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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Hello all, (this is a cross-posted email to hopefully reach the most
people for answers to my questions-sorry-just delete if you get it twice)
In 2002, I think it was (my records were lost in a system crash), I
bought what I thought was a 15/16 American/Chinese Chestnut hybrid from
a highly respected nursery that specialized in antique fruits and nuts.
 I went to a lot of trouble to get it, and paid a pretty penny for it.
 It was touted to be blight resistant and was something like an F4
backbred cross??  I don't recall exactly.  Anyway, in year two,
I discovered that my chestnuts were probably 3/4 American/Chinese
instead of the 15/16. :(  Oh well.  At any rate, I have a domestic
chestnut hybrid tree that is apparently blight resistant because it is
AWESOME.
I bought two of them originally, but the deer got one before I could get
it caged.  The second one was planted near the dry creek in a hole that
took me 3 days to dig due to all the rocks. There was more rocks than
soil, and I recall having second and third and fourth thoughts<g> about
my planting location, but I kept to the plan. I dug a $1000 hole for a
$100 tree. :)  At the time of planting, the tree was 4-5 feet tall, not
much more than a whip of a tree.  The first year, I toted water to the
back pasture to water that tree, and there were times when I did not
think it would survive, but it did.  It grew really fast, and I pruned
it when it was about 8 feet tall, removing the lower branches.  Last
year, it was over 15 feet tall, and this year, it has to be about 25
feet tall.  I honestly can't believe this tree!!
Anyway, I don't usually go into the back pasture
until after dark (for astronomy), but today I went out there this
afternoon to check on a few other saplings I transplanted along the
creekline last year.  Lo and behold, there be chestnuts on the ground!
Lots of them!  I donned the gloves and started picking them up, at least
those that had not been eaten by deer, turkey, squirrels or whatever had
the fortitude to withstand those spines!  I have never actually seen the
inside of one of those balls until today.  I always thought there was
only one nut inside, but there are three!  (Embarrassed to admit that,
but mention it here just in case I'm not the only one who didn't know)
Shoot, we never had chestnuts to roast on an open fire down here.  I
don't think I ever saw a chestnut until I was in college, and I saw it
in a grocery store, not fresh from the tree.  What's funny is all the
reading I did years ago about chestnuts before I bought those trees, and
somehow that little tidbit of information escaped me.  I remember I was
all caught up in posts on Chestnuts and thinking about pig feed
rather than paying attention to the actual tree.
So anyway, I brought in a basket of spiny ball hulls (what do you call
them?) and retrieved the chestnuts from the hulls.  So now, my questions:
First, the nuts are not like those in the grocery store.  They are more
flat than round.  I know nuts are seeds, but these really look more like
seeds than nuts, if that makes sense.  Is that normal?  I read today
that most grocery store nuts are grown in Italy, so perhaps they have a
different variety of chestnut there than our native, supposedly sweeter
nut?
Is this flat nut thing normal, or could it be a lack of nutrients or
some environmental factor like cooler temps or less rainfall? Perhaps it
is flat because the tree in not mature?  My guess right now is that they
are flat because of the lack of a good pollinator.  Does that sound right?
Is the flattened nut still viable as a seed?  Does it need special heat
or cold treatment before germination results?  I read that moist sandy
soil should be used to germinate them, but I was hoping for more
details.  The nuts almost look like the 'leaf' of a pine cone, only much
thicker and larger.  You can definitely see the evolution of the tree by
looking at these nuts.
I read that the preferred method of propagating chestnuts is from
cuttings, but is that before they started crossing the American with
other varieties or is that because of the blight issue-to try to prevent
it or is it the result of the blight, not wanting the nuts to hit the
ground. (I don't know how to phrase what I am thinking here)  If these
are viable seed, and it really is mostly American as touted, then the
seed on the ground-in the tall grass of the pasture-should germinate and
take off as these things are supposed to be really prolific.  They'd
have to be prolific since the Chestnut was once the dominant forest tree
in the East.  Does anyone know whether nut quality suffers if grown from
seed versus a cutting?
I am not going to eat these flattened 'seed nuts'.  I want to plant them
in my tree nursery and grow more chestnuts.  I just want to grow more
chestnuts, either from cuttings or from seed!  This small tree, barely a
toddler as trees go, put a lot of chestnuts on the ground in less than 5
years.  If I had about 5 of these, or more, I'd be set on fattening up
pigs and having nice shade trees that would also feed me!
There really is something magical about these trees.  I've always loved
the forest and trees, but this one is *very* special-I can't explain it.

Bev
--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky