The right way to prune Hazel?

Posts

• purplerallim Posts: 5,287

  January 2019

  Mine is a twisted hazel and I have noticed catkins only on new growth, followed by female flowers on the same stems the following March. So if you reduce the new growth wouldn't that cut out the fruiting stems? I am new to hazel as mine is only 18 months old and about three foot wide, but we did have about a dozen nuts this autumn and have a fare few catkins again now.

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• nutcutlet Posts: 27,445

  January 2019

  Some of the older stems right to the ground, don't shorten them, they look ugly. They are large plants, if you want something that stays small Hazel is the wrong plant

  
  
  In the sticks near Peterborough

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• RedSquirrelAbroad Posts: 74

  January 2019

  Yes although I really like Hazels they were positioned too close to the house by previous owner and they cast a lot of shade in summer. They are far too big to be moved so either have to manage their growth somehow or take them out and replace with shrubs (to provide screening from the neighbours). I always feel guilty about taking out established plants and trees. 
  
  I’ll try taking out the oldest stems instead. 

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• raisingirl Posts: 7,093

  January 2019

  RedSquirrelAbroad said:

  I always feel guilty about taking out established plants and trees. 
  

  With hazel you can cut the whole thing right down to the ground. It'll probably only take about 5 or 6 years to get back to more or less full size. Or you can cut a third of the stems down, wait 2 or 3 years and then do another third and so on, so the whole tree is cut down over the course of about 10 years.
  I have 3 trees in a group and I cut one completely every 3 years, so basically doing the same process but for the group rather than each tree. It stops them becoming huge and provides a good supply of nice straight stakes - coppicing, essentially, rather than pruning

  Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
  
  “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 

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• RedSquirrelAbroad Posts: 74

  January 2019

  Thanks @raisingirl that sounds like the best solution, cutting 1/3 down so hopefully I will still enjoy some nuts and catkins. The stakes will definitely come in handy around the garden. 

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• Loraine3 Posts: 579

  February 2019

  Straight 'stakes' make good thumb walking sticks

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