Unfortunately we had a poor mast crop in the area this year. I was busy in September and by the time I got to the native trees, the squirrels and other wildlife pretty much had their way with them. I was only able to collect 7 nuts this year. Last year I collected several hundred and sent some out to other folks. If you remind me next year, I send you some. Hopefully I will have plenty then.
OK. thanks! Mine still have not opened 
I hope I will catch them before they fall and disappear in the ground. If I do get them, I can send you a few to grow. Will keep you posted. What about the dwarf seguin. where did you get them from, I maybe interested to get a few.
That would be great. Sorry I forgot to answer the last half. I order them from Schumacher. Others who have ordered seed from them ended up canceling after delay after delay. I couldnāt find these anywhere else, so I figured Iād take a chance. They said they expect delivery in December. The nuts are coming from China, so who knows how it will work out. Iāll report back and let folks know as things progress.
Iām still trying to figure out if the drop time is related to the genetics of the AC, or the local environment. The reading Iāve done on Sequins say they drop from Sept through Nov. We will seeā¦
If the dwarf seguins are from China, I am not surprise that they have delays. You know how customs are like. I am guessing the drop is probably related to the weather. Just a guess, I am surprised though that my hazelnuts were ready in September! I find that my AC seem to take a long time to developā¦I will contact you when my AC drop. thanks
Sounds good. Iām almost finished planting my fall trees.
For those of you living in Maryland, the Ayton Nursery (run by the state) occassionally offers the Golden cultivar of Allegheny Chinkapins in mass quantities for outrageously affordable prices. Their mission is to help Maryland landowners plant native trees, in part to provide food and habitat for wildlife.
Unfortunately, they do not appear to be offering Allegheny Chinkapins this year. However they are offering American Persimmon and Black Walnut, etc etc.
Hereās their website:
http://dnr2.maryland.gov/forests/Pages/nursery.aspx
Hey Matt, So those living out of state cannot make purchase? I had a look but do not see the golden AC cultivar., thanks
Only Maryland residents are eligible.
However, many states have a similar nursery program. Not sure if any of them carry chinkapins.
thanks!
Matt, I called the nursery this morning. they do sell to non residents. I bought 25 hazelnuts. Shipping is the killer, at $20! Some of AC started to open today. Will need to check them daily now.
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Outstanding! Those nuts look very fresh!.
Yes I just picked them this morning 
There are a few more big ones to be cropped when they start to open a little. Going to be hard to send you 2 of each from each AC. All my AC are cramped into a 3x3ft with 4 or maybe 5 cherry trees! I am just going to send you a few big ones when I get them. thnx
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Those are beautiful!!!
This is an old thread focused mostly on Allegheny Chinquapins but we also talked about Seguins. I just thought Iād provide an update.
That pound of Seguin nuts I ordered from Schumacher was a bust. One in the bag was covered with visible mold which Iām sure infected them all. I got zero germination.
Next, I bought 4 Seguins from the Wildlife Group and potted them in in 3 gal Rootbuilder II containers. I kept them in my garage to provide enough dormancy and then brought them in and put them under lights in my basement. One of the 4 trees never leafed out. The other three did well.
I placed them on my deck for the growing season. I got one small crop of nuts in August and a second in October. I ended up with 8 nuts that passed the float test that I cold stratified.
In early Jan of this year I planted them in rootmaker 18s. Five of the 8 germinated and grew. It was on the early side but I recently transplanted them to 1 gal RB2s. The reason is that getting water just right in the 18s is a bit more challenging. I plan to lose a small percentage of trees when I grow ACs or chestnuts in volume, but since these are precious to me, I didnāt want to chance it. Here they are:
The front row is the seguins, the trees behind them are apple seedlings.
Iām still growing ACs from nuts. Those Iāve transplanted to the field from previous years are all doing very well. This picture is of some of this years crop. I donāt have a recent one. This one is about a month old:
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I have 2 chinkapin bushes that survived, out of a hundred that I planted 15 yrs ago.blight killed the rest.
This last year they had a good crop.
I collected nuts , had in a plastic bag for a week, and they started to sprout.
I put then in a pot,last fall. And they were small seedlings coming up late fall.
