Halzelnut, can I grow it????

[minskey]

I have picked up some Turkish hazelnut nuts.

The trees are growing in a local market place and the seeds were on the floor in the car park. I would like to plant them & see what happens but don't really think I know how to go about it

Any advice ?

Oh for got to say I don't have a green house but have an emty windosill

[terrier]

Here's some info I found about growing Hazelnut trees
Hazelnuts or Filberts can be found all over North America

[FB.]

Some nuts are roasted, which means dead!
If they're fresh, they need a several-week winter chill to germinate the following year. You could put them in the fridge for a few months, or just plant them outside.
The resulting tree is likely to want to grow and not produce fruit. I have a variety of hazels/cobnuts/filberts and the "seedling" trees are very difficult to get to fruit, until they reach middle age and a large size. The "cloned" commercial varieties (propapagated by layering or root suckers and grown for a couple of seasons at teh nursery) will often produce nuts the year after planting. Hazels grow like weeds in all kinds of soils - including very poor, dry, shallow soils where little else can thrive.
If you plant a seed, expect it to grow 10-15ft tall, take ten years to bear nuts and it may be only a light cropper. The commercial varieties (Kent, Gunslebert, GustavZeller, Butler, Cosford and others) are more reliable and mroe controllable, although Cosford is a strong grower and is more suited to being a pollinator, with it's masses of catkins at the expense of flowers. Pollination isn't always an issue, since it is wind-scattered pollen that can travel miles from wild hazels in roadside hedges. Butler is a fairly strong grower. Kent and Gunslebert are medium growers. Gustav Zeller is a weak grower.

[minskey]

I forgot to ask if I have to shell the hazelnut before I plant it

[quark1]

Could be an interesting project.

If....you have the room and patience for a long term growing spree before nut production.

Just grow it for the fun and if you get the benefit of fruit/nuts in the future count it as a Brucie bonus!

I'm currently growing Dragon Fruit (cactus) - have got a 6" cactus (with wings as I call it) out of it in first year - I know it will be a straggley old thing and 'IF' I am to expect fruit - will have to give it a substantial container and support in years 2 and 3! But hey - life's about learning and having fun - in this case with a freebie hazel.

Good luck - and report back your findings!

[bluemoon]

We have a variety called Gustav Zeller, I'm sure the nuts would be lovely, but I've never beaten the squirrels to them. Even so we're planning on planting another hazel this autumn, probably of a different variety.

[maytreefrannie]

In the DVD on Paradise Gardens, Geoff Hamilton advises that you need two types of hazel trees to pollinate each other - he seems to infer any two types will do, so it might be an idea to get another type of hazel to try out as well.

He gives the impression that hazel can be prolific - I thought I'd like to try them myself, though I think he was recommending getting trees already several feet high.

Good luck with them.

[FB.]

We have a variety called Gustav Zeller, I'm sure the nuts would be lovely, but I've never beaten the squirrels to them. Even so we're planning on planting another hazel this autumn, probably of a different variety.

I'll allow the squirrels to take a small portion of my hazelnuts, but if they start causing damage by burying them in the grass, or take more than their fair share, I have a few air rifles that would soon put a stop to that.

[FB.]

In the DVD on Paradise Gardens, Geoff Hamilton advises that you need two types of hazel trees to pollinate each other - he seems to infer any two types will do, so it might be an idea to get another type of hazel to try out as well.

He gives the impression that hazel can be prolific - I thought I'd like to try them myself, though I think he was recommending getting trees already several feet high.

Good luck with them.

Requirement for pollinators depends where you live. Many roadside hedgerows have wild hazel, which you can see dangling their long, yellow-ish catkins in Jan-Feb. They will do the job, since hazels are pollinated by the wind blowing pollen onto the flowers. Flick a hazel catkin in late winter and you'll see it release a cloud of pollen into the air.
A home-grown hazel will probably take 5-10 years to start producing. The recognised commercial varieties (e.g. Kent, Gunslebert, Gustav-Zeller) have heavier yields and often start producing at only 3-4 years old.

[minskey]

yes, but do I pop the whole nut shell and all into a pot or do I have to shell it and put the nut in a pot.

It is a turkish hazel, fruit would be a bonus but I'd just like to grow the tree as they are so nice

[bluemoon]

Our allotments are beside a small woodland which does contain hazel, so I've never had problems with pollination. The pollen must drift a fair distance too as our plots are among the furthest away

[quark1]

Minskey - regarding putting nut in shell in pot all at once - nature will just drop its nuts and perhaps some will fall and grow. Others will be taken and buried whole by squirrels and other wild creatues. Perhaps a few half eaten ones might survive animal interaction.

I'd try a pot of whole ones, a pot of lightly 'cracked-shells' ones and one where the nut has been taken out of the shell. Perhaps 3 per pot to begin with. Lets us know what your results are and maybe others can benefit here by your experience!

Unless there are very good reasons - like poor germination - a guiding hand from the way nature does things is usually the best method to try and copy at home. Where they grow wild there is no shortage of hazel trees/bushes.

[snohare]

When I was working for a tree nursery, they used to put the hazelnuts, shell and all, into sandy soil (leaf mould underneath free draining coarse sand) and simply leave them overwinter. Mark you, they had a dire germination rate - it was the one tree they never had in stock !
I believe like beech seeds, hazelnuts are often hollow or have only withered seeds inside. So you would perhaps be best advised to act as with beech mast and put them in a bucket of water and discard the ones that float - I say perhaps, because of course there is usually some air in the viable ones, and the nutcase is wood, so they might all float...

[FB.]

This is what I'd do, if I wanted to grow a hazel from seed.

I would carefully crack off the shell and put the nut in the fridge (below 6'C) for two months. Put it in a small container with the date written on the top.

Around Christmas time, I would put the nut into a pot of compost and keep it indoors on a sunny window ledge. Remember to keep the compost properly watered.

The nut ought to germinate within a few weeks and you should then keep the plant indoors until about mid-May, when the weather is mild and frosts are no longer a problem, then transfer it outdoors to "harden-off".

As mentioned above; you will find that some nuts are hollow, some have a shrivelled nut inside, some are damaged by fungus that has penetrated into the nut and others have been eaten by various bugs (especially earwigs) that manage to get into the nut.

I just tried floating a hollow nut and a normal nut in my sink and they both float. (I can "feel" the slight weight difference between a hollow and a good nut).

[WrexTheDragon]

I have just cut down an 8 foot hazel in my garden. As far as I am aware There are no other hazel trees nearby, yet mine had nuts on every year. The squirrel that comes in the garden is not interested in them. Peanuts is it's food of choice.

I get lots of seedlings growing under the tree from when the nuts drop, just like weeds. Nature can be your worst enemy.

I tried to eat them once, but was not impressed as the nuts are quite small. So it goes this year and I am planting a pear tree in it's place.