Photo: Richard Webb, Self-employed horticulurist, Bugwood.org — CC BY 3.0 us · source
Survives zone 4 through 8
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
The most chestnut-blight-resistant species in the genus and the genetic backbone of modern American chestnut restoration breeding, forming a broad-crowned tree that begins bearing in 5-7 years and can yield roughly 25-60 kg of nuts a year once mature.
- Hardiness
- Zone 4–8
- Habit
- Tree
- Edible part
- Nut
- Ripens
- Sept–Oct
- Mature size
- Tree 15–20 m, broad-crowned — not containerable
- Light
- Full sun — nut crops need sun
- Soil pH
- Castanea 4.5–6.5 — ⚠ LIME-INTOLERANT (calcifuge, unlike other nut trees). Quercus/Fagus 5.0–6.5
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- China (across numerous provinces, from near sea level in the north to around 2,800 m elevation in the south), Taiwan, and possibly Korea.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 3–5 yrs grafted
- Growth speed
- Medium growth rate; seedlings typically begin bearing in 5-7 years, with mature trees yielding around 25-60 kg of nuts per year.
- Spacing
- 850 cm (335 in) apart — about 72 m² (778 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Alternate and simple, 10-22 cm long by 4.5-8 cm wide, with a toothed margin.
- Root system
- Shallow-rooted for such a large tree.
- Fruit description
- A densely spiny cupule 4-8 cm across holds two or three glossy brown nuts, 2-3 cm across on wild trees (up to 4 cm in selected cultivars) — low in fat but high in carbohydrate, tasting like sweet potato with a floury texture once cooked.
- Propagation
- Sown from seed as soon as ripe — seed is short-lived and must stay moist, though it can be refrigerated for a few months if kept damp — germinating in late winter or early spring; seedlings can be grown on in outdoor beds for 1-2 years or potted and moved in summer/autumn with winter protection. Widely propagated by grafting, both for named blight-resistant orchard cultivars and as breeding/rootstock material for American chestnut restoration.
- Pollination
- ⚠ SELF-INCOMPATIBLE — needs TWO trees; a lone tree bears little or nothing
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Prefers a well-drained, slightly acid to neutral loam and is very tolerant of infertile, highly acid sandy soils; like the rest of the genus it dislikes chalky or calcareous ground.
How it spreads. Single-trunked, broad-crowned tree that does not sucker or spread vegetatively, though it responds well to coppicing if cut.
Growing tips. The most chestnut-blight-resistant species in the genus — it has evolved a resistance to Cryphonectria parasitica considered stronger than any other Castanea species, though individual trees still vary in susceptibility and it is resistant rather than fully immune. This resistance makes it the genetic backbone of modern American chestnut restoration breeding programs. Needs a hot summer to fruit well and does poorly in cool maritime climates such as Britain's.
Grow journal
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