Nut producing shrub

[Native Hunter]

No one ever even mentions these nut-producing, native shrubs. The also make excellent screens. I guess no love for them.

 

[Bill]

Witch hazel?

 

[b116757]

I’ve considered planting native hazelnuts just haven’t gotten around to fooling with them yet.

 

[Foggy47]

We've got a bumper crop of Hazel nuts coming on this year. All are natural occurring for me. Seems they grow and grow....nothing touches em......then one day they are all gone. Usually early October....IIRC.

 

[Native Hunter]

Witch hazel?

Yes, Witch Hazel. The little nuts shoot out of the pods and can fly several feet.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

No one ever even mentions these nut-producing, native shrubs. The also make excellent screens. I guess no love for them.

I've mentioned witch hazel a number of times on several threads. We have native ones and we've planted new ones in new locations. The little blackish seeds shoot out up to 20 feet if the conditions are right. AND - they're an understory shrub - meaning they'll grow beneath oaks, maples, ash, hickory, and other hardwood trees, despite getting shaded. Bucks LOVE to rub on the witch hazel "trunks" once they get tall enough. Squirrels and birds of all sorts eat the seeds - good grouse food here.

 

[Native Hunter]

I've mentioned witch hazel a number of times on several threads. We have native ones and we've planted new ones in new locations. The little blackish seeds shoot out up to 20 feet if the conditions are right. AND - they're an understory shrub - meaning they'll grow beneath oaks, maples, ash, hickory, and other hardwood trees, despite getting shaded. Bucks LOVE to rub on the witch hazel "trunks" once they get tall enough. Squirrels and birds of all sorts eat the seeds - good grouse food here.

I laid some of those nuts on a table in my basement once. When I walked back down there in a couple of days, they had shot out and were scattered all over the floor. Took me a while to figure out what had happened. I thought I had been invaded by rats!

 

[PatinPA]

I'm quickly running out of room for fruit trees and there is no way I'm stopping planting stuff so I'm thinking about starting to add more shrubs. I'll add those to the list.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I laid some of those nuts on a table in my basement once. When I walked back down there in a couple of days, they had shot out and were scattered all over the floor. Took me a while to figure out what had happened. I thought I had been invaded by rats!

Last early fall, I collected a bunch of the seed capsules and put them in a big paper grocery bag. I'd read about how they shoot out their seeds, so I wanted to keep them contained. After a few days of drying, I could hear the seeds being "shot" out within the bag. I had thousands of small, hard, black seeds in that bag.

A local Pa. outdoor writer tried an experiment to see how far the seeds shoot. He placed some seed capsules at one end of his unfinished basement, and left them undisturbed for several days. He found the seeds had shot a distance of 20 to 25 ft. when he found the seeds at the other end of his basement. That writer wrote about his findings in a book - that's how I learned about them.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

How would these best be planted/protected? In a bunch or in a row? Tubed/caged? I am intrigued by these and want to get more turkeys around (also deer, but I thought that went without saying...)

 

[Native Hunter]

How would these best be planted/protected? In a bunch or in a row? Tubed/caged? I am intrigued by these and want to get more turkeys around (also deer, but I thought that went without saying...)

I can plant them without protection, but I’m in a low deer number area. They are multi stemmed so rubbing don’t kill them.

 

[Teeder]

I have a rather large bush right beside my home stand. You've inspired me to try starting some now!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I can plant them without protection, but I’m in a low deer number area. They are multi stemmed so rubbing don’t kill them.

We have a lot of witch hazel growing in our mountains, and even with good deer populations, they don't get chewed much - if at all. No cages required from my experience. They make great understory cover to thicken the woods. They also grow well on woods edges.

As you said, they're multi-trunked. Bucks love to rub on those trunks here - with no bad effects to the whole cluster. The attraction that I see with deer - beside rubbing - is that once they get 8 or 10 ft. tall, and they get that "bending-over" look, deer seem to like to travel UNDER them and make scrapes UNDER them. I've used witch hazel clusters as a means of scouting areas for rubs and scrapes to get a handle on buck travels / populations. Deer seem to use witch hazel so much around our mountains, if I see a cluster of them - I'll go over to look for deer sign. Lots of rubs / rub scars & active (or old) scrape sites found under them. I have no idea why deer here have an attraction to them - for whatever reason.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

How would these best be planted/protected? In a bunch or in a row? Tubed/caged? I am intrigued by these and want to get more turkeys around (also deer, but I thought that went without saying...)

I've read that the best way to get them started is to buy seedlings from a nursery. Supposedly, trying to start them from seed is tough. They naturally shoot their seeds out in October & November (here in Pa. at least), and require an over-wintering to germinate. The written info says germination rates aren't great. I'm sure you could try cutting some witch hazel branches from wild sources in early to mid-October and put the seed capsules in a paper bag (they explode the seeds!!). You could then toss them around where you want some to sprout & hope for the best the following year. I wouldn't bother to cage them - I've never seen WH have a browsing problem.

I wouldn't plant them in a row - they grow naturally in clusters.

 

[TreeDaddy]

We have a lot of witch hazel growing in our mountains, and even with good deer populations, they don't get chewed much - if at all. No cages required from my experience. They make great understory cover to thicken the woods. They also grow well on woods edges.

As you said, they're multi-trunked. Bucks love to rub on those trunks here - with no bad effects to the whole cluster. The attraction that I see with deer - beside rubbing - is that once they get 8 or 10 ft. tall, and they get that "bending-over" look, deer seem to like to travel UNDER them and make scrapes UNDER them. I've used witch hazel clusters as a means of scouting areas for rubs and scrapes to get a handle on buck travels / populations. Deer seem to use witch hazel so much around our mountains, if I see a cluster of them - I'll go over to look for deer sign. Lots of rubs / rub scars & active (or old) scrape sites found under them. I have no idea why deer here have an attraction to them - for whatever reason.

Staghorn sumac works that way in east texas

They grow in clusters and are always loaded with rubs

bill