Propigating Hazelnuts via ground layering

Native Hunter

5 year old buck +
I wanted to share a step by step pictorial on how I clone hazelnuts. You might want to do this for a couple of reasons:
  1. You could have an American Hazelnut that is a prolific producer that you want to clone.
  2. You may want to clone European Hazelnuts that are resistant to the Eastern Filbert Blight. There are many named cultivars that are completely resistant, and to be sure that you get a resistant offspring, there is no better way than cloning. You can buy a few varieties and then eventually spread them all over your place.
Other plants can also be cloned similarly, but we will focus on Hazelnuts here.

Pictures 1 and 2 - First select a long, slender sprout from near the base of the existing bush. With a straight shovel, make a deep slit in the ground out from the bush which the sprout will lay in but leave part of it sticking out of the slit. Make it about 5 inches deep.

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Picture 3, 4 and 5 - Bend the sprout down in the slit and cover it with dirt. Set a rock over it to hold it in place. Set another rock in front of it to force it to grow vertically.

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Picture 6 shows the finished job with multiple sprouts from the same bush:

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I generally do this in the spring, but it could be done at other times. I leave them like this the entire year and the parts of the limbs in the ground starts forming roots. The next year in the spring, I will cut off the feeder limb from the tree and let the sprout survive on the roots it has created. You can also do this as a gradual process by cutting off only part of the feeder limb and then cutting the rest a few months later. I've done it successfully both ways. After the sprout is growing on its own roots, I let it grow another year and then dig it up and transplant it to the new location.

Picture 7 shows a transplanted sprout in a new place in the spring of 2020 that was transplanted in the spring of 2019.

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Picture 8 shows a limb coming from the mother bush that has already been buried:

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Picture 9 shows tagging. Yamhill is a very popular European Variety that was developed by Oregon State University. OSU is a leader in breeding new varieties and other important factors for the industry. Yamhill is just one of the varieties that I have going that are completely immune to Eastern Filbert Blight. Cloning is important, because seedlings from the mother trees may not be resistant. Planting several varieties for pollination is also important.

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Picture 10 shows how a buried limb will eventually create roots:

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Picture 11 is a Triple Banger!!! Three new bushes being started at the same time from the same bush:

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This whole process could probably done much faster than my method, but I prefer to stretch it out over a couple of years. That gives a lot more time for the roots to develop before you do the transplanting. I have a very high success rate with this and once you get started you can do a few every year to keep a constant supply coming.

Best wishes and good luck if you try it.
 
Awesome post, thank you.
The first year I planted apples I put a few hazelnuts between the apples, now each has grown up to the point that one has to go. I’ve been looking for a way to move the hazelnuts, I think this might be the way to go.
 
Hazelnut spread like crazy. You can probably just rip them out of the ground with your bare hands and chuck them in another hole.
 
Great tip Native! I'm going to give this a try, I have a bunch of hazelnuts that look just like the one in your example with multiple suckers.
American hazelnuts are my favorite shrub to put out. Lots of benefits for wildlife, easy to work with and very tough tolerant plants. Only issue I ever have here is jap beetles like them to much so I spot spray for them early June.
 
This is a very detailed tutorial on your cloning process Native - thanks!! Maybe I am a "visual" learner, but seeing how you do it makes a lasting impression. I don't have any hazelnuts at the camp now, but that is about to change. Great post - much appreciated.
 
Hazelnut spread like crazy. You can probably just rip them out of the ground with your bare hands and chuck them in another hole.

That's how Bigfoot does it. He can also rip up 6'' DBH oaks....
 
Nice. I will try that.
 
Great instructional!
 
Can you divide and replant hazelnut? i Have some big bushes that I’m wondering if I can chunk out and plant in different places.
 
Can you divide and replant hazelnut? i Have some big bushes that I’m wondering if I can chunk out and plant in different places.
Yes, it’s easy to do. I’ve done it lots of times.
 
Great thread. I have done something similar with my yellow twig dogwoods. It worked very well. I never thought of cutting that stem/root so you could replant somewhere else. That's a great idea. I just was using layering to get them to spread out in a spot.
 
Great pictorial, thanks!
 
Thanks Native! I found a few growing naturally on my place during the Spring last year. I'll have to try this out.
 
Thanks Native! I found a few growing naturally on my place during the Spring last year. I'll have to try this out.

Good luck with it. Something else to keep in mind that I may not have mentioned - when you relocate a hazelnut to be near another different hazelnut, you are likely helping pollination between the different plants. Since they are wind pollinated, having different bushes close to each other really helps. I've been doing this with native hazelnuts for a few years, and this year I had the biggest bumper crop ever when bushes from 6 different plants pollinated each other.
 
I haven't seen any with nuts. It's probably a pollination issue. I'll relocate some I've found as you noted.
 
Learned something new today,

I never realized they were wind pollinated.

Which then brings up a question, if they do require cross pollination when you layer down a plant or split them creating a number of new plants and say you only plant those plants in a grouping even though you have multiple clumping's will you then have nut production since you really only have a bunch of clones of the parent plant?
 
Learned something new today,

I never realized they were wind pollinated.

Which then brings up a question, if they do require cross pollination when you layer down a plant or split them creating a number of new plants and say you only plant those plants in a grouping even though you have multiple clumping's will you then have nut production since you really only have a bunch of clones of the parent plant?
The clones are essentially the same plant, so that’s why I set plants from different locations close to each other. I even go to my dads farm, which is miles away and move hazelnuts to my place. The best thing to do is get clumps from several different locations within a few feet of each other. You could even make a hedge, but nut production could be slightly less with a hedge due to close competition for resources.

PS - the 6 different plants that I mention in post 16 refers to 6 completely different plants from different locations. I also have some clones in that area, but that’s okay - like planting a few extra apple trees that you really like (such as Priscilla for me) but still having others around for pollination.
 
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