If you’re looking for a small tree or shrub that is practical as well as attractive, consider the hazelnut. Rake the nuts into a pile for easy harvest and gather them every few days. Hazelnuts drop from the tree as they ripen in fall. To shape a tree, choose six strong upper branches to form the main scaffolding and remove the lower branches as well as those that hang down. Hazelnuts need little or no pruning when grown as a shrub, other than the removal of suckers that arise from the roots. If you notice slow growth and pale leaves, the plant will probably benefit from a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer in spring. Hazelnuts don’t need regular fertilization if they are grown in good soil. Water weekly during dry spells, allowing as much water as possible to sink deep into the soil. Never allow the soil around a hazelnut tree or shrub to dry out completely. You’ll need to plant two different varieties for good pollination. Water the soil around the tree slowly and deeply after planting. Press down with your foot as you go to remove air pockets. Set the tree in the hole and backfill with the soil you removed. They adapt to almost any soil as long as it is well-drained, but perform best in a soil with plenty of organic matter.ĭig the planting hole twice as wide as the root ball and just deep enough that the soil line of the tree will be even with the surrounding soil. Hazelnuts need 15 to 20 feet (4.5-6 m.) of space to spread. (-9 C.) after the flowers bloom can cause crop loss. When growing hazelnuts in the coldest part of this range, choose American hazelnuts, which are more cold tolerant than the European types. Hazelnut trees, also called filbert trees, are hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 4 through 8. Either way, they are an attractive addition to the home landscape. You can let them grow naturally as a shrub or prune them into the shape of a small tree. The trunks are often covered in mosses, liverworts and lichens, and the fiery milkcap fungus grows in the soil beneath.Hazelnut trees ( Corylus avellana) grow only 10 to 20 feet (3-6 m.) tall with a spread of 15 feet (4.5 m.), making them suitable for all but the tiniest home gardens. This is because the pollen of wind-pollinated hazel is not sticky and each grain actually repels against another. However, bees find it difficult to collect and can only gather it in small loads. Hazel flowers provide early pollen as a food for bees. Hazelnuts are also eaten by woodpeckers, nuthatches, tits, wood pigeons, jays and small mammals. Not only are hazelnuts eaten by dormice to fatten up for hibernation, but in spring the leaves are a good source of caterpillars, which dormice also eat. Hazel has long been associated with the dormouse (also known as the hazel dormouse). Coppiced hazel also provides shelter for ground-nesting birds, such as the nightingale, nightjar, yellowhammer and willow warbler. In managed woodland where hazel is coppiced, the open, wildflower-rich habitat supports species of butterfly, particularly fritillaries. Hazel leaves provide food for the caterpillars of moths, including the large emerald, small white wave, barred umber and nut-tree tussock.
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