About
Corylus maxima 'Kentish Cob' is a sizable deciduous shrub featuring wide green foliage. It produces drooping, light yellow catkins that give way to a nut that is edible and flavorful. For optimal pollination and nut production, it is advisable to cultivate at least two different varieties.
About the genus
Corylus comprises deciduous trees and sizable shrubs featuring wide leaves. In early spring, they produce prominent male catkins, which are succeeded by edible nuts.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil type
- Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained, Well-drained
- Aspect
- North-facing, West-facing, South-facing, East-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H6
Plant details
- Plant type
- Shrubs, Fruit Edible
- Habit
- Bushy
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 2.5-4 metres
- Spread
- 2.5-4 metres
- Time to full height
- 10-20 years
- Suggested uses
- Cottage and informal garden, Wildlife gardens, Wildflower meadow
Care notes
- Cultivation
- For fruit production, grow as a goblet-shaped bush. Keep clear soil in a 60cm radius around trunk
- Pruning
- Brutting or breaking sideshoots half way along their length in August followed by shortening the brutted shoots to 3-4 buds when the catkins are shedding pollen in late winter. When necessary remove up to one third of old overcrowded shoots to the main branches
- Propagation
- Propagate by chip budding in mid- to late summer or grafting onto clonally produced rootstocks or seedlings in late winter.
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to caterpillars, gall mites, aphids and sawflies. Squirrels like to feed on the nuts
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to honey fungus, silver leaf and powdery mildews