Castanea dentata |
Origin: Eastern North America
Zone Range: 5-8
Preferred Situation: Full to semi sun; well draining loamy soil.
Harvest Date: Friday 01 February, 2008
Description:
Tall, straight trunked magestic trees once dominated the Eastern North American forests making up as much as 25% of the species composition. Now it is rare. Time for a come back. Beautiful long lance shaped leaves. Fruiting and pollen catkins will attract pollen and nectar seekers from afar. Nut bearing folicles are bristling with spines and look like green (then brown in the Autumn) sea urchins. Very prickly, but useful to save and place under the plum trees to deter those rascally racoons! Castanea dentata doesn't cast enough shade to impair the lawn. Perfect setting for growing wildflowers or naturalized woodscapes. Extremely long lived here in British Columbia.
Notes:
The nuts of this species are about 1/3 the size of those you see at the grocers at Christmas time, but the flavour of these morsels I liken to tasting a wild strawberry to a commercially produced goliath sized strawberry picked weeks ago. There is no comparison. Fast growing trees can bear up to 150 pounds of nuts each BUT you need two for nut production. Ideal for making protein rich nut flour. We're establishing our plantation on seeds taken from a variety of populations to ensure good diverse genetics.
Cultivation:
Sorry, seed exceeds USDA's 10g max for shipping to our US customers. Fresh seed starting stratification. We can provide sprouted seed for an extremely short time in the Spring put please note the SEED COUNT WILL BE LESS. Please enquire. Early birds will enjoy a full seed count as noted on the seed/packet listed. Just continue on the the cold stratification until mid April then expose to Spring conditions for prompt germination. These guys almost pop out of the ground from nothing one day to 'ta-da' the second. Protect from vermin and wondering neighbours. Even they know a good thing.
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