Growing Nuts in Cooler Climates

In this interview that first broadcast live on the Food Garden Life Radio Show in 2018, we chat with nut-growing expert Ernie Grimo from Grimo Nut Nursery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Nut expert Ernie Grimo

When Grimo set out to grow nuts in his yard, he couldn’t find local nurseries selling plants.

That was the beginning of his foray into collecting, breeding, and selling nut trees.

“When I had 100 trees in my backyard, it was time to find somewhere else to put them,” he says.

Cold-Adapted Nuts

At his farm and nursery in Niagara, Grimo grows a wide variety of cold-adapted nuts including:

• heartnut

• butternut

• Persian walnut

• black walnut

• pine nut

• hazelnut

• chestnut

• beech

• hickory

• pecan

He also has crosses such as the “hican,” a hickory-pecan cross.

Hazelnut Industry in Ontario

Grimo talks about the potential for a hazelnut industry in Ontario, noting that some people talk about the potential to have 40,000 acres in production.