Chestnuts! A few questions

[tonyOmahaz5]

Thanks Jack.

Tony

[tonyOmahaz5]

Jack and all,

I buried the 2 Collosal Chinese Chestnuts from our local Asian market in my flower pot about 5 weeks ago. One of them had sprout to about 3 inches tall. I plan to grow them in-ground in a couple of weeks. Is this seedling going to be self-fruitul?

Tony

[forestandfarm]

Chestnuts are fairly true to seed compared to may trees. I’ve grown unknown variety Chinese chestnuts and Dunstan chestnuts which are a cross with American. The question is pollination. It is my understanding that a specific variety cannot pollinate themselves, but when you grow a chestnut from seed, they can pollinate each other. So, if your other nut produces a tree you will be fine. They are primarily insect pollinated, so they need to be proximate. Two trees a hundred yards apart are essentially sexually isolated. You can plant them at a distance so their crowns won’t interfere when mature. My personal strategy is to plant them about 18 fee apart. This helps production in the early years. When crowns begin to interfere, I’ll keep the best producing trees and cull the interfering tree (I’m planting in volume).

[Lucky_P]

IIRC, ‘Collosal’ is pollen-sterile. Who knows if its seedlings may or may not express that trait?

[markalbob]

So, is there a place to buy the transgenic chestnuts yet (I assume not) or, failing that, ACF or ACCF seed, minus going to full membership in the ACF? I don’t doubt they do great work, but $40 to join their group…I can’t help but think they would collect more $$ selling the seed outright at least as one option…

[Lucky_P]

It’s been a number of years (nearly 20, I guess), since I first joined ACCF… and I’m sorry to say that I only maintained my membership/sponsorship for a few years, until I let it lapse. Received a number of seedlings and seednuts of ACCF chestnuts… and to my knowledge, still have one surviving tree.
Not sure what the current ACCF policy is, but I’ll bet that you can still obtain seednuts/seedlings as part of your cooperator’s agreement - you just have to report on them, annually.

[Seedy]

To address the original concern about storing them: Though they are a ‘true nut’ they are very different from the high-fat, low-carb nuts that we can just leave out in a bowl on the table. They are more like potatoes on a tree. The general advice is that they are best ‘cured’ which is done for a little while, not in a refrigerator. Storing them beyond curing time is done in a refrigerator…or by drying. I suspect that in the old times folks who stored them in the attic through Winter were drying and somewhat chilling them by doing so. The dried nuts are hard and need to be reconstituted…or ground into flour (nice). Re: the blight…trees from east of the Rockies can’t be shipped to west of the Rockies but there are good sources of blight-free trees in the West, such as Washington Chestnut Company (excellent trees) and Burnt Ridge Nursery, and they can ship to just about anywhere. There are sources of the 15/16ths American (with just enough Chinese to be blight resistant but retain the fine American qualities) but most of the trees commonly available (Colossal, etc.) are Japanese/European hybrids (sometimes with Chinese and/or American influence), and are varying degrees of blight resistant…including: not very. Chestnut is marron and castagne (and variations) in Europe.

[castanea]

French chestnut trees are European chestnuts - Castanea sativa - similar is shape and size to American chestnut trees.

[castanea]

@forestandfarm

There are several options. You can direct seed them in the fall and they will stratify naturally. The problem is that you need to protect them from rodents. Some guys form cages out of hardware cloth. I don’t direct seed much so I don’t have hands-on experience with that.

I start mine in containers. The problem with that is that the tap root grows fast and will circle or j-hook in most smooth sided containers. That is why I use the rootmaker container system. Here is how I grow them.

Chestnuts are high in carbs and thus very susceptible to mold. If one is collecting nuts themselves, it is best to collect them from the trees when they first start dropping rather than collecting nuts that have been on the ground for a bit. The have less chance of exposure to mold spores picked form the tree. Mold can move quickly from nut to nut, so it is best not to put then all in one big container when collecting.

If she bought them, they were likely collected and stored properly at the source. Either way you are past that point. Don’t try to use a bleach solution to combat mold. Some folks suggest a weak bleach solution for cleaning prior to stratification. I have found that there is an acid/base reaction that occurs with the shell. I was trying to combat a mold issue one year washing infected nuts manually by hand and I burned all the hair of my knuckles. I have found that when I use bleach, I get a lot more malformed seedlings.

