I’m always amazed by the challenges north american growers face with hazelnuts. It is one of the most abundant shrubs here in germany and I had to cut so many down this year. My parents planted a row of random seedlings around 20 years ago as a natural fence along a street. I usually get a few kg of nuts each year and they taste great but vary in size a lot. They got too big, around 8 m high, so close to the street so I cut them almost all down to the ground. But I’m sure they will grow back even thicker, they are hard to kill. The thick branches are decent firewood, easy to split.
I also have a few named varieties. This is a photo of the flowers on my “rote Zellernuss” yesterday:
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here in z4a, N. Maine, the American hazelnuts range ends about 150 miles south of me,or at least it used to. my American hazel crosses have survived colder temps than the regular American hazels have due to our warming winters. it’s the male catkins that get zapped during cold snaps in the winter, north of its range. my bushes produced a good crop of nuts last summer but last winter was very mild. this winter was average cold with a few nights that got to -40f/c . im anxious to see if i get a crop this summer. that would mean my catkins on my bushes are truly hardy to my zone. i sure wish we could grow the European cultivars, but EFB and our cold weather would kill then quickly.
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It’s odd but I have problems with the Catkins surviving the winter in central Alabama. The blooms appear to be in good condition. Jefferson has almost no surviving catkins. I’ve grafted in a total of six varieties in hopes of solving the pollen issue. All the trees are growing well but I’m ready to get a few hazelnuts to eat.
you’re in a more than warm enough zone. maybe they arent fully mature yet? took my hybrids 5 years from a seedling to produce nuts. mine had catkins from age 3 but they only put out pollen by 5. ive read somewhere the euro hybrids take a little longer to produce. think it was a U of OR site.
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Took my hybrid seeds out of fridge for an inspection and peroxide treatment of a couple mold-present seeds. I sprayed the sseds and media and looks like very few are cracking/sprouting. Hopefully I can plant them in the ground in a couple of weeks under poly. I dont have indoor space, as we sold our main residence last year, where I made space in the furnace room. And I only had 500. I have 2000seeds. Thinking about building a poly/ pvc green house over them once they start growing. only concern are rodents… any ideas?
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I’m not particularly having success with my rodents yet this year, but most of them do not like alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, etc.) If those do not negatively impact Hazels, a perimeter around where you intend to put your box may be enough to minimize their inquisition. It’s a great time of year for cheap onion starts in many areas, and ramps/rampion will be starting to emerge soon.
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Something ate my onion plants year after year until I finally enclosed the bed in hardware cloth, so I don’t hold much stock in claims onions will ward off rodents.
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At this stage, I’ve never intentionally grown onions. (I’ve succeeded in volunteers.) Nothing ever obviously goes through my ramps, chives, or society garlic; the little wild onions are rampant throughout my yard in multiple varieties, but I don’t know how many get eaten, and last fall was my first time planting garlic, which so far remains unmolested. I would hyothesize that the sweeter a cultivar is, the fewer critters are repelled by it. Skunks to me have a garlicky overtone, which makes me wonder what they get into. I’ve not sought to answer either of those casual hypotheses.
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I have planned three hazelnuts from grimo nuts. I started with two. One has done very well, and i hope it will be mature enough to flower this year. The other has been eaten by deer, worms, and who knows what else, and while it’s still alive, last year i decided to replace it with a new baby tree.
That tree grew well last year, but this spring i see the rabbits chewed on it over the winter.
Will it survive? Should i just try again, with hardware cloth? Should i prune it? Leave it alone?
The buds are swelling but not yet breaking here in eastern Mass.
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I think it will survive but as you already know add hardware cloth around the trunk. The lower section appears to have the most damage. Time will tell if it makes it.
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Feeling rather like closing the door after the horse left, i put up a chicken wire fence around it today.
I’m hoping it sprouts new shoots. I’m aiming for a bush form, not a tree, anyway.
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that should work
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Sounds like a good plan especially if your okay with a bush form.
hazels are great! that rabbit could have ate it to the ground and new suckers will come from the roots. i ran over one of my little 12in. hazels. 2 weeks later it sent up 3 more shoots from the roots. by that 1 trunk being damaged it will send up the bush you want anyway. which ones from grimo are you growing? im thinking of adding a few of theirs next spring.
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A small one with red leaves. This is planted close to the border of my yard and my backyard neighbor’s (in suburbia) and i wanted an attractive shrub more than i wanted nuts. I figure the squirrels will get all the nuts, anyway.
I mean, I’d love to get a handful of nuts, but I’m not really optimistic. 
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Red leaves is a trait that shows up in the Wisconsin lines. I have a couple red ones out of 200 seeds I’m evaluating. Grimo has selected an ornamental clone that is gorgeous and retained its color into adult form. Sometimes that red foliage dissipates as the plant matures. Keep an eye on those as you might have a patentable one. On the ornamental side, I observed Somerset at the Rutgers experimental farm. Whereas most trees’ foiliage was in rough shape in late August, weathered and dull, Somerset was still in excellent foliar condition, glossy and fine in foliage. A smaller, precocious, small centerpiece lawn ornamental tree.
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Well, if it’s patentable, they have the patent, as I bought a clone, not a seedling. The one that got chewed over the winter is
‘Crimson’ Hazel Layer
The more mature one that’s doing well, is also red-leafed. It was called “red leaf hazel”, and Ernie Grimo assured me the two are different, and would be compatible mates. The one that everything has eaten was an “American hybrid hazel seedling”. It’s still alive, but the poor thing seems to get eaten to the ground every year by something, and there’s not much there.
The “red leaf hazel” is a really lovely ornamental. The leaves are an attractive red when new, and keep a red cast throughout the year. They are large and glossy and quite attractive. I’ve been very happy with it as an ornamental that might someday also produce nutes.
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That’s patented. I really was impressed with its ornamental aspects. Its seeds, if paired with the other red would have a high percentage of the seedlings turn our red. Having some experience with diseased ‘cotorta’ Harry Lauders walking sticks, ornamental cultivar, Crimson is way more appealing in the summer.
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Cool! The “Red leaf Hazel” is also quite nice. My hazels are in partial shade (mature oaks) and that might help it retain its attractive color. It’s really a lovely shrub. So i hope “crimson” survives, as they should make a nice pair
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