I have taken unrooted suckers from hazels in the fall, stuck them in dirt and had about 20% success with them rooting and growing the next summer. Suckers had a bit of orange color to them at the bottoms probably due to being etiolated or something.

I'd like to hear more about ground layering filberts, though, as Fig is the only one I do that with.

[quote="jafarj":2evej588]Do any of you actually harvest hazelnuts? How do you keep the squirrels from eating them all?

I've never really seriously considered growing nuts, but apparently I have a number of wild hazelnuts growing on the property so it must be suitable for them. I've never noticed any nuts.

Are hazelnuts amenable to grafting? Do they require spray or special care to get a harvest?[/quote:2evej588]
I ran into two really nice kinds while gathering nut-clusters for the All-About-Fruit-Show one year. I could crack them with my hands easily, and they had big tasty nuts inside that filled a person up fast, when hungry!

Spent a few years getting them over to my property etc, but now have some that are 6 feet tall, and throwing their own little pups from the bottoms, so they kind of self propagate in that manner. Never tried grafting them, but have heard that it needs to be done in hot weather. I wouldn't really worry about grafting over your wild ones, but they might produce some useful wild pollen for nut making, as some cultivars are pretty fussy about what kind of pollen they get. I think Dr. Melenbacher said their are 29 different kinds of pollen combinations. Wild is probably useful.

Had a few ripe nuts last fall from potted plants. Sure to get better over time.

[quote="Dubyadee":2354k69j]I pruned the filbert tree mid-winter, cut the prunings into 14" lengths and stuck them in the dirt in the garden without any rooting hormone. Got about 10% take. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I figure.[/quote:2354k69j]
I found that fig branches root wildly better when planted horizontally in the ground under and inch of soil. Nothing above ground to dessicate!

My theory is that it is 100% humid and very warm in such shallow soil, as the sun strikes it in April and May. Perfect rooting conditions. I have even had 2 trees develop from one cutting, one from each end. Just dig in winter and cut into two seperate units.

I wonder if your filbert cuttings, held over in moist refrigeration, would respond the same way to humidity, heat and such in April and May? I might have to run a trial of such next spring.

Why did you decide on 14 inch lengths?

Thanks!

[quote="Dubyadee":2iksusyz] Thought I might get quicker, larger potted fig trees this way.[/quote:2iksusyz]
It helps if you can keep the soil moist-ish. You will certainly get nice trees the way you did it.

I once did the same model, only used a yogurt cup of soil. Was trying to establish new roots that did not contain nematodes. The mother plant was nematode city. Worked real well! I think it only took a month plus or minus to get the dirt all rooted through, but alas, that exact cultivar is meant only for Southern Cal, not the Northwest.

I still think I'll try some horizontally buried filbert stems next spring. When they are in a 1 inch deep trench covered with soil it is harder for them to dry out, plus the sun really warms them up fast.

Thanks for your ideas!

I have seen filbert trees that were not let go to sucker without cleaning the bottoms every year, they look pretty nice (tree form) with a little elbow grease every winter. Left to their own devices they would be a large bush. Trees are tidier looking, plus you can put some sort of squirrel guard at the bottom to keep pests out of trees, not so easy when it is a bush form.

Most of Corvallis' trees are single trunks.