[viettaclark]

I'm seriously thinking of buying some Kentish cob nut trees and have researched growing conditions etc. but these nurseries don't really give you any idea of how mature the tree is for the money.....just "1 tree".
There is a wide range of prices and I wondered if anyone can recommend a supplier before I take pot-luck. I usually buy from Ken Muir but he's really expensive (although always good)
I want to buy 2 types for pollination and maybe 2/3 of each and would prefer bare root bushes/trees at least 2 years old. This is cob nuts, not the common Hazel bush.
Any suggestions, please, please, please?

[GreenOwl]

I'm afraid I can't remember who I got my Kentish Cob nut tree from but I wouldn't recommend them (and it wasn't Ken Muir).  I think its another of those "you get what you pay for" times.  I'll have a think about who I got it from and let you have a negative recommendation anyway.  (I bought a pot-grown plant because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to plant it immediately, it arrived pot-grown but without the pot!  Which rather defeated the object.  That's why I wouldn't recommend them.)  I'll PM you though, they probably don't deserver a public negative.

Having said that my tree is doing really well and I'm very happy with it.  Kentish Cobs are self-fertile but you are supposed to get better crops with 2 trees for pollination.  You do know that "Kentish Cob" is a misnomer and they're actually filbert trees?  (although they're all part of the hazel family.)

You should be able to ring whatever supplier you choose and find out if they sell them as maidens or 2-year-olds.

[mumofstig]

Funnily enough most of the socalled 'Kentish Cob' nut trees I've been looking at on line are from French stock It's a mad world out there

[madcat]

We bought one for my parents and it grew and fruited really well.  Unfortunately they haven't a clue what the nuts tasted like, as the squirrel stripped it every year before they were ripe!     Be warned, you are going to have to net it!   

[GreenOwl]

I haven't netted mine and have had no problems....  They actually dropped off the tree last year before I got round to picking them so we picked them up instead of off.

The other option to netting is to pick them early and slightly underripe I'm told.

[viettaclark]

I've splashed out on 2 apples, 2 cob nuts and a walnut from scotplants. They're 2 year established trees and price was reasonable (delivery free if you spend £50)
Now OH is moaning about the holes he has to dig (I've got arthritis or I'd do it myself)
Waiting to see what they're like but they won't fruit for up to 3 years!!!

[shokkyy]

I'm seriously thinking of buying some Kentish cob nut trees and have researched growing conditions etc. but these nurseries don't really give you any idea of how mature the tree is for the money.....just "1 tree".
There is a wide range of prices and I wondered if anyone can recommend a supplier before I take pot-luck. I usually buy from Ken Muir but he's really expensive (although always good)
I want to buy 2 types for pollination and maybe 2/3 of each and would prefer bare root bushes/trees at least 2 years old. This is cob nuts, not the common Hazel bush.
Any suggestions, please, please, please?

Years back I bought a couple from Scotts Nurseries in Somerset. They were an old-fashioned nursery with a vast assortment of trees, hedging, fruit trees and bushes and assorted plants. The trees I bought from them (cob, gage, apple and pear) were all very good indeed and very well priced. Sadly, I believe the nursery went into liquidation and I don't know if anyone bought them out or reopened it.

[viettaclark]

After much trawling I've found that Scot Plants is the on-line site for Hedgehog Nursery in.....Fife! So "Scot" actually meant Scot!
I feel a bit daft because I'm in Southampton which is the other end of the country (all those road miles) but the blurb about the nursery is reassuring.