Bouche de Betizac x American Chestnut cross

[ShiverMinneapolisZ4b]

See my review at:

Giant Chestnuts

I’ve mail-ordered 6 cultivars of nuts and would rank them in approximately this order (ripening time mentioned): Belle Epine (my #1 favorite, but late ripener, probably too late for a portion of zone 4 years), Bisalta #3 (my 2nd favorite, mid-ripener), Maraval (mid-late), Silverleaf (early-mid), Tanzawa (unclear if early or mid), and Marron di Val di Susa (late). Silverleaf I noticed I was able to eat raw on Jan 02, stored in refrigeration. Most of the others I tried it was November and they h…

After reading your post, I just changed my order to a layered clone of Belle Epine (late ripener) and added seedlings as backup of my other 2 grafted orders. Layered clones are essentially large cuttings without a graft union. I’m told the University of Minnesota master gardener program warns of delayed graft failure in Zone 4 for nut trees.

I found these available at Burnt Ridge as layered clones labelled zone 4, sorted by approximate ripening order: Colossal (early, pollen sterile), Okei (mid), Maraval (mid-late, zone 5), Belle Epine (late), Nevada (late).