Hazelnuts are relatively quick and easy to grow, don't require as much space as other nut trees, and produce sweet, delicious nuts every summer. In Utah, hazelnuts grown for nut production are generally kept as shrubs, with an oval or round shape that grows to 15 feet tall and wide. Hazelnuts thrive in well-drained, clay soil, but they grow in many types of soil as long as the soil is well-drained. Nut production is better when cross-pollination occurs with another variety of the same species (see Table 1) or with other plants of the same species cultivated with seeds.
For breakfast on Sundays, when I usually prepare something elegant for my family, I like to cover the pancakes with toasted hazelnuts or chocolates. Gardeners in the United States may want to skip attempts to grow European hazelnuts or hazelnuts due to their high incidence of oriental algae blight. Hazelnuts should not be planted on grass where grass and woody plants have different watering requirements and compete for nutrients. So if you've been looking for a good source of healthy food to grow in your garden that doesn't take up much space and that you can start enjoying in just a few years, hazelnut is the perfect option.
There are hundreds of hazelnut cultivars, so when deciding what to grow, consider the pests in your area and select a variety that is resistant. All hazelnut species benefit from being planted in frost-protected areas to increase the likelihood of consistent nut production. Hazelnuts are somewhat susceptible to a number of pests, such as aphids, leaf rollers, insects that feed on leaves and nuts, mites and scales. If a potential pest is found, agriculture or horticulture agents at the local USU Extension office can help you identify and control.
But it would be remiss not to mention that hazelnuts are a staple food in Turkey, where 60 to 70% of the world's hazelnuts are produced. Don't worry, the word “tree” is a technicality; hazelnuts are generally grown as bushy shrubs and can be maintained at a very manageable size by pruning. He crossed American hazelnuts with larger European filbertas to create a more resilient and prolific producer. Use soil studies from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to search for land suitable for establishing hazelnut orchards in the Pacific Northwest.
However, it is impractical to change the texture of the soil along the entire depth of rooting in a hazelnut orchard. Although the trees have male and female flowers, they are not self-fertile, so you will always get better results if you plant them in groups so that pollen can move from one hazelnut to the next, although other trees in the neighborhood will also help with pollination. Hazelnuts prefer well-drained soil with few nutrients; soil that is too rich produces abundant leaf growth at the expense of flowers and nuts. The hazel tree is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, reaching up to 15 feet and extending between 5 and 10 feet.
