How to grow a tree from chestnut seeds. How to plant a chestnut and grow a beautiful tree

Many townspeople like to walk along the alleys where chestnuts are planted, someone likes to feast on the sweet fruits of noble varieties of walnut. This suggests how to plant a chestnut from a walnut at home.

Growing step by step instructions

Growing a chestnut from a nut at home is a rather painstaking task, it requires the implementation of special rules:

You need to collect fruits in the autumn, when they reach the peak of maturity, fall from the trees.
In order for the nut to begin to germinate, and the tree to be hardy, stratification will be required. If you need to sow nuts in the fall, you will need to place each fruit in a container with a moist, cold environment. To do this, sprinkle the nuts with wet sand, put them on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator or in the basement for 9-12 days. Stratification will help the fetus break through and begin to grow.
If the planting period is planned for the spring, then you need to know how to grow a chestnut from a nut. To do this, for the winter they need to be left to stratify in a warm environment. The fruits must be poured with warm water and left for 5 days, if the water cools down, then it will need to be replaced with a new one. In such an environment, the shell of the nut will soften, and the germ will swell.
To germinate an edible chestnut, the fruit must be grown at a depth of 3 cm, and the diameter of the hole should not exceed three nuts. If the chestnut is planted in autumn, then the ascent process will occur two weeks faster than when planting in the spring. It should be remembered that it is spring planting that provides the tree with resistance to cold and good strengthening in the soil.

Planting a chestnut tree in winter

If you know how to grow a chestnut tree at home, then you can get a stronger tree in the first days of spring. If you collect nuts in the last months of autumn, then they will already undergo a natural stratification. Thanks to this, they can be planted in pots and looked after like regular indoor flowers. With the advent of January, you can start planting a tree. Be sure to add some sand to the planting hole, trim the taproot, and ensure regular watering to help the chestnut develop a strong, hardy root system. It is better to protect the landing site with a small fence so that animals and winds do not damage the young seedling.

The easy way to grow

There are rules on how to germinate a chestnut at home, following which you can achieve a good result in growing a tree.

In order to weed out weak fruits, you can use a simple method. In autumn, there are many fruits near the chestnut tree. It is necessary to collect them in a heap, cover with a dense layer of foliage and leave to winter. Thanks to this method, the nuts will undergo a natural stratification and begin to germinate on their own. At the moment when all the snow has melted, it is necessary to remove the foliage and collect all the germinated nuts, transplant them to the right place.

It should be noted that the method of growing edible chestnut and horse chestnut is almost the same. Therefore, if it is necessary to grow a noble variety of walnut, the rules for stratification and planting must be observed the same as with wild chestnut.

Chestnut is an amazing tree, considered the most ancient type of nut, tasty, very useful for the human body. This is the only variety of nuts that contains vitamins of group C. To plant such a tree on a home plot, you need to know how to germinate a chestnut from a nut, follow all the growing rules. Compliance with them will ensure the germination of a strong, hardy tree that will delight with its tasty and nutritious fruits.

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Chestnut is a tall heat-loving tree, which, however, can also be grown in the vastness of Russia. It is very beautiful, especially during the flowering period. At this time, small flowers similar to inflorescences appear on the tree. They stand out against the bright green foliage. If you have a desire to plant this plant in the country, you should get acquainted with the method of how to germinate a chestnut from a nut, which is necessary for this.

Its round fruits are covered with thick armor. She protects the nut, which bursts after wintering, and a sprout appears from it. If you find one, it will be very easy to plant a tree. For self-distillation at home, you need to pick up a few nuts. They must be whole, not rotten. It is possible to plant a chestnut in the fall in a flower pot. After that, it should be placed in a cool room, for example, in a cellar. If the fruit was harvested in late autumn, then they can be immediately planted in a flower pot. Then it is recommended to water and care for it like an ordinary house plant.

It would seem that figuring out how to germinate a chestnut is quite simple. But every case has its own subtleties. Requires stratification. To do this, the nuts are lowered into a container, sprinkled with sand and placed in the refrigerator. They should be kept there for two weeks. In order for the sprouts to take root, it is necessary to add soil taken from under an adult plant to the soil. The tree needs care. During the first two years of his life, he can be kept in the house. Only for the winter, these deciduous plants should be removed to a place with a cool temperature. It can be planted in open ground in the fall.

In order to get acquainted with how to germinate a chestnut for spring planting, consider the following method. Throughout the winter, the fruits are stored in the refrigerator. With the advent of spring, they are taken out of there, placed in warm water for five days. It is necessary to maintain its temperature and periodically change it. As a result, the shell of the nut will swell and burst, a sprout will appear. The root may begin to grow.

