Hazelnuts/Filberts 2020

[Auburn]

Hope you will add questions, concerns, or anything about these type nuts you want to discuss.
I’m going to start by mentioning the drought tolerance of hazels. It is my understanding that after being planted a couple of years they are mostly drought tolerant. I’m into my fourth year with my original three so I’m backing off with the water and I mostly did so in there third year. Some of you have had yours planted much longer than me. Do you still irrigate them or have you stopped? One of the characteristics I liked about hazels was the proclaimed drought tolerance.

[Chills]

I gave up in them (except for an ornamental).

My problem was scale and blight. That and the squirrels ravenously devoured them. They were quite drought resistant.

Scott

[Katie_didnt_Z4b]

Mine are pretty young still, a few years old. I noticed some sunburn/drought damage on the leaves this year, we had a lot of randomly very hot days this spring and less rain than usual. The plant has recovered by now.

I didn’t realize blight and scale affected hazels. =/

[Codym17]

Has anyone tried putting these in grow tubes? I have a ton of deer pressure and got really sick of building cages this year so stuck some in 5ft grow tubes im curious how they will end up/handle that since they prefer bush form. Once they have some size i think they’ll be ok with deer browsing.

[Katie_didnt_Z4b]

That’s an interesting idea, mine do get munched by bunnies each winter.

[ammoun]

I enjoy hazelnuts! Do they grow in warm climates? I was never able to find a low chill variety. Trader Joes sell small bags from Oregon and they’re super tasty.

[moose71]

i have 3 hybrid hazels that i got through arbor day they are about 5-6ftft tall and about the same age. grew a few nuts a few years ago but none since. last year they grew husks with no nuts in it. don’t know what happened there. other than that they are growing fine and have sent some suckers up. I’ve tried fertilizing and not fertilizing. always have the root zone covered in wood chips. anyone have any idea what I’m doing wrong? i have wild beaked hazels growing on the property just fine in the same soil. they are planted in a triangle shape and are about 7ft. from each other so pollination shoulnt be a issue.

[Auburn]

Raintree list hazels for zones 5-9. Other sites say 5-8.

[Auburn]

deleted

[moose71]

not sure. i thought the same but i thought i saw somewhere, they were self pollinating.

[Auburn]

As to my reading they are not self pollinating. I bought three of raintrees suggestions to cross pollinate. Jefferson, York, Theta. Jefferson is the one that is supposed to have the larger commercial size nuts.

[Auburn]

I added one more through a scion trade. All four are supposed to be blight resistant. You might want to graft in some others just to make sure you are getting the correct pollen transfer. If your interested in grafting I can help with scions.

[Auburn]

I’m lucky in that I don’t have deer so a short piece of hardware cloth protects from rabbits.

[Auburn]

I didn’t realize blight and scale affected hazels. =/

The newer hybrids are suppose to be bred for blight resistance.

[Auburn]

I haven’t had to deal with squirrels yet. Have you tried the hybrids that carry blight resistant genes?

[moose71]

thanks for the offer but i need z4 hardy plants here. mine are pure american hazels so ill look for some hybrid hazels to graft.

[Chills]

I decided to put in the Red Dragon contorted hazel this year. I previously had the traditional Harry Lauder Walking stick contorted, but lost it due to scale and blight. There were 2 more in the neighborhood and those also died.

The Red Dragon one is supposed to be blight immune. We’ll see in time how it does.

Scott

[Auburn]

Few pictures of my Hazels. The two on the right are about 18’ high Jefferson and Theta. York on the left is about 10’. All the grafts continue to grow well with a new wild hazel addition.

!
2019 Jefferson air layer is about 5’.

[Stan]

Hi Bill,

How hot it gets at your location? Do temps raise above 100 F? I’m considering planting two or three hazelnut trees but am worried they will not do well in our summer heat. I’m in California and in the last few years summers have been brutal here. I see many of my trees struggle when the temps stay well over 100 F for multiple days in a row.

Thanks!

[Auburn]

Most of our summer highs run in the mid 90’s F. We sometimes get to about 100F but not often. It is reported that hazels are drought tolerant but I’m not sure how they would do at your higher temperatures. My original three trees are in there fourth year and I haven’t given them any supplemental water this year and they look healthy and appear to not have any heat related issues. The first two years I added water as I thought that they needed it. Although I don’t know how they will perform in your area I would think that after a few years the roots would go deep enough to survive (opinion).