American Hazelnut Corylus americana

Anyone have any good/bad comments about a Hazelnut 'shrub'? I can get 3 from Arborday Fdtn - wondering if I should or not. I love the nuts...
Would love to hear experiences from y'all here first though.
Thanks
Steph

I can't comment on growing them in your area, but if you do get them from Arbor Day make sure you post some pictures here when they leaf out in the spring to make sure they're really hazelnuts...Arbor Day has quite a reputation for sending mislabeled plants.

Really? I havent had any issues as of yet - of course I just started getting things from them last season. Mostly fruit trees and conifers. They are good about replacing things that "don't make it"...

All I know is I see an awful lot of their things show up on the ID forum when people realize they aren't what they thought they ordered. I'm sure they do get it right sometimes too, but it's definitely a watchout with them. Their feedback in Garden Watchdog also shows a lot of complaints about the size & quality of the trees http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/91/ so you might also consider some of the other vendors who offer this plant: http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/go/1602/

i have planted hazelnut , mine do well in part shade . try different suppliers , some have better hazelnuts than
others.

The species is native in the southern half of Minnesota, and fairly common around Minneapolis/St. Paul. The nuts can be infected by a grub/caterpillar that will empty the nutshell of its contents. The insect was fairly common where I grew up in Dakota County. Squirrels can also "steal" them before you get to harvesting. There aren't any bothersome bristles on the nut sheaths like with the more northerly Beaked hazelnut. Nuts are larger, more abundant and better tasting than that of the Beaked hazelnut, too.

Given at least half a day of sun, the shrub will have a respectable look, amenable to even a well kept suburban lot. It will slowly sucker into a tight thicket. You have to get out pretty early in the season to see it bloom in March, WAY before buds begin to leaf out. Male flowers hang in a raceme similar to a birch or alder. Female flowers have not petals, and look like a tiny six legged red spider (the stigma) sitting on the bud.

I am almost positive that Outback Nursery in Hastings sells them, grown from more local stock. They are very good people, and very knowledgeable. Perhaps Prairie Restorations, too.

Rick

Thanks Rick.
After hearing they are a squirrel favorite - I suppose I would have to find a way to keep our from it...we have dozens (12 oaks and on swampland).
Luckily, I am not really on a suburban lot so I can grow whatever I want without hearing from the neighbors :)
I will check out Outback this spring.

I can't say why, but where I grew up, some years the wild American hazelnuts bushes were picked clean by squirrels, and some years never touched. Perhaps it coincided with paucity and bumper crops of acorns (lots of oaks there, too). I didn't think about it at the time. It's hard to believe they would actually prefer acorns over the sweeter hazelnuts; maybe it was just that acorns are such easy pickin's.

Well the acorns in my yard are sometimes the size of grape/jelly bean tomatoes...so maybe I would have luck. I suppose I could always fence the shrubs to protect them.
The squirrels have a tendency to stay out of the back yard due to the dogs - but they go hog wild at night when the dogs are in.
Stuff to think about I suppose

Minnesippi, I would definitely try to get stock from a more local source. Prairie Moon Nursery is in Minnesota - I've purchased a lot from there, including 3 corylus shrubs (hazelnut). Not exactly local stock for Chicago, but close enough. They're wonderful folk, there, too. I would stay away from Arbor Day. They messed up a couple of orders, then couldn't get it right even by TRYING. They're nice, but completely discombobulated. It's a crap shoot with them.

Thanks all. I guess I've been lucky with Arbor Day. I will look local if I do decide to get them. :)

When looking at negative reviews you should look at that "members" sign up date, many times it's the same day as or the day before the negative review - obviously competitors - it's many times fake reviews, (like many of Arborday's negatives). When "members" sign up the same day as the review they only came to make them look bad here, that day.

I like Arborday, it's a short trip from here in Nebraska City, NE., it's worthy of a visit, we stayed in the Arborday lodge. I got a Redbud from there planted at my Mom's and a Crabapple from there planted at my Aunt and Uncle's, they were sticks in 2002, now they're each about 20 feet tall! The rest of the ten got ran over by lawnmowers I think. But, it's a neat place for a tree lover. I visited the greenhouse where they grow all the freebies.
I even went to the nearby cemetery where that founder guy is buried.



This message was edited Jan 8, 2012 1:54 AM

prairie moon and also spring valley roses have been good for me , too as stated local nurseries are best .
often the big box stores have stock that doesn't suit the area they are in.

I wouldn't say that just because someone signs up the day of or the day before they write a bad review in Watchdog that it means it's a fake review or they're the competition trying to make someone else look bad--I'm sure people have a bad experience, then when looking through Google to find out if they were the only one who had a bad experience, they run across the Watchdog and decide to share their experience. These reviews written shortly after signing up exist for tons and tons of companies (positives as well as negatives) and I find it hard to believe that so many different competitors would be taking the time to write up so many fake reviews, I think it's much more likely that it's people who have a legitimate comment and write it as soon as they stumble across Watchdog in their searching. I'm sure there are a few fake negatives out there, just like there are a few companies that sign up under fake names and write positive reviews about themselves. But I really don't think it's that widespread (if you ever do see reviews either good or bad that are obviously fake then I would contact the admins about them, they will generally add a comment to the review so that people know it's not legit).

Ecrane, I agree. In addition, fake reviews really only "work" for a very short time. In a large community like Dave's Garden, where folks care enough to post their experience, the truth WILL come out, positive or negative. And, really, I don't want to trash Arbor Day, because philosophically, I think they are right on. It is their processes that really need to be looked at.

I think what is most important with the positive/negative reviews is to actually read them - especially the negatives. Most often, one can usually discern if they are genuinely constructive, or if someone just has an axe to grind. The join date is something to consider, but it's not necessarily a tell-all. Remember the "negative" about a certain lily supplier that caused such an uproar? Her ordering was closed for the season, but she had left her site up as an informational resource. Even though this was clearly stated on her site, someone posted a negative because she couldn't order! By reading the "negative" post it was clear that it had no substance.

All good points, I'm open to constructive criticism. I'm still suspicious in any case. I've done business with some seed companies and Arborday and some others and I just don't relate to any of the negativity I read, such as wrong plants all the time or misleading billing or whatever. I think so much overwhelming negativity has to be the work of bitter-on-life sorts or troublemakers and it can't be good for anybody. That's just my opinion, I'm not flaming on anyone, I'd just like the shady possibility to be considered. To each his/her own.