Filbert is a garden form of hazelnut.
This is a compact shrub plant with dark green foliage and nuts, reaching a height of 3 m.
The culture is unpretentious and takes root on a suburban area.
It is grown even in northern latitudes, since some varieties of trees withstand temperatures up to -50 C.
Begin to produce hazelnuts in 4-6 years.
But if you buy 3-year-old seedlings, this period can be reduced.
Experienced gardeners at the end of the season remove abundant harvests from the bushes - there is enough to eat in the summer and to prepare for the winter.
Popular hazelnut varieties
Breeders bred many varieties of hazelnuts. Each of them has its own characteristics - the size and taste of the fruit, the timing of fruiting, resistance to certain diseases. Denote the species of nut, suitable for cultivation in all regions of the country:
• Early Trabzon. Harvest from tall bushes is possible by the end of July. Nuts - large, oval, with a slightly pointed nose. They are easy to peel because the fruit is covered with a thin shell.
• Cosford. Nuts are harvested from a tree from mid-August. Fruits - large, oblong. Variety is remarkable in that it is resistant to common diseases and pest invasion.
• Warsaw red. Shrub with red leaves forms a spherical shape. Gardeners grow this variety not only to produce hazelnuts, but also to decorate the garden. The fruits are big, tasty.
• Almond-shaped. The variety got its name because of the unusual taste - the seeds have an almond flavor. Fruits are medium in size with thin shells. Trees, subject to growing conditions, yield high yields.
• Barcelona. The plant develops a dense, heavily leafy crown. Under favorable conditions, it can grow up to 5 m in height. Hazelnuts of this variety tolerates cold. Nuts - very large, slightly flattened. Fruit kernels - tasty, juicy, covered with a thin shell. Gardeners begin to harvest in early September. The main disadvantage of the Barcelona variety is its vulnerability to moniliosis.
• Roman. The variety is famous for large nuts, which begin to ripen by August. The plant is resistant to diseases and pests.
• Galle. The tree grows thickly leafy. Nuts are cone-shaped, large, with a thick shell. This variety of hazelnuts is more suitable for growing in the southern regions, because the fruits ripen only by the end of September. Halle is considered the most prolific variety of all.
Where to grow hazelnuts?
Hazelnuts, being a forest plant, prefers warm, sunny, well protected from strong winds places. Allocate for growing trees plot near the south-western or western walls of the house. If this is not possible, then hedging can become a defense against drafts. But make sure that the plants are no closer than 4-5 m to the hazelnuts. Otherwise, the root system will lack nutrients.
It will be easier to care for overgrown walnut trees if plant them on level ground. So the site will be easily accessible for processing - weeding the earth, fertilizing. Hazelnut dislikes often flooded lands - grow it where a lot of moisture does not accumulate in the spring. Groundwater should be no closer than 1.5 m to the ground surface.
Walnut tree is unpretentious to the composition of the soil. But you will get a high yield if you prepare a garden bed properly before planting. The only thing that hazelnuts will not tolerate is sandy, strongly acidified and wetlands. The best option for him will be light, well-drained black soil.
If there are acidic, podzolic soils on the plot, be sure to treat the beds with lime at the rate of 500 g per 1 m2. Make it better a year before planting, otherwise - the young seedling will not take root in the garden. Immediately before planting, remove the weeds and dig the area (one and a half bayonet). Fertilize fertilizers in the upper layers of the earth for the best survival of seedlings - 50 g of potassium salt and 200 g of superphosphate. Dimensions of landing holes - 60 * 50 cm.
Planting hazelnuts
The most successful time for planting hazelnuts - early October. Since the tree has a very short period of rest, in the spring many seedlings do not take root. If you missed deadlines, then spring disembarkation is carried out in April-May.
Buy seedlings for planting hazelnuts in specialized nurseries. Pay attention to the root system of planting material - no traces of diseases and pests are allowed. If the individual roots are dried, cut off the affected parts. But strong pruning is not allowed - hazelnuts do not have enough strength for development.
Place the seedling in the hole in such a way that the trunk of the tree is 3–4 cm deeper into the ground than it was planted in the nursery. In this case, the root neck should not be covered with soil. The roots in the pit should be carefully straightened and thrown loose earth. After planting, the trunk circle is watered abundantly - 20-25 liters of water. And when moisture is absorbed into the soil, grumble the ground using sawdust, bark, wood chips or peat. Planted plant prune to 5-6 buds.
Hazelnut seedling ready for planting
If you plant several copies, then stick to a certain pattern:
• distance between rows - 5-6 m,
• distance between plants - 4-4.5 m.
In the future, young shrubs support may be required. There will be enough of a wooden peg hammered alongside. A young trunk is tied to it. An adult tree will no longer bend under the weight of foliage and fruit.
Hazelnut care
When planted, ensure proper care. It will not take much time. Fundamental rules:
• Watering. Despite the fact that hazelnuts do not like swampiness, it responds well to abundant timely watering. This is especially important in the dry summer - the plant will die. Depending on the weather, hazelnuts moisturize 1-2 times a month. In July, regularly check to see if the ground has dried around the trunk - during this period, many varieties begin to actively grow fruits that need an abundance of nutrients. The amount of watering will depend on the age of the hazelnut. An adult copy will require up to 50 liters of warm water. Some gardeners do not moisten pristvolny circles, and pour the required amount of water into the hole, dug in close proximity to hazelnuts.
