December 8, 2016 – Mistake – Big Mistake

          It is easy to admit a mistake in hindsight.  I adore Hazelnuts.  I was planting a new garden and included two Hazelnut [filbert] Corylus avellana trees in the landscape at this residence.  This blog is a warning to think twice about planting Hazelnut trees. 

          I wanted a focal point in the front yard and the picture of the tree I found in a fruit and nut catalog seemed to fit what I had in mind.  I ordered two trees in order to get the pollination needed for the harvest of fresh nuts.   The grafted trees arrived, I planted them as instructed, and they grew.

Yes, they are an interesting tree.  In late winter the male flower is a catkin and lends winter interest. I found this charming.   The tree itself was open at the top and I cut limbs out to keep them from crossing.

However, I was not aware that the tree would have root suckers.  I was not aware that many people grow them as multi-stemmed bushes.   But, I hung in there for 5 years in order to get my crop of hazelnuts. 

Interesting catkins, interesting green fringed nuts that eventually turn brown, but the biggest time waster in my garden I have ever had.

I was commuting to work at the time so my gardening was limited to just the weekends.   Who wants to spend hours – yes – hours cutting suckers?  I was amazed at how fast they would grow.  I was cutting suckers every other month.  Not just once or twice a year which I could muster.  But, I also had landscape shrubs that needed my attention and I was simply running out of time.  The tree height was not improving as all the growth was going into the suckers. 

Wasted time in the garden is wasted time.

This was years ago – before I had the luxury of researching on the internet.   Eventually I mentioned the sucker situation to a friend and she confirmed – let them go to a bush or you will kill yourself.

The tree at the front of the house at the end of the walk was my ‘focal point’ and allowing it to turn into a bush wasn’t the answer.  I couldn’t live with a tree that was a suckering ‘mess’ fifty percent of the time.  It had to go.  Even my husband said it had to go because when he mowed the lawn the branches would reach out and grab him and cut him.

If you want to grow 4 to 6 foot wooden canes for fencing or weaving or whatever I suggest you plant a few Hazelnut trees in a far off corner of your property for such cutting.  It would be perfect for that.  If you want a barrier between your property and your neighbors, a row of them would make a quick bushy mess and probably an unhappy neighbor.  But a hazelnut tree as a focal point – not a good idea – in my opinion.

When I had finally made the decision to cut them out, I couldn’t.  I wasn’t strong enough to dig them out. My husband gave it an attempt and concurred.   We called on our handyman, Larry, and said we have a “Cuss Project”.  

Larry knew what that was.  He is our go-to man when we are in a crisis.  He came out to survey the problem as he was well aware of the difficulty Hazelnut trees were to grow and eradicate. [I guess I was the last to know.] 

Larry tackled the one on the hill first.  It took him most of a day to remove a tree that was hardly up to my shoulders. After cutting all the suckers out of the way and digging down to get a chain around the main trunk root he hooked the chained to the bumper of his pickup truck and yanked it out.  A few days later he repeated the process for the tree near the front walk.

This time of year the nuts arrive in the store.  I pick up a bag of Hazelnuts and remember all the time wasted cutting endless suckers, in an endless cycle in order to grow my own hazelnuts. 

The price of the bag of Hazelnuts 

will never cause me to flinch anymore.