Hazelnut Nurseries

Eastmond Harvesting Machinery

Hazels dry and fall from their husks over a six to eight week period in Autumn and are harvested from the orchard floor using a vacuum system. Keeping the orchard floor in good condition, grass mowed or sprayed out prior to nut fall, flat and free from pruning debris will make harvest much easier and more efficient. In good dry conditions the early nuts can be left and harvest done in one pass when the bulk of the crop has fallen.

When the nuts have been collected and sorted from other debris they should be bagged in open weave onion sacks and hung in a dry, well ventilated environment to decrease moisture content to a level at which they will be suitable for sale and processing (3 -5 months). Hanging will help keep them out of reach of rodents.

As our crop reached significant quantities we quickly became aware of the need to develop a cost effective and efficient means of harvesting the nuts and so we have developed machinery which is specifically suited to New Zealand orchard conditions.

This is now available to other growers and is manufactured to order.

• PTO driven, single operator – so no heavy hoses or machinery to lift.
• Sized to suit the spacing of New Zealand orchard plantings.
• Fast and efficient.
• Picks up all small sized debris such as leaf litter, husks and twigs so no need for pre-harvest orchard clean up.
• Generous drum size.
• Separates and discards out up to 80% of the debris picked up, the remaining debris and nuts are then sorted by passing through air legs and over a sorting table as a separate process, then into bags for storage.

A harvest yielding 4 tonne of bagged nuts utilizing our machinery and paid staff can be completely achieved in a total of 140 man hours at a cost of 51c/kilo.

Notes:

• The harvester works best on smooth ground but will operate on less even surfaces.
• Large debris such as hedge trimmer prunings need to be cleared before harvest.
• requires 25-40 HP PTO for efficient operation depending on the size of the unit.