How to Grow Hazel from Seed: A Beginner’s Guide
Updated: Sep 28
You can grow hazel (Corylus avellana) from seed by planting fresh, ripe hazelnuts in autumn and letting them go through a winter of cold, or by stratifying them in the fridge for 3 to 4 months. Seedlings appear in spring and usually start producing nuts after 4 to 7 years.
Hazel is one of the most useful trees for an Irish garden or food forest: native, fast-growing, great for wildlife, and a source of both nuts and coppiced poles. This guide covers every stage, from collecting nuts to planting out.
Want nuts sooner? Seed-grown hazels take several years to crop. A young nursery-grown Irish hazel tree saves you the first year or two and establishes quickly when planted bare-root in winter.
Hazel Quick Facts
Latin name: Corylus avellana (common or Irish hazel)
Stratification: 3 to 4 months cold (1 to 5°C), or a winter outdoors
Sowing depth: 3 to 5 cm
Germination: Spring, after winter chilling
Time to first nuts: 4 to 7 years from seed
Position: Full sun to partial shade
Soil: Most soils except waterlogged; pH 6 to 7.5 ideal
Spacing: 3 to 5 m for nut trees; 1 to 2 m for a hedge
Harvest: Late August to October
Hardiness: Fully hardy, native to Ireland and the UK
Step 1: Collect Your Hazelnuts
Gather nuts in September and October, as soon as the husks turn brown and the nuts drop or come away easily. Squirrels and jays will take them fast.
Choose plump, undamaged nuts with no holes (a small hole means a weevil got there first).
Test them in a bowl of water: sound nuts sink, hollow ones float.
Sow or stratify them fresh. Hazelnuts that dry out completely lose viability, so don’t store them in a warm house for months.
Wild hazel gives the most genetically diverse trees. Seeds from cultivated cobnuts and filberts will grow too, but seedlings vary and won’t be identical to the parent.
Step 2: Cold Stratify the Nuts
Outdoor method (best in Ireland and the UK)
Fill a bucket or deep pot with a mix of damp sand and compost, drill drainage holes, and bury the nuts in it. Cover with a mesh lid or wire to keep mice and squirrels out, and leave it outside in a cold, sheltered spot all winter. In spring, as the nuts start to split and send out roots, pot them up or plant them out.
Fridge method
Mix the nuts with damp sand or compost in a labelled bag or tub.
Refrigerate at 1 to 5°C for 3 to 4 months.
Check monthly that the mix is damp but not wet.
Sow as soon as you see roots emerging.
Step 3: Sow the Nuts
Sow each nut 3 to 5 cm deep in a deep pot (hazel grows a long taproot), or straight into a prepared nursery bed.
Use free-draining compost or loamy soil and water well.
Protect pots and beds with mesh until seedlings are established, as rodents will dig up nuts.
Seedlings usually appear in April or May.
Step 4: Care for the Seedlings
Water: keep the soil evenly moist, especially in the first summer.
Weed: young hazels hate competition from grass. Keep a clear, mulched circle around each one.
Mulch: leaf mould, wood chip or compost keeps moisture in and weeds down.
Protect: use tree guards against rabbits and deer.
Step 5: Plant Out and Grow On
Plant young hazels into their final position when they are 1 to 2 years old and 30 to 60 cm tall, between November and March. Space nut trees 3 to 5 m apart, or 1 to 2 m apart for a hedge or coppice. Hazel is not self-fertile, so plant at least two or three different trees for good pollination and nut set.
For more nuts, keep hazels as an open, multi-stemmed bush and remove suckers from the base each winter. For poles and firewood, coppice them down to near ground level every 5 to 8 years. See our fruit tree planting guide for planting technique.
Other Ways to Propagate Hazel
Layering (most reliable): in late winter, bend a low, flexible stem down to the ground, nick the bark where it touches, peg it into the soil and cover. It roots within a year and can then be cut free and replanted.
Suckers: hazels send up shoots from the base. In winter, dig one up with a piece of root attached and replant it.
Cuttings: hazel is notoriously hard to root from cuttings, so layering or suckers are a better bet for home growers.
Troubleshooting Hazel
Nuts don’t germinate: they may have dried out before sowing or not had enough cold. Always sow fresh nuts and give them a full winter.
Nuts disappear: mice, squirrels and jays are the usual culprits. Cover pots and beds with fine wire mesh.
Empty nuts on mature trees: usually poor pollination or nut weevil. Plant more than one hazel and clear fallen nuts in autumn.
Seedlings struggle: most often due to grass competition or drought. Weed, mulch and water in the first two summers.
FAQ: Growing Hazel from Seed
How long does it take to grow hazel from seed?
Hazelnuts sown in autumn germinate the following spring. Seed-grown hazels usually produce their first nuts after 4 to 7 years and reach full cropping after around 10 years.
Can I plant hazelnuts from the shop?
Usually not. Most shop-bought hazelnuts are dried, roasted or too old to germinate. For growing, collect fresh nuts in autumn or buy fresh, untreated nuts or a young tree.
Do hazelnuts need cold stratification?
Yes. Hazelnuts need 3 to 4 months of cold at 1 to 5°C to break dormancy. In Ireland and the UK, simply sow them outdoors in autumn in a protected pot and let winter do the work.
Do you need two hazel trees to get nuts?
Yes. Hazel is largely self-incompatible, so it needs pollen from a different hazel. Plant at least two or three trees, or rely on wild hazels nearby if there are some within about 50 m.
Is hazel good for a food forest?
Yes. Hazel is ideal for the shrub layer of a food forest: it produces nuts, tolerates partial shade, supports wildlife, and can be coppiced for poles, stakes and mulch.
Seed or Young Tree? Getting Started with Hazel
Growing hazel from seed is easy and satisfying, and perfect for hedges, coppice and wildlife planting. If you want a head start on nuts, planting young trees saves a year or two and gives you strong, established plants from day one.
At Earthling Plants we grow native Irish hazel, ideal for hedges, coppice and food forests, and the tall, ornamental Turkish hazel, which grows into a handsome single-stemmed tree and pollinates common hazel. Both are sent bare-root from November to March. For more nut trees, try our French chestnut.
If nuts are your main goal, our cobnut is a named, cultivated hazel selected for larger nuts and heavier crops. Plant it alongside native hazel for good pollination.
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