Vegetative Propagation

This year we're trying our hand at mound layering some of our three year old plants. We cut the shrub to the ground in the fall of 2008 and let new sprouts grow from the crown of the plant.

In a drought year, we got about 6, 8" sprouts by July 16 from the three-year old plant coppiced last fall.

Here they are thinned to the six best shoots with all leaves stripped about 5 inches from the ground. The bare stems were painted with rooting hormone and twist ties were tied tight at the base of the stem to girdle the stem.

We then put a 12" diameter grow tube around the plants and filled it with 6" of sawdust. In theory, the plants will sprout new roots from the hormoned stems and we'll have 6 new plants out of one.

Here's a picture of the mounded plants from above. The stems are buried in sawdust and the remaining leaves are free to continue growing. The plant will stay this way until the early spring when I'll pull away the sawdust and plant out my new plants (if it works), called rooted layers.

Stay tuned...

Establishment

Establishing hazelnuts on heavy clay soils is not easy.

We think we've figured out a reliable low cost method.

Step 1. In the fall prior to planting work the ground

and seed winter rye.

Step 2. In the spring, use a garden tiller to prepare

strips with the soil worked down to six inches.

Step 3. Plant the hazelnut plants and water well.

Step 4. Mulch with wood chips to keep the weeds down.

To Tube or Not to Tube?

Badgersett tubelings are delicate plants and

very sensative to wind and rodents (at least in our experience).

So, we've used 1/3 of a standard tree grow tube to make

a handy wind shelter and rodent guard. It also protects the

plant if you want to spray round-up during the year.

How the plants perform in the tubes is still unknown (at least to me).

So, this year we've got a small trial underway using tubes on

ForestAg bareroot dormant plants. So far, it appears survival

is about the same, but there may be differences in growth. Stay tuned...

It will be important to remove the tubes in mid-August or so to let the

plants harden-off before winter.

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to the hazelnut blog of Wild Hollow Farm.

By day, I am the Agriculture Agent for University

of Wisconsin - Extension in Ashland and Bayfield County.

By night, I am a grower of around 400 hybrid hazelnuts.

Our oldest plants were planted in the fall of 2005 and

our youngest were planted in the spring of 2009.

It's July 16, 2009 and here are our Badgersett hazelnuts

planted in the summer of 2006. We had extreme drought in

2006 and 2007 and we finally had our first rain since June 10, 2009.

The weed control could be better, but slowly but surely the hazelnuts are growing.

The soils are heavy red clay formed at the bottom of glacial Lake Superior.