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You are here: Home / Family Lifestyle Tips / Plant A Hazelnut Tree: Homestead, Health and Hazelnuts

Plant A Hazelnut Tree: Homestead, Health and Hazelnuts

November 29, 2015 by Anna Singer

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Are you happy when you can grow something that you don’t have to buy? Do you like nuts? Do you like a quick return on investments in your gardening and tree planting? Then, you just may want to plant hazelnut trees! They are a versatile, tasty food with good nutrition. In fact they are thought to be a good cancer preventative food. They are also a great way of helping your animal friends. Here is how to plant a hazelnut tree and why it is a very practical, rewarding thing to do.

Planting Hazlenut Trees For Self-Sufficiency

Common Name; The Hazelnut Scientific Name: Corylus

Hazelnuts Are Great For Aiding In Homestead Self-Sufficiency

  • Yummy small, sweet nuts for wholesome and delicious and savory foods or deserts
  • Native tree, Wildlife beneficial
  • Bears fruit(nuts) within 3-4 years- FAST!
  • Makes an attractive hedge row
  • You only need two trees for them to pollinate each other
  • Good for growing in Zones 4-9
  • Attractive, growing as high as 18’ x a 12’spread

Growing hazelnuts is a fantastic opportunity. Hazelnuts are great for homestead self-sufficiency because you can grow and harvest nuts at home without having to plant trees that will grow huge, and take years before they produce. In fact, hazelnut trees have a fast growth rate and the first hazelnut harvest can be expected within 2-5 years of planting.  You can expect a decent size hazelnut crop by by year six or seven. Mature trees can produce up to 25 pounds of hazelnuts in a single year!

What You Need To Know Before You Plant Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts or American filberts are native to the American Midwest, and grow in fertile, well drained soil. They are suitable to USDA zones 4 through 8. They make an attractive hedgerow or individual plantings that can produce heavily and consistently.  The most important thing to know if you want to grow a hazelnut that produces nuts is that you need more than one tree.  Hazelnut trees require cross pollination from a different hazelnut cultivar to produce a nut crop and trees need to be within about 65 feet of each other for cross pollination to take place.  Consult your local nursery for different pollinating varieties of filbert hazelnut trees.

How To Plant A Hazelnut Tree:

what you need to plant a hazelnut tree

Hazelnut Tree Planting Materials-

  • Space for at least 2 trees – grow them 20 feet between them and no farther 50 feet apart so they are not too close but close enough together to pollinate
  • Full sun
  • Well drained soil
  • 2 plus saplings purchased from a supplier of native Hazelnut trees
  • Shovel
  • Garden Gloves
  • Hose for watering

Instructions for Planting:

When to plant a hazelnut tree–
Plant in late fall, when the tree is dormant, but it is not too cold for the roots to take hold of their new home.

Where to plant a hazelnut tree–
Choose your locations with the above items in mind (about 20 feet apart and full sun). Make sure your soil is well-drained.

How to plant a hazelnut tree-

Dig the hole deep generously, making sure it is about twice as deep as the size of the root ball (the root ball is about the size of the container the plant is in). Keep the soil you remove digging easily accessible for refilling the hole.

deep hole for tree

If you are in doubt about the soil being well drained, you can test it once you have the first hole dug. Fill it with water, if it drains within an hour, it is sufficiently well-drained soil.

Refill the hole about 6 inches, loosening the clumps of soil as you push it back into the hole. You are making a soft, gentle “bed” to settle our sapling into. Remove your sapling from the container. You may want to use some clippers to cut it away from the plant, to avoid damage to the roots. Or you can do what I did and water the sapling, softening the soil and slide the sapling gently out of the container into the hole.

place hazelnut tree in deep hole

Then fill in the hole with the rest of the soil, loosening the soil clumps as you fill in the hole and bring the soil level up to the base of your tree. Water your newly planted tree with plenty of water, soaking it well enough to force out any air pockets. This is for the preservation of the roots.

how to plant a hazelnut tree and why

Some foods you will be to able to make with your nuts in just a few years from now; roasted hazelnuts, hazelnut milk, hazelnut butter add to granola and home made granola nut bars, baking and confections. This is the nut, that after all, makes the famous confection called Nutella. (affiliate link)

The Health Benefits Of Hazelnuts

Cardiovascular Benefits Of Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts are rich in unsaturated fats, the kind that are actually good for the heart. Much of this fat is oleic acid, shown to lower LDL “bad” cholesterol and raise the “good” HDL kind.