After you managed to germinate the chestnut, it remains to transfer the grown plant to a permanent place in open ground. The best time for planting is spring. The tree will have time to grow and get stronger by the arrival of autumn. The ground is prepared in advance. It should be loamy and contain lime. A hole is dug two to three centimeters. The walnut is placed in it with the root down. The embedment depth should be equal to two of its diameters. Warmth and sunlight are very important for a young plant. Although the chestnut and shade transfers quite easily. At first, grown seedlings can be covered. For example, gardeners use plastic bottles, spruce branches or fallen leaves. They will come in handy if the sprouts were immediately transferred to the ground.

Now you know how to germinate a chestnut tree on your own, at home. This amazing plant not only pleases with beautiful flowering, but also is healing. Folk and official medicine uses its flowers, leaves and fruits. Various preparations are made from them. For example, drugs that help with varicose veins.

Chestnut is a favorite of landscape designers. This tree adorns the streets and squares of cities, is widely used in the creation of unique landscape gardening areas. Chestnut with white candle inflorescences and large fan-shaped leaves is liked by everyone without exception. Let us dwell in more detail on how to grow a healthy and strong walnut tree (the so-called chestnut fruit, devoid of its prickly “fur coat”).

Planting material preparation

Where to get it? Of course, under the crown of a large beautiful chestnut tree. Fallen chestnuts are harvested in the fall, moreover, with a margin, so that there is plenty to choose from for the best specimens for planting. Next, one of the stratification methods is selected.

1. The first way is simple. The fruits collected in autumn are laid right there, between the roots of the "parent" tree, sprinkled with sand, covered with fallen leaves and left for several months. In the spring, they dig them up, select a few pieces and plant them where needed.

2. The second way is more complicated. The collected fruits are placed in a cellar, refrigerator or other cool place. They are stored there until spring, periodically checking that the planting material does not dry out.

Cold stimulates fruiting and starts the reproduction program. A dried fruit is not suitable for planting, because. unable to give rise to a new tree.

Don't want to wait until spring to plant a chestnut tree? Stratification can be accelerated. To do this, the fruits are placed in a container with wet sand and kept in a cool place for 10 days. This is quite enough to land them in the fall.

Landing

Immediately before planting in the ground, the outer hard shell of the nut is prepared. In order to soften it, the fruits are immersed in warm water for a week, changing it daily. By the end of this period, a small white sprout usually appears. The sprouted nut is ready for planting. The planting depth should be 3 times the diameter of the nut itself.

The question arises: so when is it better to plant a chestnut, in autumn or spring? Experts answer like this: plants planted in autumn give much earlier shoots than spring. At the same time, spring specimens grow better and faster, and are of higher quality.

Care and feeding

So, a chestnut from a germinated nut is planted in open ground. The next task - to grow a strong healthy tree out of it - requires patience, strength and certain knowledge. Here are some important care tips to help you solve it:

Trees growing in common yards, squares and parks are fenced with pegs or wooden fences in order to protect against the "human factor".
In areas with difficult weather conditions, the trunk of a young chestnut is tied to a support so that it does not break under the influence of wind loads.
Young trees are provided with abundant watering. This is extremely important in the first years of life, while the root system of the plant is not sufficiently developed.
Every spring, dry and frozen branches are removed from the chestnut trunk, leaving healthy ones.
Starting from the age of 10 years, a crown is formed by competent systematic pruning of branches.

A few words about how to properly fertilize the soil and feed the plants.

The ideal soil option for chestnuts is loose loam. If, in fact, the soil does not meet this requirement, it is ennobled: clay is added to loose soil, and sand is added to clay.
If the land is depleted, it is fertilized with compost.
As a spring top dressing, the following solution is introduced into the soil: for 10 liters of water - 1 kg of cow manure and 15 g of urea.
In autumn, top dressing for chestnut is prepared from 15 g of nitroammophoska dissolved in 10 liters of water.

While young plants need regular watering, mature chestnut trees only need to be watered during the dry season. Trees older than 10 years no longer need care.

As you can see, in order to plant a chestnut, seedlings from the nursery are not needed, this can also be done from a walnut.

How to grow an ornamental chestnut tree on a windowsill

Those who live "on the floor" and do not have a land plot can grow a chestnut from a walnut in their apartment. To do this is quite simple.

In autumn, peeled chestnuts are planted in a pot for indoor plants and watered systematically. In the spring, small white sprouts appear from the ground - a signal that the planting material is ready for seating in separate pots.

