Whatta ya know about growing hazelnuts/filberts?

[elf]

I love hazelnuts (filberts) and have catalogs that say the shrubs or bushes grow here (Ga.) I think I read they're like a hedge. Anybody grown these?

 

[journey11]

My FIL planted two trees. They get good harvests off of them and my MIL hoards them like a squirrel!

You have to buy 2 varieties for pollination. If you allow suckers to develop, you will have bushes. Prune out all suckers and let it form a single trunk--then you have a tree, which is more productive. They can be propagated by cuttings, but the most common technique is to peel a small strip of bark on a sucker and bend it over to the ground, cover with soil and weight down with a rock until roots develop.

Once established they are very low maintenance. You only have to watch them like a hawk for the nuts to be ready so that you can beat out the wildlife that find them so yummy too.

They also grow wild, which is probably the hedges you are talking about. I see a lot of them around here. The wild varieties don't produce as large of a nut, but are considered to be more flavorful.

 

[elf]

Cool. Need to plant some hiding bushes for the chickens when I get around to cutting down all these old naturalized Bradford pear crosses, or whatever they are, that took over the pasture here before I bought it. Thorn covered pear trees with no usable fruit. Give me real pears! Guess I'll get a couple hazelnuts to start with, and cage well in area where I want a tree. Then propagate more for a hedge where I'm willing to share with chickens, assuming they can eat them. I love the idea of a tree that you can multiply. Do the nuts just fall off in autumn, do you shake them over a tarp, cure them out? I 'll have to fight the deer for them, but I've room to plant lots for them and me both. I have about 10 acres of pasture overgrown with trumpetvine, poison ivy, trees, and you-name-it, which I dream of slowly (very) converting to orchard, berries, and veggies. One person's nightmare is another's dream.

 

[journey11]

My MIL just picks them up off the ground. Wouldn't hurt to try to shake a few down I'm sure. Get 'em before the critters do... They do need awhile to cure. Usually they are ready to use by Christmas. But if you plan to keep them over a year, I'd refridgerate/freeze them after that because they go rancid after a while.

10 acres, that's a lot of potential you have to work with. I'd plant an orchard too! (Among other things!)

 

[hoodat]

Watch out for deer. They love to browse on them.