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American Hazelnut
A tough, thicket-forming native shrub that grows a genuine edible hazelnut - the wild American cousin of the store-bought filbert - while providing catkins in late winter, good fall color, and abundant food and cover for wildlife.
Safety notes American hazelnuts are a delicious, wholesome native nut - safe and excellent eaten raw or roasted, just like the European hazelnuts (filberts) sold in stores. The only real caution is competition: squirrels, jays, and other wildlife harvest the nuts avidly and will strip a bush before they fully ripen if you are not attentive. As with any tree nut, be mindful of nut allergies.
Overview
American hazelnut (Corylus americana) is one of the easiest and most rewarding native nut plants for a home landscape - a hardy, adaptable, multi-stemmed shrub that produces real, edible hazelnuts (filberts), the wild American relative of the European nut sold in stores. The nuts are a little smaller but every bit as tasty, eaten raw or roasted, and a mature clump can yield pounds of them.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 90 daysRange: 30–180 days
- Soil temperature
- 68 °FRange: 55–75 °F
- Height
- 12 ftRange: 8–18 ft
- Spread
- 12 ftRange: 8–15 ft
- Cold
- Takes hard frostdamaged below -30°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 95°F
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 40 years
- Save seeds
- About 150 days after plantingRange: 120–180 days
- Self-sows
- Yes, expect volunteers
- Soil
- Well-drained
- Water
- Medium
- Plant spacing
- 8 ftRange: 5–15 ft
When to plant
Fall sowing is open for 19 more days. Next: spring, Mar 27 to May 22.
- Direct sow Oct 11 – Nov 8 Open now · 19 days leftAbout 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after your first frost (Oct 25 here)Fall-sow whole nuts outdoors (protect from squirrels) for natural cold stratification; they germinate in spring but are slow to bear, so transplants are faster - and still plant more than one for pollination.
- Transplant Mar 27 – May 22 Opens in 158 daysAbout 2 weeks before to 6 weeks after your last frost (Apr 10 here)Plant two or more genetically different hazelnuts in early spring into moist, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade for cross-pollination; more sun means more nuts. First real crops usually come in years 3-6.
- Transplant Aug 16 – Sep 27 Opens in 300 daysAbout 10 weeks before to 4 weeks before your first frost (Oct 25 here)Fall planting works well in cooler zones; keep watered until dormancy and mulch the roots.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
Establish, grow, repeat
Getting established and returning each season are different parts of the story.
Stage 1 of 5 · Getting established
Years 1-2 - rooting in
The first year after planting
Care at this stage
-
Water regularly while establishing
Keep a new hazelnut evenly watered through its first two years. It likes moist, well-drained soil and roots in fairly quickly. Plant at least two genetically different plants for cross-pollination - a single hazelnut sets few or no nuts.
-
Mulch and plan for a thicket
Mulch the root zone. American hazelnut naturally suckers into a multi-stemmed clump or thicket - decide early whether to let it form a hedgerow (great for nuts and wildlife) or to remove suckers for a tidier, more open shrub.
Months are typical seasonal windows; climate, variety, and plant age can shift them.
Harvest
- Husks turning from green to brown in late summer to fall and the shells inside hardening
- Nuts loosening in the husks and beginning to drop; wildlife activity increasing sharply
- Gather nuts as the husks brown - before the squirrels do · every 3 days
- Beat the wildlife to the crop
Per plant 1 to 15 lbPicking pick as they ripen
Cook with American Hazelnut
Watch out for
3 to know. 1 is high-risk: Squirrels & Jays (Nut Loss). 1 is active in October.
Squirrels & Jays (Nut Loss)Severity High WildlifenowSeason: Aug–OctNuts disappearing rapidly as they approach ripeness, chewed husks and shells, heavy squirrel and jay activity in the plant.
Nuts disappearing rapidly as they approach ripeness, chewed husks and shells, heavy squirrel and jay activity in the plant.
Pick early and cure the nuts off the plant; accept a wildlife share, or protect a portion with netting on smaller shrubs.
