Are hazelnuts easy to grow?

Hazelnuts are relatively quick and easy to grow, don't require as much space as other nut trees, and produce sweet and delicious nuts every summer. Native hybrid hazelnuts provide a crop that is constantly in short supply, are well known to consumers and are almost grown on their own. By Dawn and Jeff Zarnowski Tasty and healthy hazelnuts are used in many food products desired by consumers and are chronically scarce. Almost all of the hazelnuts consumed in North America come from Oregon or Turkey.

. Native hazelnuts (Corylus americana) are resilient, disease-resistant and highly tolerant to a wide range of growing conditions, and yet there is a shortage of nuts. Indigenous nuts are usually small and are not as tasty as European hazelnuts (Corylus avellana), which have been selected for their quality for hundreds and thousands of years. This is where the hybridization of the two species of hazelnuts over the past century has produced new varieties that have the best qualities of both.

Hazelnut organizations have been formed to promote the cultivation of this native crop with better qualities. Hazelnut trees start to bear fruit in just 4 years and produce large yields in years six or seven. A multi-stemmed bush will form if you do not cut or cut the shoots that grow near the base of the tree. In the form of a shrub, it will grow 8 to 12 feet tall.

In the shape of a shrub, the hazelnut allows you to easily pick walnuts by hand and plant them without worries in the environment to control erosion or as a hedge. If you choose to grow it as a single-stemmed tree, it will grow 14 to 16 feet tall and about the same width. Once the tree is large enough to shade the base, the shoots will not grow. The native hazel tree is adaptable and easy to grow; however, it took many generations of hybridization to generate native trees with large, tasty nuts.

You can simply put the nut with its shell, but it will facilitate germination if you first scratch it with a lime. To do this, carefully clean it in a small place on top of the shell. Just enough to penetrate the shell without damaging the seed pulp inside. Once this is done, mix a handful of walnuts with the same amount of horticultural sand and put them in your pot.

If you're looking for a small tree or shrub that's practical and attractive, consider hazelnut. Hazelnuts grow quite quickly, increasing 13 to 24 inches per year, according to the Arbor Day Foundation. I'm just trying to determine if there's really NO competition in this market in my area, where hazelnuts seem to grow really well everywhere, including in partial shade and in clay soils. You'll probably have to wait until they're around 2 m tall, in about 2 or 3 more years, to get your first hazelnut harvest.

I have found several wild species that grow along the highway where I live (west of Boone, North Carolina) and I have planted 17 hazelnuts from the Arbor Hazelnut Initiative. Although hazelnuts can withstand dry conditions, they work best if you water them regularly with at least 1 inch of water every 10 days. Although it's most famous for its nuts, it's useful to have hazelnuts on the farm for several different reasons. This is one of the few hazelnuts that can be grown without a second tree for pollination, although its yields may be lower than they would otherwise be.

Another method of growing hazelnuts is to find a thicket of wild hazelnuts or have a friend who is willing to share. About 65 years ago, when I was a child in West Virginia, I would go to places near my house after the first frost and pick hazelnuts in the wild as well as persimmons and papayas. Like many nut trees, hazelnuts can also be attacked by root rot, powdery mildew, bacterial blight and cankers. Hazelnuts come from hazelnuts (Corylus avellana or Corylus avellana contorta, crooked hazelnut or cork oak), which are an excellent choice for a garden.

Even though they produce male and female flowers, they still require cross-pollination with another hazelnut. Nitrogen-fixing plants, such as crimson clover or white clover, or plants that attract pollinators and improve the soil, such as comfrey, are good companions for growing hazelnuts. For breakfast on Sundays, when I usually prepare something elegant for my family, I like to cover the pancakes with toasted hazelnuts or chocolates. .