Cancer Prevention

Studies have found that the alpha-tocopherol type of vitamin E hazelnuts are so rich in may cut the risk of bladder cancer in half. Additionally, the manganese so abundant in hazelnuts goes a long way in protecting the body from cancer. Manganese is a constituent of an antioxidant enzyme produced in the mitochondria of the cells to protect the body from cancer.

Muscles

Hazelnuts are rich in magnesium and it plays an important role in regulating the amount of calcium that goes into and out of the cells of the body.

Skin Health

One cup of hazelnuts contains 86% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E. Vitamin E has been proven to protect skin from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, such as skin cancer and premature aging.

Bone and Joint Health

About two thirds of the magnesium the body uses goes towards building the structure and strength of the skeletal system. Hazelnuts are also rich in manganese, a mineral essential for the growth and strength of bones. Post-menopausal women are often deficient in manganese and can benefit from its ability to increase the density of bone, and fight osteoporosis.

Nervous System

The nervous system needs amino acids in order to function, and amino acids require vitamin B6. Hazelnuts are rich in vitamin B6, allowing the nervous system to operate optimally.

Digestive Tract Health

Hazelnuts are rich in manganese, which is an enzyme activator and a catalyst in the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol. It also promotes protein and carbohydrate metabolism.

High in B Vitamins

Hazelnuts are rich in vitamins B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 and B9 (folic acid). Vitamin B aids in efficient protein, carbohydrate and fat metabolism.

Conclusion

Plant a hazelnut tree, watch them grow, fruit, pollinate, attract wildlife, make a lovely hedgerow or border and finally bare nuts that you can harvest. If you are not yet a self-sufficiency nut, hazelnuts just may convert you! There are so many benefits to growing hazelnuts and hazelnuts have so many health benefits. Grow and enjoy!

“I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley…” Song of Solomon 6;11


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Filed Under: Family Lifestyle Tips, Green Living and Eco-Friendly Tips Tagged With: homestead

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. OurFamilyWorld says

    November 30, 2015 at 10:50 am

    I love hazelnuts. How I wish I had the space to plant a tree.

  2. Danielle says

    November 30, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    I love this idea! I never would have thought about planting a hazelnut tree, but now I think you’ve planted a bug in me.

  3. Brandy says

    November 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    I never realized you could plant a hazelnut tree, how cool is this? I must try to plant one next season if they will grow in my area that is.

  4. Jenna Wood says

    November 30, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    Honestly, I didn’t really even know how hazelnuts grew- I think it would be awesome to have such a hearty nut growing on the property. Thanks for the great tips and insight.

  5. Aimee Smith says

    November 30, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    Hazelnuts are some of my favorites! I never even thought of planting my own, silly me, I would love to have one.

  6. Jeanette says

    November 30, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    You are preaching to the choir here! I LOVE Hazelnut anything! If I lived where it would grow I would totally plant one.

  7. Daisy says

    November 30, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    I had never thought of planting a hazelnut tree. Sign me up for planting several of them! I love, love, love hazelnuts.

  8. Jody Smith says

    November 30, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    I love hazelnuts and had no idea how good they are for you. This sounds like a must do activity for my household for sure!

  9. Felicita Moncada says

    November 30, 2015 at 8:51 pm

    I would’ve never thought to plant a Hazelnut Tree but what a great idea! We have a pretty decent size yard so this would be perfect!

  10. Mistee Dawn says

    November 30, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    I never knew how many awesome benefits it had! I need to plant a Hazelnut Tree!

  11. Tim says

    February 3, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    This is the 3rd season my hazelnut trees have been in the ground and they have recently set the pollen tassels, so I’m hoping for a few nuts this year! 🙂

  12. marty walsh says

    February 13, 2016 at 4:05 pm

    Planting 4 in my hedgerow this spring. The two year old container growns are overwintering on the outside of my greenhouse. Lame-O me didn’t get to it in time this past Autumn. So many people in the countryside in Ireland are planting those horrid Leylandii and manicuring their wild hedgerows to death. I’m going to be different and have wild edibles for me and the wildlife. Teach by example.

  13. Sky says

    August 3, 2016 at 8:55 pm

    I’m in zone 10b.. does anyone know the reason why they are only listed to zone 9? Can they not take the heat? Do they need a certain number of chill hours? I’d love love love to have one, but don’t want to spend money/time to only realize it won’t work here.

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