El hazel It is a deciduous shrubby plant native to Europe and Asia that is cultivated for its delicious fruits, hazelnuts, but also its amazing ornamental value, since it can also be kept as an isolated specimen or in high hedges in a way that guarantees safety and privacy for those who want to enjoy the garden.
Its beautiful green leaves turn an intense yellow color that will undoubtedly attract the eyes of all who come to see you. Do you want to know more about him? Do not miss then the hazelnut care guide that we have prepared for you, in which you will discover absolutely everything about this spectacular plant.
Hazelnut characteristics
Hazel, whose scientific name is Hazelnut corylus, It is a shrub or small tree that grows up to 8 meters in height. Its crown is very extended, branching already from the base. The leaves are rounded, about 12cm long, and are pubescent, that is, they have very short and soft "hairs".
There are male flowers and female flowers. The first are the so-called catkins, which can measure up to 12cm long and are yellow-brown in color; the latter, on the other hand, are barely visible since they sprout in the buds and are very small. Both sprout in different specimens -is a monoecious species- in spring, before the leaves appear.
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- Male flowers
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- Female flowers
In order for the fruit to form, it is necessary for the pollen from the male flowers to reach the female ones, and for that, unlike other plants, they use the force of the wind. If you have been lucky, the hazelnuts will grow for 8 months, which will be when they are ready to go cold before germinating.
How do you take care of yourself?
If you would like to have a hazelnut in your garden, take note of our advice:
Location
It is a plant that must be kept outside, in full sun, or in semi-shade if the weather is very hot. Withstands frosts up to -10ºC, but not so high temperatures of more than 32ºC.
Irrigation
It likes cool and slightly humid soils, so irrigation has to be frequent. During the warmer months it must be watered 3 times a week, and the rest of the year every 4-5 days. We will use rainwater or acidified water (adding the liquid of half a lemon to 1l / water) to avoid chlorosis.
Subscriber
Being a plant whose fruits are for human consumption It must be paid with organic fertilizersas manure, earthworm humus o compost once a month throughout the growing season (spring to late summer).
Land
It will grow without problems in soils whose pH is between 5,5 and 7. It can be found in those calcareous soils, but for it to develop correctly it will be necessary to add iron sulfate from time to time or fertilize it with fertilizers for acidophilic plants.
Pruning
In autumn at the end of winter The stems that come out from the base have to be removed, and it has to be pruned following the nature of the bush.
Plantation
Being monoecious, it is recommended to plant two or more specimens in spring (female and male) in rows leaving a distance between specimens of at least 5 meters.
Another option is to buy a hazelnut that is grafted to save space in the garden.
Harvest
Hazelnuts are collected when the envelope has changed color (from green to brown) and it begins to dry out, which occurs around fall.
How does it reproduce?
Hazelnut reproduces by seeds or shoots. What to do in each case?
Seeds
To have young hazelnuts, the seeds must be acquired in autumn -preferably, from the bush itself, although they will also help us if we buy them in bulk at the supermarket- and follow these steps:
- The first thing to do is to sow them in a tupperware with vermiculite moistened with water in the refrigerator at 6-7ºC.
- Once a week and for three months, the tupperware will be removed and the lid will be opened so that the air is renewed and, in this way, the proliferation of fungi is avoided.
- After that time, in spring they will be sown in pots with universal growing substrate mixed with 30% perlite, and they will be placed in semi-shade.
The seeds will germinate in 2-3 months, keeping the soil moist.
Stems
Hazelnut is a plant that tends to take out many stems, which can be removed with a hoe -and very careful 🙂 - in spring to later plant them in pots or in other corners of the field.
How to graft hazelnuts?
If you want to have a hazelnut that bears fruit, you can graft it when it has a trunk thickness of at least 2cm. To do this, you must wait until spring begins to cut a semi-woody branch and graft it on your plant, making a simple full cleft graft, which is done by making a vertical cut of a branch or the trunk, and introducing the cutting. To finish, you just have to join it with raffia rope, and cover it with a transparent plastic bag.
After about 21 days, remove the bag, and only two months later you can remove the rope.
Hazelnut pests and diseases
There are several pests and diseases that can affect you. Let's see which are the main ones and how to treat them:
Pests
- Aphids: appear in the flowers, preventing their development. You can treat them with Neem oil, or with Insecticidal Oil sold in nurseries.
- Fruit bud moth: is a lepidopteran (recurrence manella) whose caterpillars attack the flower buds and later the leaves. They are treated with insecticidal oil in winter.
- Winter chore: butterfly larvae Operoptera brumata it affects the leaves, where they roll. The plant must be treated before flowering with Carbaryl.
- Bedbugs: they are insects of just 1cm in length, with an oval and slightly elongated appearance. It feeds on the sap of the leaves, and can cause significant damage to hazelnuts. They are treated with Neem Oil.
Management
- Powdery mildew: it is a fungus that mainly affects the leaves, where white spots will appear. It is treated with a systemic fungicide.
- Radical rot: they are fungi that affect the roots when the environment is very humid and the soil does not have good drainage. It is treated with systemic fungicides.
- Evil of tearing: it is a fungus that, once it infects the plant, nothing can be done. The branches are completely torn after only 5 years. Fortunately, it can be prevented by avoiding overwatering and fertilizing in spring and summer.
- Hazel gloesporiosis: it is a disease that prevents flowers from developing. It attacks the yolks, causing them to turn dark to end up drying out. It deals with Manzodeb in midsummer (August in the Northern Hemisphere).