In order to get a decorative bonsai chestnut, a young tree is grown for about a year or two in an ordinary flowerpot, like a houseplant. Then proceed as follows:

take out of the pot, clean the roots from the old earth;
cut the roots so that the root system acquires a flat shape;
plant the prepared chestnut in a container with bonsai potting mix;
after the plant takes root (and this will happen pretty soon), it is transplanted together with a lump into a special bowl.

The most patient and persistent can watch the bonsai chestnut bloom. With proper care, this happens 10 years after planting.

If you have seen how chestnut alleys bloom, then you will certainly want these amazing trees to grow under your windows. The flowering of chestnuts is a truly amazing sight - the crown becomes lush, and with the onset of spring, dozens of candles with small white or pale pink flowers “light up” on the tree. The chestnut is famous not only for the beauty of flowering, but also for its useful properties - both flowers and fruits have a healing property, so many people want to grow chestnuts in their yard or in their summer cottage. Not everyone knows how to plant a chestnut.

Before we learn how to properly plant and grow a chestnut tree, let's take a closer look at the question of which tree we will talk about today, since there can be several varieties of chestnuts. Ordinary chestnut and "horse" are different plants. The principle of flowering and fruiting in trees is the same, only the fruits of horse chestnut give bitterness, so they should not be eaten. Such chestnuts are suitable only as feed for livestock.

If it comes to growing chestnuts, then many people mean horse chestnut. Do not be upset right away that you will not be able to taste these delicious fruits, the tree is useful for landscaping open areas and roadsides, and the fruits, despite the characteristic bitterness, can be dried and crushed, and then brewed and drunk hot drink. It turns out to be a great alternative to coffee.

How to plant a chestnut at home

If you have a great desire to grow a chestnut at home, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with these recommendations:

as a planting material, a fruit that has fallen from a tree is suitable - this means that the chestnuts have reached the stage of maturity;
how to germinate a chestnut: before planting the fruit in the ground, it is necessary to soak it in a container of water. Try to change the water as often as possible to start the process;
after 2 weeks, the first shoots will appear;
sprouted chestnuts should be planted in a pot of soil (the soil should be fertilized and moist) and placed in a cool place until spring. A cellar or any unheated room is suitable, only so that the air temperature does not fall below +5 o C;
you can plant chestnut sprouts in late spring. It is advisable to choose a non-sunny day so that it is not too hot;
for hardening seedlings 2 weeks before the planting date, it is advisable to take pots with young chestnuts outside and leave for 1-2 hours. Every day, time needs to be increased so that the plants adapt faster;
before planting, your young chestnuts should be outside all day first, and then leave the seedlings for a day.

Planting chestnuts in open ground

For planting young seedlings, you need to choose a suitable place. This may be a well-lit area, free from buildings and tall plants. It is very important to provide the plant with a lot of light during the period of active growth, so it is better not to plant a chestnut near the house and outbuildings. It is necessary to provide edible chestnuts with growth conditions as close as possible to natural ones, therefore, according to the recommendations of experts, there should not be tall plantations within a radius of 5 km that prevent sunlight from penetrating the crown of trees. It is also important that mature trees do not shade young seedlings.

The soil for planting chestnuts is better to choose fertile, the ideal option is dense black soil. If the earth is sandy or clayey, then the roots may rot and turn sour in the water.

If the soil in your area does not meet the requirements, you can enrich it. For example, sand can be added to loamy soil, and clay can be added to a sandy mixture. In addition, the soil must be enriched with nutrients, for this, take compost or rotted manure.

Planting a chestnut is not a troublesome business, because you have already managed to grow a seedling from a fruit, now it remains only to plant it in the ground. To do this, you need to dig a square hole, 50-60 cm wide. Now prepare a fertile mixture by mixing humus with the substrate and adding dolomite flour. Check the acidity of the soil, it should be between 5.0 and 6.0, not higher. If the soil is acidic, add lime to it. If you see that the soil does not pass moisture well, it is necessary to provide drainage by adding a layer of sand (no more than 15 cm) to the prepared hole.

We mix the nutrient mixture and deepen the seedling into the pit. We hold the young tree with our hand and carefully cover it with a layer of earth. You can compact the earth around the chestnut with your hands, and then pour it with water. Install a prop so that the tree takes root faster, since the root system is not yet well developed enough, in strong winds the tree may fall and die.

plant care

After planting in the spring, during the warm season, it is not necessary to feed the plant, it is best to fertilize with the onset of autumn. It can be nitroammofosk (15 g per bucket of water). And a year later, in the spring, we recommend enriching the soil with such a mixture: take a bucket of water, add 15 g of urea and 1 kg of mullein. Mix all the ingredients to make a liquid solution. Apply to the soil under the young tree.

