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A real gardener will definitely try to grow hazelnuts from walnuts. Its fruit is considered the most nutritious. And in terms of the presence of useful properties, hazelnuts are second only to walnuts. Observing the rules of agricultural technology for growing hazelnuts, and following the advice of experienced gardeners, you can grow the desired fruit in your area.
Is it possible to grow hazelnuts from walnuts
Hazelnuts are not grown on an industrial scale in Russia. Although there is nothing difficult to grow it in the middle lane and southern regions of the country. If a decision is made to grow hazelnuts from walnuts in the country, then you need to know some planting rules and adhere to them.
The peculiarity of such a planting is that the harvest of hazelnuts grown from seeds can be harvested not for 3-5 years, as in trees grown from seedlings, but for 6 years or later. Varietal characteristics may also not appear in this case. And this must be taken into account. Therefore, the seed method is more often used by breeders to develop new qualities of the hazel.
Features of germination of hazelnuts
To grow hazel from a nut at home, you need to select large, well-ripened fruits. After seedlings grow from them, further reproduction must be carried out vegetatively.
The hazelnut has male and female flowers. But he cannot pollinate himself because they bloom at different times. For pollination to occur and ovaries to appear, 2-3 varieties of hazelnuts should be grown on the site, the flowering of which coincides for pollination of each other.
How to plant hazelnuts from walnuts
There are several ways in which hazelnuts can be grown. The nuts method is the simplest. It is carried out in spring or autumn. Autumn planting of hazelnuts from walnuts should be done about a month before frost and snow. Seeds are planted at the rate of 50 nuts per 1 sq. m, deepened into the soil by 7-8 cm.
If for some reason it was not possible to plant hazelnut seeds in open ground in the fall, then before spring planting, the nuts must undergo stratification to improve germination.
To grow hazel, you can plant seeds both on seedlings and in open ground. If, after stratification, the seedlings turned out to be rare or none at all, you need to wait for the next spring. Perhaps the nuts have not passed the necessary stratification, and this will happen in winter.
Selection of planting material
The selection of nuts should be carried out in September-October. Fruits for planting should be well ripe, whole, without any damage by pests. It is recommended to inspect each nut. They should not smell like mold.
You can hardly find the necessary planting material on the market. It is better to buy it in horticultural farms or nurseries. You can borrow from the garden of a gardener friend who grew hazel on his own.
In the fall, before planting the seeds in the ground, it is advisable to treat the fruits with kerosene against rodents.
Hazelnut stratification
Before spring sowing, seeds must undergo stratification within 3-4 months. The procedure is as follows:
- The nuts are soaked in water for 5 days.
- A layer of wet sand and nuts is alternately poured into a container (wooden box or plastic bucket), thus mixing the nuts with the sand.
- The container is taken out into a room in which the temperature is within + 2 ... +50FROM.
- Periodically check the condition of the nuts, mix them with sand 1 time in 10-15 days.
The ratio of sand to nuts should be 3: 1. The container must have openings for oxygen supply.
Soil preparation
Hazelnuts are unpretentious to the condition of the soil. It can grow in different types of soil. The main thing is that these soils are not too clayey, swampy, saline and dry sandy. If the groundwater runs above 1.2 m underground, then there is a possibility of decay of the hazelnut root system.
Growing hazelnuts is equally easy on the plain and on the slopes. It is specially planted to stop soil corrosion. If the soil is infertile, then its composition can be corrected by introducing the missing elements into it in advance: slaked lime or wood ash is added to too acidic soils, chernozems are mixed with compost and sand.
The place is chosen without drafts with good sunlight, but not the south side. When exposed to the spring sun, the buds will grow rapidly in the spring, and then die in return frosts.
How to plant hazelnuts for seedlings
In the spring, after 4 months of stratification, when the nuts have begun to sprout, they should be planted in pots or in a box for seedlings. Landing rules are usual:
- Prepare a wooden box or pots.
- A fertile composition of sand, humus and earth is poured.
- Make a deepening 6-7 cm.
- They put nuts on their side, since germination occurs through the nose of the fruit.
- Cover with earth and watered.
- Cover with foil and put in a warm place for several days.
Seeds are sown for seedlings in rows with a distance between nuts of 8-10 cm, between rows - 35 cm. In this case, growing up, the seedlings will not interfere with each other.
How to properly plant hazelnuts in open ground
Nuts are planted in open ground in the fall a month before the snow falls or in the spring, in the already warmed and dug ground. Spring planting is carried out with stratified nuts. The algorithm is the same in both cases:
- Grooves are made, with a depth of the width of the palm.
- Lay the nuts on one side at a distance of about 8 cm from each other, if you plan to grow them in this place up to 2 years of age. If this place is intended for 3 years of seedling life, then the distance should be greater.
- Sprinkle nuts with earth about 1-2 cm.
- Watered with water immediately after planting and repeated after a week.
- Cover with foil to create a greenhouse effect.
In the spring, the film is periodically removed for airing and removed completely as unnecessary.
Hazelnut seedlings that have been grown in seed pots are planted in open ground, given that the distance between them should be about 5 m, since the hazel grows in width.
