Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

SISU! wrote:

> Does anyone know whether nut quality suffers if grown from
> seed versus a cutting?
>  
I don't know about chestnuts, but in general it sure does.  That's why I 
was crowing when my little English walnut seedling had 8 whole nuts this 
year.  I guess that's the reason for doing grafting (for trees whose 
cuttings won't sprout directly), so that the top part is genetically 
identical to a known cultivar that bears lots of nuts.  If your original 
tree was not a graft (or cutting -- harder to tell), then chances are 
that the new seedlings will perform similarly well.

> 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.
You may have inspired me to try again.

Bill
S. Oregon coast