Project: Growing Chestnuts - better than acorns

[catfishryan]

How long did they take to sprout? I have some in the fridge right now. Do you still have a hookup for sawtooth acorns?

im not trying to tell you not to plant sawtooth but this is what i found out after i started some. sawtooth oak is a non native tree from asia, you will see nurseries bragging that they can produce acorns in 10 years and are fast growing(for oak trees). the truth is these acorns are very bitter and deer will only eat them if there are no other acorns around. they are great for turkeys but not so much for deer. there are native trees that are more drought tolerant, produce acorns just as fast if not faster and are equal growers. two, chinquapin oak and mexican white(monterrey) oak are members of the white oak family and have acorns with fewer bitter tannins and highly preffered by deer. i ordered and planted sawtooths in containers before i found that out and ended up dumping most of them

[yanta61]

Did you peel your bur acorns?

Yes they were peeled

[TradAg02]

I would wait another week or two on the live oak acorns.....then if you still have nothing...pull one up and see if the root is still spreading.

I pulled one up yesterday. Tried to be careful, but snapped the root. Went ahead and dug the rest of the root out and found that it had grown all the way to the bottom of the container. Just a long tap root, no branching or significant “hairs” yet.

This morning I had 7 that were showing .5”-1” stalks.


Right now I have ~100 live oaks planted. Once I transition these into larger pots I would like to start some of the other oaks that I have in the fridge. Is there a minimum or maximum time that I should leave acorns in the fridge?

[catfishryan]

quercus virginiana. cold stratification is 30 days or until radicle emergence

[catfishryan]

each species is different, some are 60/90 days, some you can plant imediately.
google _____ oak stratification

[unclefish]

I pulled one up yesterday. Tried to be careful, but snapped the root. Went ahead and dug the rest of the root out and found that it had grown all the way to the bottom of the container. Just a long tap root, no branching or significant “hairs” yet.

This morning I had 7 that were showing .5”-1” stalks.


Right now I have ~100 live oaks planted. Once I transition these into larger pots I would like to start some of the other oaks that I have in the fridge. Is there a minimum or maximum time that I should leave acorns in the fridge?

I'm not sure on the time in the fridge but put them in ziplocks with a perlite/peat moss mix and wet them. You can monitor when they sprout alot better than if they are planted. Once they sprout in the fridge I would pull them out and start them growing.

[unclefish]

So far in this batch of 36 nuts I have 29 growing shoots.



Tapachat

[Sippy]

Might have missed it, but when do you plan on planting them?

[unclefish]

Might have missed it, but when do you plan on planting them?

Late March/Early April....depending on the weather.

[Sippy]

Do you have any other projects going on at your place?

[TradAg02]

Looking good. I hope my cells look like that in another week or two.

I added moss and some moisture to the acorns in my fridge. My wife didn’t appreciate the additional space I was taking up so I moved them to the fridge in my office. Now my hunting room looks like a grow room and my office fridge looks like a science experiment.

[unclefish]

Lots of projects....just not much money....lol. I'm about to plant 500 Virginia Pine seedlings for a visual screen for the food plots from my neighbor....although I have great neighbors. They make great Christmas trees in 3 years and don't get as tall as loblollies.

My neighbor high fenced his small place (70 acres) last year and he stocked it full of deer and exotics. So now he feeds alot in his truck and it tends to disturb my back food plot when they see his truck.

Fencing, bulldozing, pig trapping, are all on the list as well!

Lol TradAg02. My wife and kids just laugh at me every morning when I check on my baby chestnut trees. I'm running out of room too.

[KevinG]

Tree's

Very good Thread!!! Thanks for all of the great info.. I will attemping my hand at growing when I get more time.... Let me know if you end up with more than you want I would be interested in purchasing 5 to 10 if you have them left over...

[jshouse]

great thread

[Jet Black]

Very cool unclefish. If you have extra, I'd love to buy some as well.