Hazelnut pruning - Ask Extension
Dear OSU
Me and my friend started our own plantation of filberts this year. Aprox around 2ha in size. We are form Serbia which is a small country in ...
Knowledgebase
Hazelnut pruning #505520
Asked November 25, 2018, 2:08 PM EST
Dear OSU
Me and my friend started our own plantation of filberts this year. Aprox around 2ha in size. We are form Serbia which is a small country in Europe.
So far I have managed to acquire a lot of information about growing filberts from your website and generally from the Oregon state filbert related websites, since Oregon is the place of filberts obviously in the US.
The thing about growing filberts in the US is that you usually form them as trees.
Since this is not common in Europe, I was wondering about if you could provide me with an instruction how do you prune your filberts so they form as trees? I know the general story, but what would really help me is a step by step instruction for after planting, 1st year, second year , third year…etc. What to prune? What to leave ? Why? And so on…
Also , here are some of the filberts we have. Some are typical bush type and some are grafted on to Corylus colurna types.
Best regards
County Outside United States
Expert Response
Hello,
Here is some basic info on pruning: https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/em9078
Typically we start shaping the tree at planting by heading the tree at 81-90 cm, and stripping all lower buds. This sets the crotch of the tree.
After a year of growth, select 3-5 scaffolds that grew from buds that were stimulated by the heading. Select them to best occupy the space in a balanced arrangement so that each branch occupies its own area. This minimizes competition between branches. If the scaffolds aren't entirely there yet, leave small branches or buds where you wish for a scaffold to fill in and eliminate competition for these. Again, strip lower trunk buds and tip scaffold branches to a similar height if necessary.
After two years of growth you may need to select scaffolds again depending on how pruning and growth after year one went. There should be very little canopy pruning needed after this point other than cutting watershoots originating from the lower trunk. Some growers continue to work trees, and may open canopy centers with thinning cuts based on personal preference.
Additional maintenance pruning may be needed after this point (mainly eliminating branches that interfere with cultivation) and of course we manage suckers consistently to keep the tree limited to a single trunk.
Hope this helps, good luck with your orchard.
Thanks a lot for the info.
I generally know nothing about pruning.
Is it possible to tell me, in these 2 particular pictures, since I want to prune them to a single stem tree (like you mostly do in the USA), what should I do? Where should I cut?
I got it like this from the nursery. The leader was already cut I think …. Not sure thou. So, I have 2 questions.
- Can I prune it to a tree form if it is looking like this (main leader cut) and how would you advise me to do the pruning in this particular picture?
- Will or does pruning to a single stem, tree like form, and not leaving it as a bush, affect its yield? (a guy here told me its sets the tree back 2 years in terms of yield)
I've never seen side by side data for yields of hazelnut cultivated as a bush vs single trunk tree so I don't know the answer. Here in Oregon there are several reasons why we cultivate single trunk trunk trees, one reason is facilitation of mechanical harvest and ability to work the orchard at different angles.
Your photo is interesting, we mostly plant bare root trees which are essentially suckers that have been forced to root, or potted trees from tissue culture. Both start out as a single stem.
From your photos are all of those stems from a common root? The first step toward single trunk cultivation would be to select a main stem to be the tree and eliminate competing stems. For your case I would take the tallest. Once you have a single stem you can head it off at belt buckle height. This will cause the scaffolds to form off of the main trunk at a good height.
