Chestnut seeds for planting
Whitetail Deer
who is growing there own trees from seed ! which type and how !
I grew and planted 20 dunstan chestnut trees this year. I have about 50 chinese chestnuts in the fridge for next year....likely will add another 10-20 dunstan chestnuts as well.
Biggest thing is that they require cold stratification for about 90 days......I have them in zip loc bags and sphagnum peat moss in my veggie crisper. Ill get them out in early spring and get them going.....I baby them all summer and plant in the fall.
Here are some pics from this year.
?? Do you just plant them in a planter after you see them sprout in the moss I have several in the fridge packed in moss now along with persimmons and chinquapins Lewis
lewis......some will start to sprout in the fridge, some will not until they get out into warmer temperatures. Check them once a week and look for sprouting (and to check for mold). If you get some that start sprouting, you can leave them in the fridge, but be careful because the radical cannot be broken and ideally you don't want it to twist itself in a pretzel as it rolls around trying to reorient "down".
I try keep them in the fridge until its warm enough to leave them outside without threat of frost. I typically plant a bunch in a tall pot (as shown in above pictures) and leave them in my garage for a couple weeks as it takes about that long to get any top growth. Once they start to grow up....I move them into the sun ouside. I let them grow in the pots for several weeks until they all develop a few nice looking leaves (after their first flush and as seem above). I them transplant them into a root trapping bag for the remainder of the summer.
Be VERY careful with rodents as they will kill young trees trying to rip/bite off the nut (chestnut, acorn, etc). Once they begin to have top growth, you don't technically need the nut and can cut it off.....I try to leave it on as long as possible as it's giving the tree food it needs! With that said, I lost about 50 young trees last year trying to milk another week with the nut attached! Protecting them is the best bet.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
thanks for the info louis
Did'nt want to hijack a thread but thanks for the info.Lewis
lewis u are helping the tread ! were can I get a few nuts seems like I missed the boat this year !
http://www.chestnutridgeofpikecounty.com/
Has anyone out there ever Direct seeded Chestnuts? Im in SE MN and was thinking of direct seeding some yet this fall. Next spring is gonna be crazy for me so thought I would try this method. Gonna just bury them a inch deep and put a short section of tree tube over them. We direct seeded 24 acres of other hardwoods 10 yrs ago with great result but never tried chestnuts.
FYI Chestnut ridge of Pike Countys has not been taking orders most of the fall. I talked with them earlier in the week and Linda said they were gonna take order this weekend but it would be limited. I just checked and they are taking orders!! So if you want some act fast it sounded like they would shut it back down after the weekend. www.chestnutridgeofpikecounty.com
dont plant them deep in wet soil, better to cover 1/4" with mulch or moss, they will rot if to wet, next soncern is deer and squirrels the will eat every one they find.
