What's eating my turkish hazel?

Turkish hazel is more pest-resistant than cultivated hazel and filbert cultivars and is often used as a disease-resistant rootstock. It can still be affected by hazel nut weevil if nuts are produced, by big bud mite, and by aphid colonies on young growth. Squirrels will take the small nuts. Overall pest pressure is lower than in Corylus avellana.

Larvae consume the nut kernel and exit through a round hole; nuts drop prematurely and are inedible. Collect and destroy fallen nuts before larvae enter soil; kaolin spray at nut set reduces adult feeding on smaller trees.

Buds swell abnormally and fail to open, reducing the following season's catkin production and nut set. Remove and destroy swollen buds in late winter; Turkish hazel is considered less susceptible than C. avellana but is not immune.

Clusters on young shoot tips cause leaf curl and honeydew deposits; cosmetic damage that rarely affects tree health. Water jet or insecticidal soap if heavy; natural predator populations usually keep aphids in check on established trees.