• Top dressing. For hazelnut fertilizer, if it grows on micronutrient-rich soil, use a minimum of nitrogen fertilization. In this case, the green mass grows abundantly, but the yield drops. Organic matter is used as a source of nutrients, for example, slurry. Before the growing season, the nut will need potassium and phosphorus. When the growth of the ovaries begins, hazelnuts can be fertilized with 0.5% urea. During the fruiting period, add 1-2 pails of humus to the tree trunks (with the addition of 100 g of nitroammofoski). In autumn, feed the tree with tree ash.
• Mulching. To keep the moisture longer in the ground, regularly refresh the mulch.
• Loosening. In the first 3-5 years, the land must be carefully processed - remove weeds and loosen the beds. Do not allow the top layer of the earth to be covered with a dense crust. Make sure that the trunk circle was not less than the size of the crown. When treating a young tree, do not loosen the soil deeply, as you can damage the root system - 5-7 cm is enough. It is better to leave pristvolnye circles during the fruiting of hazelnuts alone.
• Shelter for the winter. Adult specimens endure the winter. But the young seedlings need protection. In the first 3 years, cover the shrub with a spanbond. You can use another way - bend the branches to the ground and cover with spruce branches and snow. So you protect young shoots from strong gusts of wind.
An important rule in the care of hazelnuts - timely pruning of plants. Many of its varieties grow strongly, which does not contribute to abundant crops and causes the appearance of disease. Experienced gardeners grow hazelnuts in bush form. Cut off excess shoots from plants at a young age. And when it enters the phase of fruiting, you only need to update the shoots, because the nuts are formed only on the annual wood. Anti-aging pruning is carried out in the spring, and cut off the old damaged branches until the autumn.
Hazelnut pruning
Start harvesting when the nuts begin to fall out of the wrapper. Do it by hand or just shake the tree. This is followed by the stage of separation from the fruit wrapper and drying the harvest.
Hazelnut reproduction
When the "test" hazelnut gives the first harvest, you can expand the plantation, planting a few more copies. Now it is not necessary to buy seedlings in the nursery - take planting material from the mother plant.
There are 3 ways of breeding hazelnuts:
• Seeds. Seed propagation is difficult. If you are not afraid of difficulties, select nuts from the best bush. They can be planted in spring and autumn. When autumn sowing (late September), deepen the fruit by 4-6 cm in loose soil. The beds to ensure optimal temperature conditions must be mulched, otherwise the nuts will not hatch. Spring sowing involves preliminary stratification. Place the seeds in a nutrient substrate - peat, sawdust. The container should stand for 2 weeks in a warm place (18-22 ° C). And then you can take it to the basement - it is necessary to provide a temperature of + 1 ... -5 ° C. Here the fruits should be located until the planting in an open area. The best time for planting stratified fruits is early May. If high-quality seed material is chosen, by the beginning of autumn the seedlings reach a height of 25-30 cm.
Sprouted Hazelnut Seed
• Layering. Bend a healthy branch to the ground and lay in shallow grooves. To "secure the twig, use special brackets. And place the top of the shoot 15 cm vertically and tie it to the peg. During the period when young twigs start to form, they are tucked. When rooting takes place, the" children "can be separated 1 year This method is bad because the rooting of cuttings is slow.
Reproduction hazelnut layering
• Root growth. At the very base of the root shoots are formed branched roots - this is the root shoots. Carefully separate them from the mother tree and transfer them to a new location. Perform the procedure in the spring. Rooting can be accelerated by trimming a part of a bush. This method is the easiest, they often use novices for reproduction of hazelnuts.
How to protect hazelnuts from diseases and pests?
Many varieties of hazelnuts are resistant to diseases and invasions of insect pests. But if you did not plant such specimens on the plot, you will have to monitor the condition of the landings much more closely. The cause of the emergence of diseases (especially fungal) is the wrong conditions - drought, flooded soil, crown thickening.
The most common disease of hazelnuts, which many gardeners are forced to fight - powdery mildew. This is a fungus that infects leaves and shoots. They are covered with a grayish sticky coating. Later, black spots appear on the mold. It is bad that the fungus can calmly winter the winter, returning later to the plant. If traces of powdery mildew are found on the foliage, remove the damaged parts of the plant and burn them. Hazelnuts can be sprayed several times with a 10-day break with a 2% solution of lime-sulfur decoction.
Powdery Mildew Damage
To prevent or get rid of insect pests already settled in the leaves, regularly inspect the twigs. The most dangerous bugs:
• Walnut Weevil. The insect females gnaw nuts — you can't eat them anymore. Hazelnuts can be freed from the nut weevil by digging deep around the trunk, as the larvae and adults live in the soil. Spraying will help with special products.
Hazelnut damaged by weevil
• Walnut barbel. The bug infects the shoots of the plant, which affects the decrease in yield. Damaged branches eventually die off. Cut and burn affected stems, process the plant with special solutions.
Walnut barbel
Follow the planting hazelnuts - no diseases and pests will not be afraid of them.
