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Fruit & Orchards

My single Chinese Chestnut sets nuts?

10 years ago

I'm thinking about collecting some of the nuts from my Chinese Chestnut tree for seed exchange, so I've been reading up a bit recently on them.

Only reading up on them I'm confused. Most of what is written out there states one needs two trees for pollination to ensure nuts, but my single tree has set nuts for the last two years we have been living here! And a lot of nuts too. There are zero other chestnuts anywhere remotely nearby as far as I can tell.

So, a couple questions if anyone can help me out.

Will the nuts produced from this tree be viable for seed exchange?
Are these nuts any good? For human consumption that is- we haven't tried them yet, but all the squirrels eat the dickens out of them.
Is it possible this old tree comes from grafted root stock of 2 trees together, thus making nut making possible?

Thanks for any advice anyone can provide.

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Comments (3)

yukkuri_kame
10 years ago
Most info says you need a pollinator, but there are reports of self-fertile trees. Could be 2-in-1 grafted, if so you should be able to find the graft. Ah, the mystery of trees!

I'm sure the seed is viable and I would be very happy to trade for some.

Are they good? Most asian chestnuts I've come across are absolutely delicious!
beesneeds
Original Author
10 years ago
It's a rather old tree, several decades old. So I have no idea how to look for a graft on it. It might be two trees since one side is a triple trunk cluster, and the other side is a double trunk cluster. But they are only a couple feet apart and when I asked the previous owners whos grandparents planted it, they said it was a tree, not a pair of trees. I thought perhaps it was on wide spaced root stock?
The whole think looks all exactly the same- the leaves, they way it grows, the nut formation, it even gets those hairy threads all around. Maybe I just don't have a clue what I'm looking for, lol.

I don't have seeds yet, they will probably start dropping sometime next month. That's why I wanted to ask now before they started dropping. But if they are likely viable, I will for sure collect some for trading :)

I don't know if they are good yet. The first year we were here, I didn't realize it was an edible kind of tree, thought it was an inedible kind till the neighbors corrected me. Last year it was so dry what little nut set I left for the wildlife. So this fall is going to be the first chance we really get to try some.
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