The next step is hydration. Cold stratification requires the nuts to be well hydrated. As moisture level drops, stratification slows and takes longer. When the moisture level gets low enough it stops all together. Some folks keep nuts for more than a year with low moisture levels and then increase moisture for them to stratify and germinate. I have not done this personally.

I simply rinse the nuts by hand with running water and then soak them for 24 hours in plain water. I use Ziploc freezer bags to cold stratify them. I take a handful of long-fiber sphagnum and soak it in water. I then squeeze out the water by making a tight fist. I put this in the bag with the nuts to retain moisture. I only zip the bag half way closed. I then fold it in half and put it in the vegetable crisper. This provides enough air flow while retaining the necessary moisture. Some folks put pin holes in the bag. However you do it, the idea is not to completely cut off air flow but retain moisture. Again to combat the spread of mold, I use multiple bags with 10 to 25 nuts per bag. This way if I do have a mold issue it is limited in the spread.

Some folks like to keep the nuts in the fridge until they produce root radicles. This is usually done when you have a limited number of RM 18s and more nuts than containers. By only planting nuts with root radicles, you don’t “waste” propagation cells on nuts that won’t germinate. One issue with this method is that the nut decides up verses down just before it starts producing the root radicle. If the nut is not oriented right in the bag and the root radicle gets started in an odd direction, you can have an issue. If you reorient the nut when you plant it, it will change the up/down but it takes time for this and the root continues to grow in the wrong direction for a while and then makes an abrupt change in direction. This can cause a kink in the root. The proper orientation is with the point to the side. The root radicle and stem both emerge from the point and one grows down and the other up. So, if you use this method, be sure to check for root radicles frequently and plant the nut as soon as you see any sign of a root radicle.

I use a different method since I have plenty of 18s. I cold stratify them for 60 days and then plant them in 18s under lights. I use Promix BX in the 18s and cover the nuts rather than placing them on top. This seems to help with mold. I place the nut in one corner of the 18 with the pointed end in the center of the 18s. This puts the stem and root radicle in the center of the 18.

I use inexpensive fluorescent shop lights hung with cord using a prussic knot. This lets me adjust the height of the light over the trees. I like the Express trays over the regular 18s. This lets me reorganize my trees according to height. I find the germination and growth timing of chestnut seedlings to vary greatly. Reorganizing them regularly according to height lets me keep the lights a couple inches above the seedlings. Seedlings started under lights can get lanky. Keeping the lights close helps combat this to some degree. I also use an oscillating fan for about 30 minutes a day to flex the stems.

After 12-16 weeks, I transplant them to 1 gal RB2s. I typically remove the nuts about this time as well and definitely before I take them outside. In late spring or early summer, I transplant them into 3 gal RB2s and plant them in the final location in the fall.

Here is a thread that shows my progress with chestnuts, AC, and DCO so far this winter: enter link description here

I’m trying to respond to a post by Lucky P and it won’t let me delete this post

[castanea]

Colossal produces lousy seedlings. BTW, American chestnuts are not sweeter than Chinese. American chestnuts generally have a higher fat content.

[Roundface]

Does anyone know if Chinkapin will pollinate regular hybrid chestnuts. thx!

[BenHawggard]

I haven’t figured out how to post pictures yet but this is a link to our property tour on another site. If you follow it we have a pic of our largest American chestnuts tree from the ACCF. This group has tried to breed blight resistant trees through only American chestnuts that have demonstrated blight resistance. The pic is a year old and is a little bigger this year.

[northwoodswis4]

The link is missing.

[BenHawggard]

Hawggardville

[castanea]

Yes, all castanea species will pollinate all other castanea species.

[castanea]

Nice place. Was that snake a copperhead?

[Roundface]

thx so much!

[BenHawggard]

Yeah it was a copper head had a lot that year.

[castanea]

If you have room why don’t you just get another tree? I don’t know where Gurneys gets their trees but there are many sources of seedling chestnut trees that are probably better, like Red Fern Farm in Iowa -
http://www.redfernfarm.com/index.php/product-category/chestnuts/

[SteadyStan]

Hi everyone, I’m new to growing chestnuts. To those of you that grow them, are you able to tell if this 2 year old seedling is an American Chestnut? I started several a couple years ago from store bought seed.