and if a greater supply of chestnuts are required than its own members can supply, it will buy chestnuts from any source. It will probably be looking for the highest quality chestnuts at the cheapest price possible. If they do buy chestnuts from you at $1.50/pound and they turn around and sell them for $8.00/pound you will not see any benefit of the mark up; you will only get the $1.50/pound.

I have no crystal ball. I cannot tell you that the cooperative is the absolute best, “fail/safe” way to market chestnuts. At this particular juncture in time, it seems to many of the professionals who have worked with us that this is a good way to approach the problem of marketing. If you are a commercial chestnut grower in Michigan, I do hope you consider the benefits versus the risks of the cooperative.

The CGI meeting that begins at 10:00 am on the DeKleine Farm will be closed to non-CGI members. If you are seriously thinking about joining, please join before that meeting and then attend that meeting. If you are interested in joining, but don’t want to join before that meeting, come to the MNPC meeting at 1:00 pm that same afternoon and ask questions. The CGI meeting will not be a place for non-members to attend and ask questions.

As you know, none of us at Michigan State University receives any form of compensation based on our work with CGI, MNPC or any of the affiliated organizations or agents we sometimes promote. We do not get salary, partial salary, or commission from these organizations. I feel it is very important for you to know that.


No Organized Colossal Program Planned for 2003

We will not be running a Colossal program for 2003. If you want to order chestnut trees, you can go on line to the MNPC website and find the nurseries that sell various varieties including ‘Colossal’. It is my understanding that Fowler Nursery will not deal with orders under 100 trees. If you must have trees next year and need less than 100, call friends and ask for them to order some with you to get the order above 100. The program may be on again in 2003 for 2004 delivery. I’m sorry, but Mario and I cannot devote that much time and effort each spring for a Colossal program. If you want to know what it entails, ask me sometime when you have 30 minutes to listen.


Your website is:
http://www.chestnutgrower.org

Dennis W. Fulbright
Department of Plant Pathology
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1312
fulbrig1@msu.edu

Office: 517-353-4506
Cell: 517-819-1043
Lab: 517-353-2040

Mario Mandujano can be reached in the lab or his cell number: 517-819-1045
mandujan@msu.edu