After planting and until the chestnut gets stronger, it is necessary to provide the plant with constant watering, but only in dry times. If there is enough rainfall, then excessive waterlogging of the soil can have a detrimental effect on the growth of edible chestnut.

To saturate the soil with oxygen, try to loosen the ground, and sprinkle the area around the trunk circle with a layer of peat or wood chips, up to 10 cm thick. Damaged and dry branches must be cut every spring.

Diseases and pests

Regardless of the variety of chestnut (decorative or edible), trees are attacked by tree mites, chestnut moths and powdery mildew. To avoid damage, it is necessary to observe preventive measures - treat trees with disinfecting solutions 2 times a month.

How to recognize powdery mildew? If you see that the leaves of the chestnuts have become covered with white or brown spots, then this is powdery mildew. You can rid the plants of the pest if you make phosphorus or nitrogen fertilizers, as well as use fungicides.

If the plant was attacked by a chestnut moth, then an integrated approach is needed. Chemical agents that need to be used to treat a damaged tree will help get rid of pests. A popular effective drug is Lufox-105, it helps to destroy pests at different stages of growth. The substance is not toxic, therefore it will not harm the environment and will not kill the bees.

We save the harvest

If you managed to wait for the harvest, then it's time to learn how to preserve the fruits. Chestnuts are almost half water, which means that the fruits must be placed in a humid environment where the air temperature will not exceed +5 o C.

If you decide to plant a chestnut from a nut, then we do the steps again, namely, first we wrap the fruit in a wet, clean cloth and put it in the refrigerator. We wait until a sprout appears, which can be planted in a pot of earth. We leave homemade chestnuts to winter indoors and only at the end of spring can a strengthened sprout be planted in open ground.

Features of growing ornamental chestnut

Horse chestnuts are much easier to grow than edible ones. The plant is unpretentious, perfectly tolerates the harsh winter climate and reaches a height of up to 20 meters. When favorable conditions are created, it grows up to 25 meters and can live up to 280-300 years.

The plant is not afraid of pests and diseases. An adult tree tolerates a transplant much better than an edible chestnut. It grows well in loose and deep soils, but does not tolerate dry winds. From the hot wind, the chestnut leaves begin to turn yellow, dry and fall off.

In autumn, when the fruiting period begins, we collect chestnuts that have fallen to the ground in order to prepare new planting material during the winter. It is best to store chestnuts in a cloth bag so that they do not rot or become steamed. If you wish, you can wrap the chestnut in a damp cloth and put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, but the best thing is that if you leave the fruits on a glazed loggia, just the nuts will endure a gradual, that is, natural temperature drop. As soon as the air temperature outside drops to 0 ° C, the chestnuts should be transferred to a container and sprinkled with moistened sand.

If you decide to germinate just a few chestnuts for planting, then prepare a container and put sand on the bottom. We carry out the bookmark in 1 layer. If you are going to germinate a lot of nuts at the same time, then it is best to put the material for germination in the refrigerator.

How to sprout chestnut nuts:

We take a suitable container (you can use a fabric bag).
Pour on 1/3 of the sand.
We put the chestnuts and lay them out in layers so that the first layer is under a layer of wet sand.
We send the container to the refrigerator on the bottom shelf to provide chestnuts with “winter hibernation”.
After about 2 or even 3 months, our nuts will begin to wake up, they will swell and burst. These sprouts break out.
If you see that enough time has passed, and the chestnuts do not burst, this is not a problem. We take the container out of the refrigerator and put the chestnuts in wet sand on the windowsill.
We sprinkle our chestnuts with a thin layer of earth, approximately 5 cm, and water from time to time, preventing drying out.
Waiting time for chestnut nuts to germinate is 4-5 weeks. It also happens that after 2 weeks the first shoots will begin to appear.
At the end of May, chestnuts can be transplanted into open ground. At first, it may seem to you that the chestnuts “sit” in place and do not want to sprout, but after a week the sprout is getting bigger, the first leaves appear.
Planting chestnuts is carried out in the traditional way: in the prepared hole, you need to put a nutrient mixture (a substrate with rotted manure) and plant a sprout exactly in the center, without deepening the root neck much into the ground. It is best to slightly raise the hole by 10 cm, given that over time the soil will compact a little and “sit down”.

