question on weather to thin out twisted hazel tree

hi. i have a twisted hazel tree in the garden. it has a lot of leaves and branches and is very dense but very healthy looking at present and laden with nuts which the squirrels enjoy. does it need to be thinned out to prevent disease please? if yes is it something i could do or would it need a professional?
its such a lovely tree i would not want to lose it.. thankyou

 

If you do decide to thin it out a little, the best time to do so is in the winter.

This is the normal time for pruning hazels - I have a hazel due to be coppiced this winter. But very importantly, you will have more chance to see what is going on, when there are no leaves! Personally, I think that a strongly-growing hazel looks better if there are a few branches removed, as you have enough visual space to see the twists... I think that @shiney has a corkscrew hazel, I’m sure he’ll be along soon to give some advice.

 

thankyou your tree is lovely

 

sian suggested winter which is a good idea because you can see it better. thankyou for gorgeous pics of your tree

 

i will wait for the winter to prune as you suggested thankyou

 

Be warned @crocus, I had a twisted hazel that started suckering from the ordinary hazel that it was grafted onto. That resulted in lots of straight upright growths, and I had to keep trimming them off at the base to avoid them spoiling the effect. I think I might have damaged the stock with over-enthusiastic digging around. They are very robust plants, so if you want to clear some major stems out to improve the winter outline, they will cope well.

 

Just a tip. When removing suckers from any plant. Tear it away from the rootstock. Simply cutting back will only encourage propogation of more of the same.

 

Hi @Mike Allen - yes, I know I should have done that, but unfortunately I didn't have the strength to tear them! I should have had 3 shredded wheat for breakfast...

 

Sorry CarolineL. No offense implied. Recently this has been something of a reacurring point with suckers. Having actually just logged in to GC, on the other forum, advice was given to a member to simply snip them off, (the suckers).
Shredded wheat. I used to have three but actually I haven't had any for ages. Best wishes.

 

No worries @Mike Allen - I just wish I had more 'heft'! And once the suckers start, as @shiney says, they seem to become very strong. I assume it's for cheapness that they are grafted on standard hazel? Same as with named wisteria and roses...