I put in my first hazels last year, and another pair this year. they were all pretty good sized bare root. how long do they typically take to produce? I plan to eventually coppice mine along the fence line (my neighbor wants some to reach over, we may collaborate on this) I think it will be a few years before they are ready for that. they’re about 4 feet tall now, up from 2 feet last year. they did make catkins this spring
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My first hazelnut went in the ground I think in 2015. Its first nut was last year. There would have been more than one nut but I had pruned it back very far on account of the cicada damage. Dorris was a bit faster. I think it is ~4 years in the ground and its first nuts may be harvested this year. Their spot in the yard is not really full sun. Perhapsnif it were they would have born nuts earlier…. Who knows.
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I have quite a few Beaked Hazelnuts scattered through my woodlot. They seem to be having a good year so far. I’d like to try and beat the birds to them this year and try to start some seedlings. I transplanted some into my orchard rows last fall as an experiment. I have visions of them growing and producing in the dappled shade of an apple or pear.
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The beaks are interesting. Do they have only one nut inside? I looked back at the other picture and saw how the multiples grow. Thanks anyway.
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Yes just one. The bluejays love them here and will often steal them before they’re even ripe.
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I needed a hammer to tap a a bit of cut pipe through a wall so I happened to have one when I went on a stroll by the hazel hedge… 
I am sure it will not be the final score, but for the first day of the season it is Hazels 1 - Japanese Beatles 0
Oh, and the precocious Somerset seems to be considering some nuts.
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I shared in the 2022 edition pics of my purple wisconsin group, seed derived plants. Another great aspect of this group is precocity. These arent on drip irrigation, and are tough.
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Has anyone grown out NITKA from Z’s? They’re sold out now, but I think they’ve been available previously. Curious on how the cultivar compares.
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I also have my eye on their Nitka, would have ordered a couple if they weren’t sold out when I came across it. I have a second leaf finger lakes abundant from them which is growing great
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I thought about buying some of those. They seemed like a good, resilient choice and a good deal. I see they have Somerset in stock, which I’ve been looking at as well. I’m surprised they ship in the summer, but glad.
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I have some small red hazelnut I bought from Grimo several years ago, a contorted red dragon that I got this spring from … one of the big companies, I forget, and I just ordered a crimson from Grimo yesterday. I didn’t intended to get all red – honest – but I have been looking for small blight resistant trees that will basically serve as ornamentals at the back of my yard, blocking the view of the neighbor’s yard. Grimo assured me the crimson is different from the red one they sold me a few years ago.
It would be fun to get nuts, but I have a lot of squirrels, and I’m not expecting it. Also, they are in the shade of some large oaks. The oldest one is growing nicely, though, and is quite decorative.
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I have a 4 year old NITKA bush that is having its second crop of nuts. The squirrels got all of the nuts last year, so I didn’t get to sample them. The bush doesn’t sucker very much and is susceptible to bud mite, but mite damage isn’t extensive. It is about 10 ft tall. It is hard to say how productive it will be at this young age, but it has been precocious. Curiously, it retains its dry leaves well through the winter, and only drops the old ones as the new ones leaf out.
NITKA Hazelnut
Truxton Hazelnut
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Excellent. Nice looking trees. Thank you so much for the report.
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yeah, Ive noticed theres a lot of that up your way. My buddy’s place in Thorndike is thick with it. As you say, it seems to grow well in the shade. Ive never eaten the nuts before. Sam Thayer talks about burying them in mud to husk them out. The involucre is kind of bristly and irritating as well I understand.
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Akiva Silver from Twisted Tree Nursery has a video that I will link about how to harvest hazelnuts so squirrels don’t get them all - How to tell when Hazelnuts are Ripe - YouTube hope this helps friend.
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I have 3 different Corylus patches. One consists of about 15-20 filbert-heavy hybrids. They are all seedlings of 3 older bushes I found in a neighboring village. I suspect they are derived from some of the early hybrids done by Slate and Ashworth, and sold during the period these would have been planted by nurseries like St. Lawrence and Miller. They have pretty large nuts, thin shells, and open involucres. They also taste great. Theyre pretty vigorous and not particularly heavy bearing. Currently theyre about 10 ft tall. They’re apparently quite blight resistant as Ive had then over 10 years without the slightest sign. Its apparent that there was another parent tree next to the ones these seedlings grew from. Im guessing it succumbed to EFB since it showed no sign of suckering or growth, just a rotting stump.
The second patch of about 15-20 seedlings came from Akiva Silver, who sent me nuts sourced from Mark Shephard. They are americana heavy and very prolific, bearing nuts in large clusters of up to 10 or more. The number of nuts they produce is truly impressive, but the kernels are mostly quite a bit smaller than the shells, and I must say, the flavor isn’t tops.
The 3rd patch is all seedling of trees distributed by the Arbor Day Foundation. I believe their stock comes entirely or mostly from Badgersett. Anyone know more? The parent trees had impressive nut size, enough so that i planted a bunch. Id figured Id seen the potential of hybrid hazels and wasn’t planning to go crazy, but these made me think differently and O was excited enough by them to plant a bunch.
Lastly, I have one bush of what I assume to be pure american hazel. It bears quite well, and though the nuts look a lot smaller than the hybrids, the kernels are only slightly smaller. Its nuts are mostly singles and doubles. The flavor is pretty good, and its on its own away from the others growing in the open, so I get nuts from it even in years with heavy squirrel pressure.
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It helps me. Thanks
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Here are my filberts. Theyre chance seedlings Id assumed they were hybrids, but truthfully thats just a WAG. I do know that the parent trees are 30+ years old and only one seems to have been blight susceptible. At ~10 yrs since planting and 10- 15 ft high, they seem to just be hitting their stride in terms of bearing. Nut size is pretty consistent. Shells are thin and kernels nearly fill the shell. Flavor is excellent.
My biggest hybrid hazel nuts are maybe 1/2 that size, and have 1/2 as much kernel inside of a shell thats twice as thick. Impressive clusters though! If my patch is typical, Mark Shepard’s hybrids show a lot of variation in vigor, growth form, nut size, etc.
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Really nice!
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