Probably not American. Interesting though. Maybe some type of European hybrid. What kind of store did you buy the seed from?
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Thanks for your response. I was also doubting that it’s American comparing to what I’ve seen online. I bought them at a grocery store. They were really tasty so I saved several for seed.
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I took a couple more photos of my chestnut seedlings now that they are a year older. Do the leaves still look like they are from a hybrid?
I’d like to try grafting them next spring. Any recommendations on what I should try since I don’t know their genetics?
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They look very European.
Nice looking.
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Thanks! I really appreciate your input.
Do you happen to know of a source for Castanea graft compatibility info?
If these are indeed European, wondering if any hybrid with c. sativa genetics can be grafted on.
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There is no graft compatibility data on most US chestnut graft combinations largely because there is no consistent rootstock list. Luckily most sativa/crenata hybrids will graft on most other sativa/crenata hybrids and most pure sativas will graft on most other pure sativas.
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I came across a very interesting pdf from 2017
http://www.chestnutgrowers.org/MikeNave-NewCultivars.pdf
It mentions an impressive true castanea sativa in Fife, Wa. Cultivar is called Boitano
That’s so neat. Especially since Fife is only a few miles away from me.
Does anyone on the forum have a connection with the family? I would love to buy chestnuts from this tree.
Perhaps someone is growing this cultivar?
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Burnt Ridge Nursery sells grafted Boitano trees.
You can sometimes buy the nuts at the Saturday Farmers Market in Portland although they may be called Black Pearl there.
You can sometimes buy the nuts at Pike Place Market in Seattle after October 10.
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Great, thanks.
Looks like Burnt Ridge isn’t currently selling grafted Boitano but they do have seed of this cultivar available.
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Their online catalog of chestnut trees is always changing. They do tree inventory in the Fall sometime and they will add many more trees after that. They have Boitano most years.
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The chestnuts from the Asian grocery store I posted above weren’t particularly good. They were really hard to get out of the shells and weren’t very sweet.
So I bought some Dunstan chestnuts on eBay to try and these are much better. Probably the best I’ve ever had, but they are probably a lot fresher than others I’ve had before as well.
Now I just need to find some pure Chinese chestnuts that are pretty fresh to see the difference. I may try to buy some from Route 9 cooperative when they go on sale on Oct. 1.
The Dunstans were super easy to peal after being rosted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
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None of those from Burnt Ridge will be blight resistant.
Chestnut trees in flower have a wonderful smell, which some people don’t like, because everyone is different.
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Dunstan seedlings are mostly 90-10% Chinese. They taste like average Chinese chestnuts.
Wait until you get some really good ones.
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FWIW, although Burnt Ridge varieties are probably not the best selections, they are currently offering dozens of their varieties right now for $8/lb plus shipping, so it might be worth checking out if any tastes good enough to play the seedling roulette. A couple of them are noted to be blight resistant and one allegedly had “exceptional” taste.
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Yeah, I’ve learned a lot since I posted that eight years ago 
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None of the Burnt Ridge seedlings are likely to be blight resistant. Unless you are experimenting for the fun of it, growers in areas with blight should not be planting seedlings from Burnt Ridge.
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I’m just buying them to taste. If any of them wow me, I imagine I’m better off grafting to a mature rootstock to get production before blight hits.
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Cousinfloyd, how many ways do you cook chestnuts, I have a young tree, about 12 feet tall & it is covered this year.