Chestnuts Almost As Big As Apples

[British Red]

I wanted to post my grateful thanks to Macaroon for posting me these lovely specimens - and to Joonsy who also offered to send me some

Sweet Chestnut by British Red, on Flickr

These are not going into stuffing - I want to try and raise some young trees from them. I have planted them in deep pots (two to a pot) in a light seedling mixture

Sweet Chestnuts planted by British Red, on Flickr

I've labelled them carefully in the hope that someone may provide me with beech mast from a copper beech and/or some acorns from an English oak. Its certain that Ash dieback is within 50 feet of our property now so I am going to have to do some replanting. We are so glad that we have been tree planting for four years and increasing the diversity of species.

Labels by British Red, on Flickr

The watered pots are in the greenhouse which will prevent predation...but do the nuts need to stratify? Anyone know?

Plants in greenhouse by British Red, on Flickr

Anyway - thanks again Macaroon for the nuts and Joonsy for the thread and the kind offer. I promise an update if they grow

 

[Macaroon]

I'm glad they arrived safely! There are two nuts from each of the six best trees on the patch; the most consistent croppers and the healthiest of the trees. I don't know about stratification as we've always propogated outdoors. The traditional way in these parts is to mix rotted leaf mould and the fruity droppings of the rutting stags, and leave them over winter. Of course, as you say, with a dozen on the go predation would be the problem.

I'm very glad some of this year's fine crop will be grown on by somebody who knows what they're doing

 

[British Red]

I think I may go for three pots inside the greenhouse and three out - hopefully that will give a chance whatever they need. I can't see that they need frost protection - as you say they do okay in the woods!

 

[Macaroon]

Just had a chat with one of the forestry guys who knows all about woodland propogation; he says they are "recalcatrant" seeds and need to be frost-free, ideally kept +3 - +5 celsius and fairly damp, so indoors sounds best.
That's probably why the little "nest" of leaf mould and poo when we were doing it - insulation!

 

[Toddy]

I just buried ours in leaf litter several feet thick and they sprouted fine. All 137 of them !! :yikes:

M

 

[Macaroon]

I just buried ours in leaf litter several feet thick and they sprouted fine. All 137 of them !! :yikes:

M

That's what we've found, almost 100% germination.............Sounds good enough to me

 

[British Red]

Hmm - don't have much leaf mould - this is the Fens

I'll bury the pots in the soil and cover in straw ...that should do it I suspect.

 

[Joonsy]

I wanted to post my grateful thanks to Macaroon for posting me these lovely specimens

very nice crop indeed, hope they do very nicely for you, nice to spread the 'big uns' about a bit more for the future, good luck.

Thought I would add a bit about the trees themselves. I have noticed you seem to get two types of sweet chestnut tree, one grows tall 30 metres or so while the other grows shorter and wider and squat. Why this is so I have no idea, perhaps it is just due to location dictating growth. You seem to get more of the taller types with big nuts than the other type (in my experience) however a few years ago I found some of these shorter/wider types that consistently produce big nuts, there are a number of the same type in the area that are quite old (they are about 38’ tall with a circumference of 17’-18’ measured at chest height) the shells of these mostly contain one big nut combined with one or two small nuts but a few of them contain three big nuts. I have found that big nuts on this shorter/wider squat type of sweet chestnut are a rarity (just based on my own observations, i don't know if there is any truth in this).

Here is a young tree of that type that consistently produces big nuts

 

[British Red]

Thank you Macaroon

They germinated beautifully and emerged this week!!!

Sweet Chestnut by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Macaroon]

Oh great! Thanks for the update, and I'm very pleased they came so well

 

[FKeate]

I always walk round with horse chestnuts in my cheeks, but only when I can't get hold of crab apples.

 

[spandit]

See those big ones; if they're otherwise healthy, those are the trees that are worth propagating around the place.

Chestnuts are pretty easy to sprout; just cover them up in a deep pile of leaf litter and when you open it up in Spring, they'll have shoots coming out one end and roots the other

cheers,
Toddy

She's right, you know! Put some of the chestnuts I foraged from a local wood into a bucket of soil and covered with a layer of wood chippings. There are at least 5 coming up...

 

[Fraxinus]

Very nice.
It just so happens I had a walk in a now local to me wood today and found some chestnut cases, duly put it into my waypoints for later this year
I think I might try to grow some here abouts just to spread them out for future generations. I had to wade thigh deep through new bramble growth to find the little clearing with them in so come October I may have to take a machete!

Rob