Growing Chestnut Trees!

Update on Chestnut 🌰 seeds!

Back in September 2020, I placed 9 chestnuts in a peat moss mix and set them in the crisper section of the frig. Today, after 5 months I took them out and 8 of them have sprouted a radical (young root)!

They have now been planted in pots in the green house with the hope they will grow into saplings in about 4 to 6 weeks. Then, in a mere 5 or 6 years, they will bear fruit (assuming they survive the next planting stages and the Chesnut blight that still lingers in the environment). Please check back in early 2027 for an update!

In less than fifty years after its emergence, Chestnut blight virtually eliminated American chestnut as a canopy species in 8.8 million acres acres of forest. The chestnut fruit was a major food source for animals in the low elevation Appalachian forests and the loss resulted in a drastic decrease of the squirrel population, the extinction of seven native moth species, and adversely impacted deer, Cooper's hawk, cougar, and bobcat populations.