Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: katiekate on April 06, 2011, 19:38
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Hello,
I'm lucky enough to have a twisted/corkscrew hazel tree on my plot. It's quite small, maybe 7 foot high and 3 foot spread. It produces a good crop of nuts and new shoots from the base. Does anyone know how to propergate a hazel? I have some nuts but no idea whether they need soaking/shelling before planting or even how long the expected germination time is?
Also what are he chance that they will produce a twisted hazel? -I have no idea if the tree has been grafted or not!
Trawling the net has yielded little useful info.. If anyone knows, it will be you guys!!
Thanks!!
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They would grow from nuts but would take quite a long time to develop a tree. The best bet is to find a rooted shoot from the base of the tree, chop it off and re-plant although it's a bit late in the year to start doing that sort of thing. Hazel can also be propagated by layering.
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The 'corkscrew' is a mutation so I would also layer from a portion of the tree that has the properties that you want (occasionally you get a straight section, and this should not be used). I wouldn't grow from seed as hazels are cross pollinated so they probably won't grow true.