Harvest promptly and even slightly early as husks brown, gather fallen nuts daily, net small plants, or plant a generous patch to share.
Squirrels, chipmunks, and blue jays covet hazelnuts and routinely strip a bush of nuts within days, often just before full ripeness - the single biggest obstacle to a human harvest.
Eastern Filbert BlightSeverity Medium DiseaseSeason: Mar–MayRows of raised, black, football-shaped bumps running along the branches (often on last year's wood), dieback of the stems above them, and gradual decline of susceptible varieties.
Rows of raised, black, football-shaped bumps running along the branches (often on last year's wood), dieback of the stems above them, and gradual decline of susceptible varieties.
On susceptible plants, cut out infected wood a foot or more below each canker and destroy it; fungicide programs slow it in orchards but home control relies on resistance and sanitation. Badly infected susceptible plants are best replaced with resistant ones.
The overwhelming best defense is planting RESISTANT varieties (OSU releases Yamhill, Jefferson, Theta; native American and hybrid hazelnuts). In the eastern US, note that those three OSU releases all carry the same single Gasaway resistance gene and that eastern isolates have been shown to overcome it, so prefer multi-gene-resistant Rutgers releases or American/hybrid stock there. Prune out cankers well below the visible bumps and destroy the wood; improve airflow.
The defining hazelnut disease of North America: a native fungus (Anisogramma anomala) harmless to wild American hazelnuts but lethal to susceptible European varieties, forming distinctive rows of raised black, football-shaped bumps (stromata) along the stems, girdling and killing branches over a few years until the whole plant dies.
Poor Fruit Set (No Cross-Pollination)Severity Medium DisorderSeason: Aug–SepAbundant spring flowers but few fruits developing on a lone plant or a group of identical clones.
Abundant spring flowers but few fruits developing on a lone plant or a group of identical clones.
Add a second, different plant nearby; there is no other remedy for a lone plant's light fruit set.
Plant two or more genetically different blackhaws - separate seedlings or different cultivars of Viburnum prunifolium - within pollinating distance. A different viburnum species will not do it; pollen only crosses within the species.
Possumhaw viburnum sets its spectacular color-shifting fruit far more heavily with cross-pollination, so a single plant (or clones of one) flowers well but fruits sparsely - the usual reason for a disappointing berry display.
Good & bad neighbors
Plant nearby
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Both tough, suckering native food shrubs for a wildlife hedgerow - chokeberry's superfruit and hazelnut's nuts together with strong fall color and easy care.
-
Redbud's early pink bloom above a hazelnut thicket layers a woodland-edge planting with spring color and fall nuts, both native and easy in sun to part shade.
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A classic edible-hedgerow pairing: elderberry's summer fruit and hazelnut's fall nuts, both fast, thicket-forming, and wildlife-rich, make a productive mixed native hedge.
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Two productive native food shrubs for a hedgerow or woodland edge - serviceberry's June berries and hazelnut's fall nuts extend the harvest while both feed and shelter wildlife.
Varieties · 2
You pick one when you add American Hazelnut to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
American Hazelnut (Corylus americana)
The wild species: a tough, suckering, thicket-forming native shrub 8-15 feet tall bearing small but flavorful edible hazelnuts, late-winter catkins, and good yellow fall color.
Variety details for American Hazelnut (Corylus americana)
Multi-stemmed shrub with dangling catkins in late winter, husked nut clusters in fall, and coppery-yellow autumn leaves.
speciesnativeedible-nutcold-hardyVery cold-hardy and blight-tolerant; the standard for wildlife hedgerows and easy native nuts. Plant two or more for pollination.
Hybrid Hazelnuts (American x European)
Improved hybrids crossing the large-nutted European hazelnut with the hardy, blight-tolerant American species, bred for bigger nuts, disease resistance, and cold hardiness for northern and eastern nut farming and agroforestry.
Variety details for Hybrid Hazelnuts (American x European)
Vigorous multi-stem shrubs bearing larger commercial-quality nuts than the wild species.
hybridlarger-nutsblight-resistantimprovedThe best choice when maximum nut yield and size are the goal; still plant more than one for pollination.
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