The phenomenon of locally germinated seeds doing better, I believe, is an "epigenetic" thing. The chemistry and biology around the developing seedling can affect which genes are expressed and to which extent. Sometimes into future generations even.
That vigor of localized tree seeds may be the same mechanism used in creating corn seed with 'hybridization vigor'; the first generation after crossing two inbred varieties grows fast and produces more fruit. Successive generations have vigor erosion.
Hybrid vigor is a misleading idea imo. Its more that suddenly theyre not so horribly inbred. Inbreeding too isnt negative inately, it just means its a single gene set: if its great genes it could be hypervigorous and crossing it might make it worse, but the inherent downside of genetic undiversity is that it cant adapt or change over generations, since it only has 1 gene set.
This podcast left me being physically agitated and frustrated at being confined in a workshop building kitchen cabinets instead of placing seeds into child stratification and surfing the Web for more 😭
Is there any way to buy a shipment of your nut collection over to Finland? I'd love to skip a decade or two of struggling with nut trees from across Europe. I would gladly take on this project on this side of the pond and share the joy with northern Europe once I start getting harvest!
I believe Shepard's hazelnuts are Filbert hybrids, and thus likely totally unsuitable for Eurasia. Here in Sweden there is a big problem in the forestry industry that American Pinus Contorta / Lodgepole Pine was planted here in the 60s-70s and now those forests are dying. America has a totally different biology compared to here (well, technically all locations have biologies unique to them) and when American pines were planted here without the support of the fungi and soil microbes they were dependant upon, they are extremely vulnerable to environmental stress. Couple that with the standard plant pathogens local to Europe and you have dying forests. So even if you do import Shepard's STUN hazels to Finland, you'd still need to do a few generations of local breeding to adapt them to your biology.
You guys already have great hazels. Look locally. Oaks, chestnuts, apples. There should be plenty near you. I live on the west coast of the US and I won't buy his Hazels because they're not local enough. Granted our hazels have a long history of native cultivation.
yes we have hazels but not the other nuts, they're hard to get I've asked around for black walnuts and stuff but nothing has been available in meaningful quantities @@trenomas1
I'll have to go south and visit the northernmost wild populations some day and fetch wild hazels yes The other nuts are difficult to find other than small numbers of saplings. But I'm in a harsh place and want seeds and haven't found a nursery that's willing to sell lots of seed nuts @@smygskytt1712
Very inspirational interview. Thank you guys for producing this. We're starting similar efforts here in Mediterranean Spain. Desperately needed!
The phenomenon of locally germinated seeds doing better, I believe, is an "epigenetic" thing.
The chemistry and biology around the developing seedling can affect which genes are expressed and to which extent. Sometimes into future generations even.
That vigor of localized tree seeds may be the same mechanism used in creating corn seed with 'hybridization vigor'; the first generation after crossing two inbred varieties grows fast and produces more fruit. Successive generations have vigor erosion.
Hybrid vigor is a misleading idea imo. Its more that suddenly theyre not so horribly inbred. Inbreeding too isnt negative inately, it just means its a single gene set: if its great genes it could be hypervigorous and crossing it might make it worse, but the inherent downside of genetic undiversity is that it cant adapt or change over generations, since it only has 1 gene set.
This podcast left me being physically agitated and frustrated at being confined in a workshop building kitchen cabinets instead of placing seeds into child stratification and surfing the Web for more 😭
Is there any way to buy a shipment of your nut collection over to Finland?
I'd love to skip a decade or two of struggling with nut trees from across Europe. I would gladly take on this project on this side of the pond and share the joy with northern Europe once I start getting harvest!
I believe Shepard's hazelnuts are Filbert hybrids, and thus likely totally unsuitable for Eurasia. Here in Sweden there is a big problem in the forestry industry that American Pinus Contorta / Lodgepole Pine was planted here in the 60s-70s and now those forests are dying. America has a totally different biology compared to here (well, technically all locations have biologies unique to them) and when American pines were planted here without the support of the fungi and soil microbes they were dependant upon, they are extremely vulnerable to environmental stress. Couple that with the standard plant pathogens local to Europe and you have dying forests.
So even if you do import Shepard's STUN hazels to Finland, you'd still need to do a few generations of local breeding to adapt them to your biology.
You guys already have great hazels. Look locally. Oaks, chestnuts, apples. There should be plenty near you.
I live on the west coast of the US and I won't buy his Hazels because they're not local enough. Granted our hazels have a long history of native cultivation.
yes we have hazels but not the other nuts, they're hard to get
I've asked around for black walnuts and stuff but nothing has been available in meaningful quantities
@@trenomas1
I'll have to go south and visit the northernmost wild populations some day and fetch wild hazels yes
The other nuts are difficult to find other than small numbers of saplings. But I'm in a harsh place and want seeds and haven't found a nursery that's willing to sell lots of seed nuts @@smygskytt1712