Description
Not long ago, the chestnut was one of the most dominant trees in eastern forests. They grew to the height of redwoods and dropped nuts by the trainload. Unfortunately, almost all the American chestnuts were wiped out by a disease around 100 years ago.
Since that time, much work has gone into hybridizing American, Chinese, European, and Japanese chestnut genetics to create trees that are disease resistant and grow in colder climates. Today is the best time in history to be planting chestnuts.
The nuts are an amazing source of food for the homestead. They are rich in carbohydrates, more similar to corn than to the more oily and protein rich nuts like hazelnuts. They are reliable producers because the flowers emerge in early summer.
Chinese Orchard Chestnuts – This year I am lucky to have highly improved genetics from one of the largest chestnut orchards in our region. These are first selections from an established orchard of predominantly Chinese genetics. Expect high yielding trees which bear nuts early.
Hybrid Chestnuts – The other selections are great trees as well, they come from a long standing hardy chestnut orchard with a mix of genetics: Chinese, Japanese, American, European, both seedlings and grafted cultivars.
Plant at least two for cross-pollination to get a nut crop.