There is another way to plant chestnuts - immediately in open ground. All that is required of you is to choose a landing site, prepare the soil in advance and apply fertilizer. Next, we set off to pick chestnuts (a favorable time is the end of September, in October). We make a bookmark in the ground for 1 nut every 15 cm. Planting depth - 5 cm. Sprinkle on top with a mixture of earth and sand and trust the whole process to mother nature. In mid-May, you can visit our experimental garden and look at the first entrances.

See the video for planting and growing chestnuts:

Chestnut belongs to ornamental plants. Thanks to its lush crown, this tree helps people to hide from the scorching sun on hot days. Many are attracted by their amazing appearance and fruits, even the question arises: how to grow a chestnut from a nut at home and is it possible.

It is quite possible to grow a chestnut from a nut

Growing chestnut from walnut is very popular. This is the most common chestnut planting method used by gardeners. Therefore, if you decide to get such a tree at home, then you should know how to plant a chestnut tree correctly.

Preparing a nut for planting

Before preparing a chestnut fruit for planting, it is necessary to choose it correctly. This should be done in the fall, when the culture ripens. Only those fruits that do not have mechanical damage and are not affected by pests are selected.

There are two types of landing:

in open ground;
at home.

Planting chestnuts in open ground takes place both in spring and autumn. Most gardeners plant fruits in the fall, so it is recommended to pre-treat them. This procedure is called stratification: the nuts are kept in a cold place for two weeks. The temperature must not exceed 5 °C.

After stratification, the fruits are planted in the ground. Planting chestnut seeds is carried out to a depth of no more than 6 cm. During this period, the seeds need to be watered abundantly.

In the spring, it is necessary to place the seeds in a cold place, but only for five days, after which the fruits should be immersed in warm water for the same period. After the nuts have swollen, they are planted in the ground in warm enough weather.

Planting a nut at home is easy. First you need to select chestnuts suitable for this in the fall and store until the temperature rises above 0 ° C outside the window.

Only sprouted chestnuts should be planted in a pot.

As soon as the temperature drops below zero outside, the seeds should be placed in a box and sprinkled with wet sand. After the nuts swell, you can plant them in open ground. But it is worth remembering that several leaves should already form on the fruits.

Many gardeners grow not only chestnuts, but also hazelnuts in this way. Most often, these nuts are planted in the country or garden. But those who have been breeding such trees for several years recommend keeping young seedlings in the house for several years and caring for them like houseplants.

Planting germinated chestnut seeds

The chestnut should not be exposed to direct sunlight, but you need to place the tree in a bright place. Other plants should be at least three meters away. Chestnut is very fond of loamy soil, which includes lime. If you do not have such soil, you can make it by mixing clay, sand and lime with the existing soil.

A hole is prepared for planting, the depth of which is determined by the size of the roots of the seedling: it should be slightly larger. The sprouted nut moves into the pit along with the ground. From above, the plant is covered with soil, peat and humus. In such conditions, chestnut grows very well.

Chestnut seedling prefers bright places

young tree care

Almost everyone now knows how to grow a chestnut from a nut. After planting, care for the plant is necessary. First you need to protect the culture with a special tape or slate. In strong winds, the plant is tied to some kind of support, this will keep the tree intact.

A chestnut from a nut grows more slowly than a chestnut from a seedling. In the second year after planting, the plant reaches 25 cm in height, and with proper care by the fifth year of life, the tree grows up to 1.5 meters.

The most important thing in the first year is watering. A young chestnut loves water very much, an adult tree needs less watering. After each watering, the soil around the crop must be loosened so that oxygen enters the root system. A plant for good growth and quality fruits requires top dressing.

In the spring, top dressing is carried out with the help of urea. But in the fall they use nitroammofoski. Be sure to apply organic fertilizers. With the advent of autumn, the chestnut is prepared for wintering, covering with humus and dry leaves.

When three years have passed since planting the chestnut, they begin to form a crown. The first pruning is done in the spring. During this period, cut the tree to ¼ height. Only those branches that grow in the center are shortened, and the rest are slightly cut off. In subsequent years, such pruning should be carried out regularly until an adult tree is formed.

Walnut chestnut grows quite slowly

Pests and diseases of chestnut

Young trees are at risk for disease or pest attacks. Even with proper care, pests can appear.

Most often chestnut affects:

mite;
mole;
powdery mildew.

It is necessary to carry out disease prevention and pest control. Prophylaxis is carried out twice a month. It is advisable to have special preparations constantly at hand in order to help a diseased tree immediately, having established the cause of the disease before that.

There are special tools for pest control. In the store you can find toxic and non-toxic drugs. Experienced gardeners recommend using non-toxic ones. They are safer for the plant and will not harm the bees. All pests must be eliminated immediately in order to save the tree.