Care of young seedlings
A year after planting the nuts, young seedlings grow about 15 cm in height and with a stem thickness of 3 mm. In this case, they can already be transplanted to a permanent place. If the seedlings have not reached this size and look weak, then the transplant is better to postpone to the next year.
To grow hazelnuts from walnuts at home, you need to take appropriate care of the seedlings, which includes:
- regular watering;
- fertilization;
- pruning;
- prevention against pests and diseases.
Weeding and mulching
To fight weeds, which grow during the entire growing season, the soil in the near-trunk circle is loosened several times during the growing season for the first 5-6 years.It is necessary to loosen the soil in the near-trunk circle to a depth of 5-7 cm, no more, since the bulk of the occurrence of the roots falls to a depth of 20 cm of the soil. The trunk circle should be no less than the diameter of the crown.
After the onset of fruiting age, loosen the soil in the near-stem circle so as not to injure nearby roots and not disrupt the process of fruit ripening.
In the future, the ground is mulched with dry grass, wood chips or other mulch, which protects the near-trunk circle from weathering, drying, and freezing.
Watering and feeding
The hazelnut is known as a moisture-loving plant. Its fruiting depends largely on water supply. But too much moisture can cause the tree to grow sick and weak.
In dry climates, hazel trees need to be watered regularly, at least 1-2 times a week. In the Moscow region, it is enough 1-2 times a month in the spring-autumn period and 3-4 times a month in the summer. Hazel loves irrigation, which almost doubles its yield. To grow hazelnuts, one tree needs 750 mm of rain per year. Based on this, you can calculate how much water to water the hazelnuts, if you subtract natural precipitation from this.
From the moment the tree began to bear fruit, 1-2 buckets of organic fertilizers (humus) are annually brought under each hazel. Urea is added during fruit setting. In autumn, it will be useful to pour wood ash into the trunk circle.
Trimming and shaping
Hazelnut pruning is carried out for the same purpose as for other crops. It allows you to grow a tree with specified indicators, regulate growth, development, fruiting, life expectancy, and yield.
Thinning the bushes creates a bright, well-lit crown. This stimulates the growth of young shoots with fruit buds.
Pruning happens:
- post-planting;
- sanitary;
- anti-aging;
- formative.
The first pruning is done after planting the seedling. The pruning of branches depends on the root system - the thicker the thin roots, the less branches and leaves you need to prune. Conversely, the fewer thin roots, the stronger the pruning should be. This will help grow a strong root system.
Hazelnut shaping scraps are of two types: under the tree and under the form of bushes. Sanitary is often carried out in the spring to remove diseased, frozen and dry branches. Rejuvenating pruning is done by hazelnuts after the age of 15-20 years.
Protection against diseases and pests
Hazelnuts are resistant crops against diseases and pests. Gardeners have noted that a tree becomes susceptible to fungal diseases if it grows in a wetland or is watered abundantly. In this case, you have to fight infectious diseases.
The main pests attacking hazelnuts include:
- murine rodents;
- variegated woodpeckers;
- proteins;
- wild boars;
- aphid;
- beetles;
- caterpillars.
The most dangerous for hazelnuts are the nut weevil and the nut barbel. Against the weevil, digging of soil is used, collection of affected fruits, spraying of the tree before egg-laying beetles. To combat the barbel, the hazelnuts are treated with a 1% solution of colloidal sulfur.
For the purpose of prophylaxis, in the fall after leaf fall, all fallen leaves are collected and burned. Then they dig up the ground under the tree. Also, to grow hazelnuts healthy, it is necessary to treat it 2 times a year with special fungicides and insecticides, which will free you from unnecessary trouble in case of diseases.
Preparing for winter
For the first 2-3 years, young plants are covered with a covering material for the winter so that they do not freeze out. In the future, hazelnuts do not require shelter for the period of the onset of cold weather. It must be remembered that you should not apply abundant nitrogen fertilizers and water the hazelnuts in late summer and autumn.Otherwise, young shoots will begin to grow in large numbers, they will not have time to woody before the snow falls and will freeze.
Experienced gardening tips
Before you start growing hazelnuts from walnuts at home, you should familiarize yourself with the experience of those who have already done this in their area. Here are some of the tips for successful hazelnut cultivation:
- Planting wild hazel in your garden is not worth it - it gives small fruits. But you can use hazel to grow hazelnuts. To do this, a productive variety of hazelnuts is grafted on it.
- It is better to plant hazelnuts in the fall. This culture has a short dormant period, so during spring planting, most of the seedlings do not take root.
- You should not get carried away with fertilizing the soil. Too rich black soil will stimulate the growth of branches and leaves, which will reduce the yield of hazelnuts.
- For successful weed control, you can grow some crops under the hazelnut tree, for example, cereals, vegetables, grass.
The gardeners' advice they share with each other often helps to avoid repeating their mistakes.
Conclusion
Growing hazelnuts from walnuts is the dream of a truly passionate amateur gardener. Having a healthy, tasty, nutritious nut on your site that gives a rich harvest is a great reward for your investment in caring for hazelnuts. And you can get it, you just need to have patience - the fruits of hazelnuts from seeds can appear only after 10 years.
