Hazelnut Tree Care: Growing Corylus avellana and American Hybrids

I don't grow hazelnuts at my Long Island plot, so the bulk of this guide is sourced from university extension resources and USDA research rather than personal field notes. What I can say from a grower's perspective is that hazelnuts occupy an underused niche: they produce meaningful nut crops.

I don't grow hazelnuts at my Long Island plot, so the bulk of this guide is sourced from university extension resources and USDA research rather than personal field notes. What I can say from a grower's perspective is that hazelnuts occupy an underused niche: they produce meaningful nut crops faster than most orchard trees, tolerate a wide range of soils, and function equally well as multi-stem shrubs or single-trunk small trees depending on how you prune them.

Corylus avellana, the European hazel, and its American cousin Corylus americana are the two species most widely grown in the eastern and midwestern United States. The most exciting development in hazelnut culture over the past two decades has been the release of blight-resistant hybrid cultivars from the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium and university breeding programs, finally making eastern hazelnut production viable where Eastern filbert blight (Anisogramma anomala) once made the effort near futile.

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Identification and species overview

Corylus avellana (European hazel or filbert) is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub or small tree reaching 8-20 feet tall and nearly as wide, depending on training. Leaves are broadly rounded with doubly serrate margins and a soft, fuzzy texture. The male catkins — long, pendulous, pale yellow — appear in late winter before leaves emerge, often in January or February, and are a striking ornamental feature. Female flowers are tiny, with only bright red stigmas protruding from the buds.

Corylus americana (American hazelnut) is generally smaller (6-10 feet), extremely cold-hardy to zone 4, and produces smaller nuts. The hybrid species Corylus × colurnoides and various Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium selections blend the disease resistance of C. americana with the nut size of C. avellana.

Per Oregon State Extension, Oregon's Willamette Valley produces roughly 99% of the U.S. commercial hazelnut crop, where the mild, wet winters and dry summers suit C. avellana perfectly. Growers in other regions rely increasingly on blight-resistant hybrid cultivars.

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