Hazelnut uses
Hazelnut is used mainly for its fruits, but also as an ornamental plant, either as an isolated specimen or forming hedges. But it must also be said that it has medicinal properties, in fact, it is antipyretic, astringent y antiedematous.
It can be taken by making an infusion with 25 grams of green leaves to disinfect wounds, pollen boiling 50 grams in water to produce a sudorific effect, or after having cooked 35 grams of bark in 1l of water for 20 minutes as an astringent .
Did you know all these hazelnut facts?
I have a serious problem with a hazelnut that my father planted years ago, I don't want to lose it and frankly I don't know how to cure it.
Hello Lola.
What problem does your hazelnut have?
A greeting.
How do I know if my hazelnut is male or female, I only have one. And I don't think it's grafted. In case of grafting it with what kind of stake should I do it?
Hello Constance.
You will be able to know if it is feminine or masculine when it blooms, you cannot before.
You can graft it in mid / late winter (February in the northern hemisphere) with a cutting or stake of Corylus colurna, the Turkish hazelnut.
A greeting.
I have 3 hazelnuts and before harvesting a lot of hazelnuts fall off and quite a few of them have a little hole.
I would like to know why it is and if it is possible to solve it.
Hello everyone .... I beg you to forgive me, because a family illness closely linked to me has separated me from the hazelnut problem and I have not been able to answer Monica .. Returning home I see that during all this time the trunk has not given branches but, at its base if suckers grow… .. I have to assume that it is alive! That there may be hope but I do not understand how the trunk does not grow twigs, I have paid if I can I would like to send you a photo of his condition. I repeat, I would not like to lose him too. If I have to peel the trunk or remove all the earth from its base ... or make a graft of his brother ... I don't know, I would like to see him healed Monica. I ask you to help me.
Hello Lola.
Don't do anything at the moment. It is a good sign that they take shoots from the trunk, even if they are from the base; that's because the roots are still alive.
Be patient. Water between once and twice a week - now that autumn is coming, it doesn't matter to water more, unless you live in a very hot and dry area.
In spring to see how it continues.
Greetings, and encouragement.
Hi Monica, I'm Jorge, I would like you to give me your opinion on the following matter. I have a piece of land in the Mogente area, in the province of Valencia. I want to do an experiment, conscious of being able to fail in the attempt, planting about 100 hazelnut bushes in a planting frame of about 5 × 6 meters. to facilitate future mechanization tasks. The nurseryman gives me the plants of the «negret» variety and mycorrhized with tuber melanosporum. In this semi-mountainous area (about 350 to 380 m above sea level) it is not ideal for growing black truffles and that is why I use hazelnuts instead of holm oaks, since the possibility of harvesting hazelnuts is a complement. which I found interesting to maximize economic opportunities. For hazelnut I have a limestone soil with a neutral pH (7-7.5). Winters are mild, with temperatures that rarely drop below -5ºC, although summers are harsh with temperatures that can exceed 40ºC in August, with average annual rainfall in this area below 400mm. For such cases, you could have sprinkler irrigation at height to cool the plants at dusk, complementing a surface drip irrigation system. I have planted two bushes behind my house in the garden, to test and I think they work very well, they have perfectly withstood the severe summer, with just a couple of waterings or three per week; they have an abundant flowering, with flowers of several centimeters, being that I planted them in the second half of February. In the planting hole I put the soil mixed with some horse and cow manure (not too much) and a good amount of coffee grounds that I have been collecting from the bars. This is the project I have, and if I see that it works in the following years, I would expand the plantation, but maybe you can give me some advice or your opinion, any expert contribution is always interesting. Do you think this project is viable under these conditions? An affectionate greeting, Jorge.
Hello Jorge.
Well, the first thing I'm not an expert 🙂, so what I'm going to tell you is based on my knowledge and experience with hazelnut.
First of all, tell you that I am in Mallorca, also in the south, which is the driest area of the island with about 350mm per year distributed in April / May and from September to November above all. Temperatures between 40ºC maximum in August / September and -1,5ºC in February few times.
The soil is limestone, pH 7, and although it is fertilized with ecological fertilizers (banana and egg peels, wood ash, chicken manure, etc.) it is a soil that has a great tendency to erosion, as the Mediterranean sun We already know how it is in summer, which, added to the low rainfall, hurts it. As if that were not enough, it is compact, so before planting anything delicate I have to make a big hole and mix the soil with perlite.
My experience with this tree is not good. During the first year it is fine, with leaves and even growing -at a slow pace-, but from the second its rhythm stops and it becomes "peeled" before its time. That is when I can give it up for lost. Even if it is properly subscribed.
Hazelnut is a fruit tree that wants fertile, loose soils, and that also has good drainage. The point in favor of your project is that you fertilize the land, so that this part would not have problems. But ... the pH and high summer temperatures would prevent it from having good growth. In fact, I think that to have it well, that is, healthy, you would have to water every 15 days or so with iron sulfate, so that the tree would not have problems.
But I will also tell you that plants can surprise you. Each zone has its own microclimate, its own conditions, and each plant (as an individual being) also has its preferences. I have Japanese maples (in pot, yes) and they are luxurious, when it should not be like that.
So before spending the money on many copies, if you want to try it I would tell you to buy only one or two. But no more. If you see that they go well, then buy more. But if not, at least that loss of money will not be so great.
I hope I have helped you 🙂
A greeting.