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How quickly can I propagate hazelnuts?

Mike Jay

gardener

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Location: Northern WI (zone 4)

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posted 1 year ago

I'm determining how many hazelnuts to purchase for my living fence. My desired final amount is 35 plants (on a 3' spacing). If that spacing is horribly incorrect, please let me know

I think I'll buy them from Badgersett in "tubeling" form. They seem to be a good hybrid hazelnut with a nice price tag.

I believe the only ways to propagate them is by air layering, burying a branch or planting a nut. I'm not sure if cuttings root as well as air layering. I'm just basing this off of a fairly detailed Hybrid Hazelnut PDF from Badgersett.

So, should I just buy 35 tubelings? Or get 12 and propagate them to fill in the spaces? If so, how long until I'd have the holes in the fence planted?

Thanks for any guidance anyone can provide!

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Joseph Lofthouse

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Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

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posted 1 year ago

The hazelnuts that I've grown sucker like crazy. Perhaps plant them, let them grow for a few moths, then run over them with the lawn mower. I bet that each plant would send up a half-dozen shoots. Chop them apart the next spring, and transplant to their desired location. Maybe you let them grow a full season in their initial location before chopping them off in early spring... Some variation on that theme seems about right to me. Maybe you chop down the mother trees once a year, until you get your hedge fully populated.

My Current Seed Catalog / Author of Mother Earth News: Landrace Gardening Blog. My participation in online forums is not an endorsement of any person, organization, or philosophy.

Mike Jay

gardener

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Location: Northern WI (zone 4)

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posted 1 year ago

Thanks Joseph! I was hoping these hybrid ones would sucker but from what they say (buried in the PDF) they generally don't sucker. They send up many shoots from the roots in the same spot. From that I got the impression that unless I wanted to try to spade the root ball in half, I wouldn't be able to count on suckering for propagation.

Suckers-on-Hazels.png

Joseph Lofthouse

gardener

Posts: 3553

Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

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posted 1 year ago

Mike Jay wrote:Thanks Joseph! I was hoping these hybrid ones would sucker but from what they say (buried in the PDF) they generally don't sucker. They send up many shoots from the roots in the same spot. From that I got the impression that unless I wanted to try to spade the root ball in half, I wouldn't be able to count on suckering for propagation.

Don't use a spade... Use regular wood working tools. Saws. Lopers, etc... You just need a piece of stem with a root and a leaf-bud. Life wants to live. We tend to be way too delicate with propagules.

My Current Seed Catalog / Author of Mother Earth News: Landrace Gardening Blog. My participation in online forums is not an endorsement of any person, organization, or philosophy.

John Weiland

pollinator

Posts: 1126

Location: RRV of da Nort

posted 1 year ago

Mike Jay wrote:I'm determining how many hazelnuts to purchase for my living fence.

I think I'll buy them from Badgersett in "tubeling" form. They seem to be a good hybrid hazelnut with a nice price tag.

Thanks for any guidance anyone can provide!

Hi Mike,

I can't recall how far north you are in Wisconsin, but if you are doing your first plantings this year, perhaps also consider contacting this producer (below). I think he has hybrid stock for sale as well that has been adapted for many years near Fargo, ND. Note that he used Badgersett stock, but hybridized that stock with local wild hazelnut accessions to get genes adapted for the region.....and the cold!.

http://riverbendhazelnuts.blogspot.com/p/introduction.html

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Mike Jay

gardener

Posts: 2152

Location: Northern WI (zone 4)

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posted 1 year ago

That would be more aggressive than I was expecting to be... I will definitely consider it. Or I'll wimp out and not want to hurt my new little babies....

Assuming, just for the sake of argument, that I do wimp out and I don't take a saw to my new shrubs, how long would normal propagation take?

Hi John, I'm fairly far north but still in zone 4. Badgersett says their hybrids are stone cold hardy for my area so I think I'm ok in that respect.

Daron Williams

gardener

Posts: 825

Location: Olympia, WA - Zone 8a/b

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posted 1 year ago

I think layering would work great for you. If your hazelnuts plants get any branches that you can bend over to the ground then it should work. This would also be a gentler approach to spreading them. Here is a wiki article talking about this technique: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layering

Here is a more detailed article: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/plant-propagation-by-layering-instructions-for-the-home-gardener

I have used this technique with coppiced trees to quickly expand the plot. Nice thing is if the branches on you hazelnuts are long enough you might be able to get the spacing you are wanting without having to transplant later.

Hope that helps!

Mike Jay

gardener

Posts: 2152

Location: Northern WI (zone 4)

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posted 1 year ago

Thanks Deron, that's good info. If I had to guess then, it would take 3 years to have the intermediate hazelnuts growing on their own.

Year 1: I plant the tubelings and they get 2' high
Year 2: They get 4'-5' high
Year 3: During the early spring I layer two branches from each bush to opposing sides. By the end of that year they are hopefully self sufficient tiny bushes.

Or for $200 more I just buy all the plants I need and use layering to make more for other places. Then I'm 2 years ahead on my fence.... Decisions, decisions.

Daron Williams

gardener

Posts: 825

Location: Olympia, WA - Zone 8a/b

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posted 1 year ago

Yup, it will take a bit of time. Depends on how fast you need them all to be growing. The other thing to think about is if there are other projects you can work on while you wait for the hazelnuts to grow. Perhaps that $200 could be used for other projects? But of course if the hazelnuts are worth it to you then go for the quick option. Always lots to balance when working on projects!

Joseph Lofthouse

gardener

Posts: 3553

Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

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posted 1 year ago

On my farm, I value diversity. So I would prefer lots of genetically different plants rather than cloning a smaller number of plants.

Daron Williams

gardener

Posts: 825

Location: Olympia, WA - Zone 8a/b

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posted 1 year ago

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
On my farm, I value diversity. So I would prefer lots of genetically different plants rather than cloning a smaller number of plants.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
The hazelnuts that I've grown sucker like crazy. Perhaps plant them, let them grow for a few moths, then run over them with the lawn mower. I bet that each plant would send up a half-dozen shoots. Chop them apart the next spring, and transplant to their desired location.

Won't the shoots just be clones since they are from the same root stocks? Seems like using layering or transplanting suckers would have the same results in terms of genetic variation.

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How quickly can I propagate hazelnuts?

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