Corylus avellana
Hazelnut
Common names: Hazel, Common Hazel, Hazel shrub
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −28 °C
- Pruning
- Jan, Feb, Dec
- Harvest
- Sep–Oct
- Spacing
- 400 cm, rows 450 cm
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: MPF · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The hazelnut is a native, robust shrub that blooms in early spring with yellow catkins. It is wind-pollinated and performs best when at least two shrubs of different varieties are close together. In autumn the ripe nuts fall from the husk on their own.
Care instructions
Plant the hazel in autumn (November week 45) in a sunny to partially shaded location with loose, nutrient-rich soil. Prune it every few years in winter (February week 8) by removing the oldest ground shoots, so the shrub remains airy and productive. Collect the nuts in September (week 37) when they fall brown from the fruit cups.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestSep–Oct
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
Give the hazel a humus-rich, loamy-loose and well-drained soil. It dislikes waterlogged, strongly acidic or pure sandy sites. It is shallow-rooted: keep the root zone loose and humus-rich and avoid soil compaction.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar, Apr, Oct
In spring (March/April), work mature compost shallowly around the root zone and add horn shavings as a slow-acting nitrogen source. In autumn, mulch the root zone again with compost; this builds humus and protects the shallow roots. Do not add nitrogen late in summer, otherwise the wood ripens less well and frost hardiness suffers.
Pruning
Thin out your hazel in winter (roughly December to the end of February at the latest, up to week 9), while it is bare and you can see the branch structure: every 2 to 3 years cut the oldest, thickest basal shoots away just above the ground and let young shoots grow back. Finish pruning before growth starts, otherwise the shrub bleeds when the sap rises.
Overwintering
The hazel is fully hardy in the Central European lowlands and needs no winter protection outdoors. It comes through severe winters without trouble. Only for hazels in containers, wrap the pot with horticultural fleece or place them in a sheltered spot against a house wall, so that the root ball does not freeze through.
Propagation
Methods
- Layering
- Cuttings
- Runners
- From seed
The most reliable method that comes true to variety is layering: in spring (March/April), bend a low-set, one- to two-year-old shoot down into a shallow hollow, nick the bark lightly at the lowest point, cover the middle section with about 10 to 15 cm of soil and fix it with a stone or hook. Bend the tip of the shoot vertically upwards. Keep the soil evenly moist. After the summer (autumn) or the following spring, you have well-rooted new plants, which you separate from the mother shrub and plant out.
Suckers are especially easy and quick: hazel naturally sends up vigorous shoots from the rootstock. In autumn or early spring, cut a well-rooted shoot away from the mother shrub with the spade. Make sure a piece of root stays attached, and replant it straight away. This method works very reliably.
Cuttings are possible, but in hazel they are known to root rather poorly. So do not expect a high success rate, and feel free to insert more than you need. At the autumn cut back (October/November), cut 10 to 20 cm long, pencil-thick sections of strong shoots of the current year, remove the leaves in the lower third and cut the base at a slant. Insert them one third deep in moist seed compost and place them somewhere bright, but not in blazing sun. Those that have rooted over winter you plant out in the open ground after the Ice Saints in May.
Sowing ripe nuts (collected in autumn) works, but is lengthy: hazel is a cold-stratification seed and needs stratification of about 3 to 4 months at 2 to 5 °C (e.g. in moist sand in the fridge). Seeds always give wild forms, however. They are unsuitable for cultivars that come true to variety, and only make sense for natural hedges and wild woody plants.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
For your garden
Grow Hazelnut yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
Varieties
5 varieties‘Corabel’
You will find Corabel a modern French breeding from the INRAE program, protected by plant variety rights.
‘Hallesche Riesennuss’
An old, robust-growing hazelnut tree with large, elongated nuts that was already valued for its yield in the 19th century.
‘Rotblättrige Zellernuss’
The red-leaved filbert is both an ornamental and a productive shrub: its foliage comes out deep wine red, and the husk of the nut is washed with red as well.
‘Webbs Preisnuss’
A proven English variety (originally 'Webb's Prize Cob') known for heavy and regular yields.
‘Wunder aus Bollwiller’
This robust Alsatian cultivar (also known as ‚Merveille de Bollwiller’) carries very large, roundish oval nuts and is…
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From the magazine
Turkish Hazel: A Slim Street Tree, a Grafting Rootstock and Nuts on the Side
The Turkish hazel is not just a bigger hazel bush but a sturdy tree: a wind-firm street tree, the classic grafting rootstock for hazelnuts and, come autumn, a handful of nuts as well.
Hazelnut in the garden: pollination, pruning and harvest
The hazelnut is a manageable shrub for almost any garden. Why you need two varieties, how to rejuvenate rather than shape it and what helps against the weevil.
Weaving natural fences: willow, hazel and deadwood
Your winter prunings are fencing material: willow rods strike root and turn into a living fence, hazel poles stay dead and last 5 to 10 years as a weave, brushwood becomes a Benjes hedge. Weaving technique, cutting season CW 46 to 9, service life honestly counted, and what neighbour law has to say about it.
Pruning Nut Trees: Walnut, Sweet Chestnut, and Hazel
The walnut bleeds in spring and is only pruned in late summer, while the sweet chestnut is tough and forgiving. Training, deadwood, and timing for all three nut trees.
Harvesting, drying and storing nuts without mould
You harvest nuts at fruit fall, not off the tree. How to dry walnut and hazelnut correctly and store them cool so they do not go mouldy or rancid.
Where to get this plant
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