Hazel nut season

[tomc]

This is the first year hazel nuts sett nuts. Will they turn brown or do I have to wrestle the squirels for em after they drop?

[flowerpower]

How old does the tree have to be to bear nuts?

[tomc]

Mine have been in the ground for 5 years in frosty cow-hampshire.

[plantsnobin]

I wish I could help you on this one. Our daughter bought our neighbors place, and he had planted a few apples, cherries, pear and hazelnuts. I don't know what variety they are, but there are a couple of what I would call more of a bush than a tree. I am not sure how old they are, but it would be safe to say they are at least 15 years old. One of them produces a few nuts, but not really what you would call a harvest. Maybe the squirrels are getting to them before I notice. They don't really seem to have any pest problems, but from what I have seen of these so far, I don't think I would plant any more for myself. There is a hazelnut farm that is generous with info, can't remember the name right now, but they also sell peonies. Maybe Adelman's? yep, I just checked, it is Adelman's. They don't list any hazelnuts, but on their 'about us' link they talk about farming. She is very nice and I bet she would be willing to answer questions. They are also an excellant source of Peonies if anyone is looking.

[flowerpower]

5 yrs is not too bad to wait for nuts. I think I would try to get them before the squirrels do.

[ottawagardener]

I know that some people net the trees as they can be bush/tree size rather than giant tree size. If I ever get the room or convince my neighbours that we'd like to share a hedgerow, I'm going to try beaked hazlenut - small nutted wild variety.

[canadamike]

I never grew any, but did a lot of picking of wild hazelnuts when youg. They trend to be conspicuous, hard to see but the few that are in evidence, and yes, you have a squirrel problem. Everybody not hunting them down like crazy has. As simple as that. When their enveloppe ( I do not know the proper english expression) start to get yellowhish, go for them or there is an army that will....

You could also do like people did around here, follow the squirrels or ( in the wild) chipmunks and go for the hole once it's been filled. You'll end up with a perfect harvest of cleaned and processed hazelnuts. You can replace them with peanuts or else if you want, but they tend to have many ''cache'' that they forget anyway...

[ottawagardener]

That's brilliant mike and I did not know that trick! Poor rodents but as you said, peanuts are delicious and nutritious for them too. (I like hazelnuts better anyhow). I think I just like the idea of including them in a hedgerow.

[dogwoman]

I am going to start hazelnuts soon. I ordered three bushes, which haven't yet arrived. Fall is supposed to be the best time for planting hazelnuts. From what I've read hazelnuts can be trained into trees, but bush is their natural form of growth. Typical bush height is supposed to be about ten feet tall. They are said to begin producing nuts the third year.

The National Arbor Day Foundation has a Hazelnut Project. They are promoting widespread planting of hazelnuts. It is an attempt to mitigate deforestation and greenhouse warming. They will be doing surveys about peoples' results and experiences. I think it is important to plant trees/bushes to combat air pollution, so I joined the project.

Lorna

[mnjrutherford]

How do you know when a tree is preparing to "nut"? We have 2 trees that have been in ground for 3 years now. Last season they had 3 or 4 catkins each. I was thinking the catkins might be the nut world equivalent of flowers? They fell off and nothing came of them. This year, the same thing but there were a couple dozen catkins on each tree. They have already fallen off.

These trees, and 2 others planted last year, are part of a mixed variety hedgerow. The row includes blueberries, mulberries, and there were paw paws, but they all died. Hopefully to be replaced in future?

We will also be planting a small orchard of hazelnuts within a month or so. These will be special and different from the hedge trees because the roots of these hazelnuts are inoculated with black truffle spore. They will be planted in a 4000 sq ft plot at 10' intervals. The soil is to be prepped with enough lime to bring the ph to 7.5 at planting and it will be taken up to a ph of 8 over a 4 year period so the spore can fruit. Meanwhile, the trees will produce undersized nuts. I've been told they won't be commercially viable because of their size. Not a problem to me because I intend to "value add" them myself.

[pugs]

I'll check around here to see how the nuts form. I keep weeding them out of the flower beds, the damn squirrels plant them everywhere. And yes, they are grown as a small tree around here as a commercial corp. Only I grew up calling them filberts. I prefer walnuts myself.

Pugs

[stevil]

The catkins are the male flowers. It's the female flowers that develop into nuts. They are little red tufts which are difficult to spot. Search along the same branches that you find the catkins. However, Hazel is self-incompatible and you need at least two trees for nuts...

www.nature-diary.co.uk/nn-images/0402/hazel-female.jpg

Stephen

[mnjrutherford]

ah HA! OK, I have seen the small red tufts, they develop on the very tips of the branches. I'll follow up that link Stephen, thanks for the info. We do have more than one. There are two that were planted and survived our first year here, then there are 2 more planted last year and about 20 more that will be planted this year. Do you think the first 2 will be enough to produce at least a handful of nuts this year? Or will we need to continue waiting until the other trees produce catkins or tufts?

Pugs, I'll trade you all the filberts for the walnuts! =o) I knew them as avellanas growing up and they make the best ice cream ever! They also make awesome baklava. The baklava is better yet because a friend of mine is an award winning "meat curing" person. I'm sure there is a better name for his vocation, I just don't know it. Anyhow, I can get awesome slabs of bacon and hams in exchange for the baklava! BUT, it has to be filbert! Nuts for bacon!

[mnjrutherford]

So, here it is a year later. We have 3 hazelnuts which have JUST shown the female flowers. These trees are 4 years old now. The catkins are long and open as well. 2 trees are side by side but the 3rd tress is about 100 to 150 feet away. There is a clear difference in the growth habit as well. The "twins" have an umbrella like canopy while the "loner" is more upright. This week, hopefully today, I'll be putting out the 23 pieces of hazelnut scionwood I received from GRIN to root as well. I don't know if I can expect any nuts this year or not because as I understand it, pollination has many variables that frequently preclude success. So, I'm hoping for the best!

[blueadzuki]

Nov 19, 2008 13:17:28 GMT -5 ottawagardener said:

I'm going to try beaked hazlenut - small nutted wild variety.

There were a lot of wild beaked hazels at a summer camp I went to in Stubridge Mass, back whne I was a kid. Unfortunetly while they were laden with fruit (which was how I recognized them) since I was always there in the mid-summer there were never any ripe ones. But I shoud probaby warn you that the calyxes (the beaks) are cover with really stingy hairs, so be careful when you harvest)

One more caveat, you may want to "float" the nuts after hervest. Hazels (at least some of them) start forming the shells long before fetilization so a lot of the nuts on the tree are in fact completely empty inside a good way to sperate out the "good" ones is to simply toss them in a big bucket of water, and discard any that do not sink. Unfortunately, squrrels seem to instinctively know which ones are filled so you have to move fast.