Hello there, I see that you're interested in growing hazelnuts, that's great or you are already growing, which is also cool.
Today I am gonna write about my experience with growing hazelnut trees. There are a couple of things worth mentioning:
1. I am not a farmer. I am just gonna write about my experiences, which are gathered in the previous two seasons.
2. Hazelnut is the first kind of tree I am trying to grow.
3. I do not live in the place where my orchard is, my presence there is tied mostly to the weekends.
4. I am not commercial grower with X acres, I have almost 2 acres and i try to utilize it as much I can with my knowledge. My advice will be mostly for people that are growing on a small scale.
5. Do not take me for granted, these are just my observations, I may be wrong on some topics, feel free to leave comment if you think I should fix something.
Now that I've set parameters, that means I can start.
Hazelnut
I am not gonna bother with stuff you can find on Wikipedia or similar websites, gonna jump straight to the important parts.
What I think is good practice:
1. Location - Hazel tree loves sunny places with a good nutrient rich, drained soils, with a just right amount of water and a good Ph levels. Let's be real, most of us do not have this kind of conditions. That shouldn't discourage you not to start planting this magnificent plant.
2. Spacing - Very important, so try to find optimal spacing, my optimal was a little smaller than recommended since I do not have much space to spare. 4 meters x 4 meters is my preferred spacing for my use-case. This should be also changed if you plant some varieties which are more lush than others, especially if you use some kind of mechanization for field works.
3. Varieties - Choosing the compatible varieties is really important because of pollination. Most of varieties are dependent on the pollen from different hazel plants. I am not gonna post recommendations, because of different species that are available in different parts of the word, it's up to you to do the homework and see what works for your region
4. Irrigation - This is necessary for all the hot climate with yearly precipitation lower that 800mm (32 inches) of rain. It's also important to have that rain distributed across the year evenly, also it could not harm to add a little bit water during the May, June, and July. August and September are harvest months and also an end of vegetation period for Hazel. If you do not have irrigation available, try to harvest some rain, mulch your trees. Mulch will decompose and will increase organic matter in the soil, that means that water retention will be better, since water is easier stored in soils rich with organic matter.
5. Fencing - For people that have a lot of wild creatures in their region, this is highly recommended. Deers, rabbits, squirrels and a bunch of other creatures will be happy to destroy your hard work in a matter of days. Deers will eat your new branches, destroy the bark of the tree with their antlers or event break small hazel tree in half. Rabbits will do the damage to the bark which will lead to death of the plant. Squirrels will steal your hard earned fruit.
6. Patience - Hazel is not tree that will mature somewhere between 8-10 years if was not interrupted or damaged. It's a long term investment to create Hazel orchard, but be sure, once it's established, it will give you back fruit for all of your hard work. Interesting thing about Hazel is that it will give fruit for 40-60 years. That means that your children and your grandchildren will be able to enjoy some tasty hazelnuts you provided for them.
7. Pruning - is the essential for the health and growth of the Hazel. Learn to prune and to shape it per your use-case/wish.
8. Form - Hazel come in two forms. First one is the natural one and it's the Hazel in the bush form. This is how it grows in the nature and some of the easier ways to propagate it. Second form is grafted Hazel trees, the rootstock is from the wild hazel which do not create shoots beside the trunk and the grafted part is from the specific variety.
What mistakes I made:
1. Education - Just wanted to plant it and I just did. This finished with half of my plants dead in the first year. After that happened, bought a book, read it, changed the perspective on some stuff, but ultimately decided that book is not gonna cover my specific state of soil, lack of irrigation and lack of mechanization for mowing and soil works.
2. Irrigation - I do not have water well on my land I heavily rely on rain and mulching. This was the big part in the death of half plants. I specifically planted 2 and 3 year old seedlings with a big roots, that means that need for water was bigger that for one year old plants.
3. Planting - I used gas auger for digging some holes where i planted the trees. Most of those resulted in death because when using auger, it creates a hole, but walls of that hole are solid clay/dirt so the roots can't pass through and spread. Spade and shovel are your best friends for small scale farmers. Hole should be 40cm x 40cm and 20-30 cm depth.
4. Treatment - I used to follow recommended treatments for hazel, but i figured out that doesn't work for me. Now i only use nettle tea for the spraying and it works like a charm. Google recipes for that if you are interested. It can be used as insecticide and food for plant. HERBICIDES ARE A BIG NO NO in my experience.
5. Tillage - My cousin helped me with tillage and I honestly hated it, always barren land following with ambrosia field, a big allergen for most of the people. Now i have grass, weeds, flowers, bunch of species in my orchard, which are doing their job. It drastically changes from season to season, each season more lush and more beautiful.
Photos
June 2022 - Survivors.
June 2022 - One of them decided to fruit this year.
August 2022 - First harvest.
Final words
If you made it until now, thanks for reading. It really means a lot to me.
There are probably more of stuff, but this is what I can remember at the moment. Growing Hazel is fun, it takes time, patience, knowledge and hard work. Do not think it is easy.
But is it worth? - Definitely.
Would do it all over again.
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