Hazelnut Seeds - Start your own orchard

NITKA seeds are from only one beautiful mother tree that has outstanding nuts and very good production most every year.  The nuts are medium to large with a very thin shell.  Even the shell is beautiful. Many seedlings will have the same thin smooth shell from our experience. The mother tree is what we call NITKA^©. The mother tree we are sure is good in USDA Zone 4 and try in 3b.

Prodigy tree seeds We have been doing controlled crosses from only the very best of many thousands of trees we have planted.  We crossed the best mom and dad trees and planted the resulting seeds.  We eliminate any tree we do not find has acceptable characteristics. The best trees we are selling seeds from and most likely the pollen came from other Prodigy trees.  Husks are generally short and thin to medium shells with nuts medium to large.  Parent tree height varies from 6 to 12 feet after 10 years.

Cultivar seeds  The best trees we layer and plant them out into a separate orchards and most likely these trees are pollinating each other.  So, these seeds are most likely Prodigy seeds even though some pollen may arrive from an adjacent orchard.  Husk length will vary, nuts medium to large and productive.  We eliminate tall trees to keep them medium to shorts in height.

Finger Lakes Abundant Seeds These are seeds we pick from only the best trees we have in our seedling orchard that we started planting 32 years ago.  We have eliminated many thousands of trees and replanted.  We again eliminate any inferior trees due to lack of cold hardiness, disease issues, too tall, or lousy nut quality.

Seeds Sold in packs of 20 or 100 seeds.

Much of our genetics are from USDA Zone 3 while some of our genetics come from zones 5 and 6.  We sell seeds that produce well in our USDA Zones 5a/b. Try in colder zones and have confidence in USDA Zones 6.  The seeds usually ship within a week of placing the order. 

You can see after thirty years of growing hazelnuts we are working to be the provider of the highest quality hazelnut trees you can find anywhere.

Keep the seeds refrigerated and moist.  Then plant out in the spring to grow your own hazelnut tree.  Great low cost way to buy trees and great for education of our next generation.  We consistently get 75% germination when stratified properly, some seeds actually wait for another season to sprout, so plan accordingly.   Sold in packs of 20 seeds, one dollar each seed, for a packet at $20.00.  Cannot ship to West coast or Canada for small orders.  For bulk orders or tax exempt please email us at dawnz@znutty.com or call 607 318 1318.

How to stratify hazelnut seeds.

Hazelnut seeds need to be stratified for over 1200 hours (at least two months) to maximize germination rates in a cool 34 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The same temperature as your refrigerator.  The seeds have an internal clock that keeps track of time in that temperature range and will then sprout after a few weeks to two months in the warmer temperatures we have in May in the New England states.  Some hazelnut seeds will wait for two stratification periods to sprout and is probably part of the survival of the species.

The bag you receive the nuts in will work if you do the following.  Add some water and poke some very small holes near and at the bottom of the bag.  It is important the soil be moist, not wet or the seeds will mold.  If you can squeeze water from the soil then it maybe too wet.  Check the seeds weekly and do not let the seeds dry out or they also may not sprout.

We suggest you pot them about an inch below the soil and protect from rodents like mice, squirrels and chipmunks and out of the wind where soil could blow off and expose the seed.  If planted directly in the soil then create a mound of hardware cloth you can buy at any big box hardware store or farm store. Please close the ends of the hardware cloth and bury all sides in the soil making  small tent to protect the seeds from rodents.

You can fall plant, or store in plastic bags in the refrigerator crisper drawer until spring planting time. For winter storage, wet the potting soil or peat moss with the seed per above. Once prepared, check the seed every week through to spring. Do not allow the seeds to dry out or they will not want to sprout and will wait if they have the energy for the following spring. 

 We recommend a refrigerator at temperatures between 33 to 38 Fahrenheit or underground at a well-drained location in a wire cage container for the winter. Potting soil/mulched covering of wood chips, straw / leaves is strongly advised.

The potted or planted seeds need direct sun and some breeze after germination to grow properly. Therefore, shop lights in a room or partial sun near a window will not work.  Either condition will generate spindly weak seedlings.

With some initial care a few trees will give you a lifetime of delicious nuts to enjoy year-round. 

Propagation of seedling trees

Please remember that the seed grown from named cultivars can not have the cultivar name. Cultivars are propagated by asexual means, that is, by grafting, layering, cuttings or tissue culturing and through a license to propagate. A named cultivar has the same set of genes in every tree produced this way. A seed produced tree gets genes from 2 parents and so every seed grown tree is unique with its own set of genes and so should not be loosely named as its cultivar parent.