What's eating my european hazel 'nottingham prolific'?

Like all Corylus avellana cultivars, 'Nottingham Prolific' is primarily threatened by hazel nut weevil, which destroys nuts internally before harvest, and by big bud mite, which wrecks next year's catkins. Aphids and squirrels add secondary pressure. Its high nut yield attracts heavy squirrel attention, making early netting particularly worthwhile.

Female lays egg inside young nut; larva eats the kernel, leaving a clean exit hole when it drops to pupate in the soil. Destroy all fallen nuts promptly; in commercial or large plots, apply a pyrethroid spray at nut set; for garden use kaolin clay is a lower-impact alternative.

Affected buds are visibly swollen and rounded in late winter; they fail to produce leaves or catkins, cutting yields the following season. Hand-remove and burn swollen buds before February; remove heavily infested stools and replant with clean stock.

Larval feeding inside the nut causes deformation and early drop of a proportion of the crop. Collect and destroy fallen nuts promptly to interrupt the life cycle; no specific chemical control widely available to home growers.

Nuts raided green in August, often taking the majority of the crop before the owner can harvest. Net individual bushes with 25 mm mesh from late July; use trunk baffles on standards; consider harvesting slightly early and air-drying indoors.