Not knowing what to do with them.,would they freeze and die if left out side,
I brought them in the house for the winter.
They look good now, end of March,like they really want to grow. 6-8" tall
What is the standard nursery practice with chinkapin s ?
Plant outside in the fall ?
I assume this would have worked as they naturally end up on the ground in the fall.
I was concerned with rodents eating them over the winter,or freeze damage,so I brought them inside.
Anyone have comments on this ?
My native ACs do get hit by blight. They die back to the roots and then resprout. They react the same to fire. One difference between ACs and American chestnuts is that blight will typically keep chestnuts from ever producing nuts.ACs on the other hand will quickly start producing nuts after the resprout from the stump.
Blight is the main reason I decided to work with Seguins. They are blight resistant but produce nuts in just a few years after planted like ACs.
As for Allegheny Chinquapins, they donāt require cold stratification as you have observed. If you are direct seeding them, you can plant them immediately in the fall but you do need to protect them from squirrels and such. Some guys use window screen for this or tree tubes. It depends on your location and how much of a squirrel problem you have.
Another option is to vernalize them. This is essentially simulating winter indoors. You can plant them in root pruning containers like Rootmaker 18s when they begin to produce a tap root. After watering, you can put the entire tray in an extra large zip lock bag and put them in a refrigerator. Donāt zip the bag closed you want some air exchange. Check them from time to time for moisture level. The refrigerator will not get cold enough to damage the roots. It is cold enough to prevent top growth. When you are ready to start them you can take them out of the refrigerator and put them under lights in an indoor growing area and eventually acclimate them to the outdoors transplanting to larger root pruning containers as needed. You can also wait until you are near your last threat of frost and plant them outdoors. You still need to protect them. I see no advantage to this over direct seeding. Starting them under lights gives them a jump during their first growing season.
I tried this vernalization approach once. It worked fine but was more work than necessary. My practice is this:
- pick nuts directly off the tree not from the ground to minimize mold contamination.
- hydrate the nuts by soaking them in plain tap water for several hours. Discard any floaters.
- Place the nuts in a zip lock bag with no medium to hold added moisture. (I want to discourage germination)
- Donāt zip the bag shut but simply fold it over. I want some but little air exchange. Then put it in the crisper.
This will delay the formation and growth of the tap root. There are two reasons I wan to delay germination. One is that they are deciduous and require dormancy. They can benefit from a couple extra months of growing season but not 12 months. Second, I want to time things so that they are ready to transplant into 1 gal Rootbuilder II contianers about the time our last threat of frost has passed. This is 12-16 weeks after top growth begins. That allow me to transplant them into larger containers (which take up more space) at the same time I take them outdoors to begin acclimating them to the sun.
This year I took my nuts out in early January. The picture in the post above was taken in mid February. They will be ready to transplant and acclimate to the outdoors in mid April. By mid-summer they will be ready to transplant into 3 gal Rootbuilder IIs. Next fall/winter Iāll plant them in the field.
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Thanks for the info
Here is a recent picture of some of the Allegheny Chinquapins. Note that left on their own in 18s, they will snake around trying to maximize light when grown indoors. Eventually they canāt support their own weight. Since I had plenty of space a trays this year, I used more trays and cut the density in half. You can see the safety flags in some of them. I use them for staking to keep the trees growing vertically and I typically prune them as needed to a central leader as they grow. No need to do this, I just prefer trees with a central leader. By the end of the growing season when they harden off, no support is required.
This is not the only way to grow them but it works for me.
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I am thrilled that - after several years - and a difficult transplantā¦ one of my Allegheny Chinkapin bushes (from the Golden strain out of Kentucky) finally CROPPED a handful of delicious nuts!
Taste just like American chestnuts, but perhaps even sweeter and more tender. Wow! Hereās hoping for lots more of these in future years. They are rather handsome popping out of their bristly clamshells!
I picked and ate these yesterday, Oct. 18.
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The chinkapins I started 2 yrs. ago from seed now all appear dead.
I planted out in the orchard. Grew good for a year.
This year they all look dead mid summer till now,
Blight ?
I donāt think they have enough root reserves to resprout next year.
A dozen or soā¦
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