| Re: 1year old hazel
If you want nuts, you'll have to let at least one growth/plant reach maturity. How about leaving one central growth in the short length to the left of the gate in your image and remove those either side? (That's how it looks to me!)
From what I can see from the other images, the Hazel plants are close to your boundary fence and appear to be growing outwards rather than straight up, maybe towards the light or forced by plants on the other side.
If you do decide to coppice, you can select the most vigorous new growths and remove the rest - saving 4-6 per stool.
There is, of course, the other option of laying the resultant growths as in a traditional hedge by part cutting through the base of each shoot, pulling it over and bending it between regularly spaces stakes. This will make a nice thick hedge and with regular trimming look as nice as your beech hedge!
I would do any cutting work to them when the leaves have fallen. |