Grow a chestnut from a fruit. Growing chestnut from walnut at home

A beautiful and unusual plant that will become a real decoration of any site, landscape composition or window sill is chestnut. According to folk signs, this tree brings good luck, improves energy. There are many tips and tricks that allow you to grow chestnuts at home without much effort, the main thing is to choose the right planting material and follow some conditions.

Description and varieties of wood

You can keep the plant at home for about a year. With the onset of spring heat, it is advisable to place the container in the open air, in a shady place, in order to protect the plant from direct sunlight. But we must not forget about watering, as the soil dries quickly in a pot, and fertilizing 2 times a month, complex flower fertilizers are suitable for this purpose.

With the onset of cold weather, it is better to bring the pot into the house, provide it with a cooler temperature and water it moderately.

Place to drop off

It is necessary to properly prepare the hole where the chestnut will grow. It is done like this:

  • The drainage layer is poured.
  • Then you should add a little slaked lime.
  • Further, the land is fertile.

A seedling is transferred to the resulting hole; after planting, it is advisable to water the plant abundantly and, especially at first, monitor soil moisture.

Watering and feeding

Care is the same as for other plants: you need to fertilize in a timely manner, loosen the soil and remove weeds. The tree has a fairly developed root system, so it should be watered with plenty of liquid. If the summer turned out to be hot, it is necessary to water at least once every 30 days, using about 10 liters of water.

If there is a desire to plant several trees, then it is necessary to observe an interval of about 4-5 meters between them, since adult chestnuts have a rather lush crown.

The most suitable time for top dressing is spring, you can prepare a good fertilizer on your own. The required "ingredients" are:

  • Water (three 5-liter buckets).
  • Manure - 1 kg.
  • Ammonium nitrate - 10 g.
  • Urea - 15 g.

You should also add a complex fertilizer containing potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus, it is taken 25 g. The resulting mixture moistens the soil under the tree.

With the approach of winter, it is recommended to cover young chestnut seedlings with fallen leaves and burlap. Spring time is the best time for pruning diseased, dry branches and forming a neat crown. This will rejuvenate the plant and extend its life.

decorative tree

In the absence of a summer cottage, you can plant a walnut chestnut at home, this is easy to do even with no experience. In autumn, the strongest fruits are harvested, peeled and planted in pots for indoor plants. Next, you should ensure regular moderate moisture, in no case flooding the soil, otherwise the planting material will rot.

In spring, hatched white sprouts are planted in separate pots, in which mini-chestnuts will “live” in the future. If desired, you can even grow an unusual bonsai, for this the first 24 months the tree is grown as an ordinary houseplant, providing it with light, heat and regular watering. Next, proceed as follows:

  • Remove the plant from the pot and free the roots from the earthy clod.
  • Trim the root system so that it becomes flat.
  • Plant the tree in a pot with bonsai soil.
  • When the plant takes root, it is transplanted together with an earthen clod into a special flat pot.

You can also encounter brown or red-brown spotting, with these diseases, black dots appear on the leaves of the tree, which are becoming more and more every day. In order to prevent the death of the tree, it is necessary to cut off and destroy the infected branches in a timely manner, prevent waterlogging of the “green pet” and heal the wounds and cracks formed on the trunk.

If the infection has already occurred, fungicides will help. However, it is important to remember that these poisons are harmful not only to insects, but also to humans.

Having familiarized yourself with the different ways of germinating chestnuts, you can choose the best one, but you need to be patient, since it will take many years to grow an adult plant. But the result will please you - a beautiful strong tree, in the shade of which you can relax on a hot day, will allow you to enjoy delicious nuts in the fall.

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.

Chestnut belongs to the genus of plants of the Beech family.

It grows in the form of trees or shrubs, has a luxurious crown, finger-shaped leaves, as well as lush, elongated flowers of white or pink hue.

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The fruits are called nuts, they are brown in color and ripen in a prickly, green skin.

The benefit of chestnut is that it is a multi-purpose medicinal plant. But, in addition to its medicinal purpose, it is characterized as a frequently used element of landscape design. A majestic tree with its delicate flowers and funny thorns is the decoration of many parks, streets, as well as private gardens.

chestnut seedlings have considerable cost, but you can grow a tree yourself, from a walnut. The cultivation process is not laborious and does not require complex devices.

Nut preparation

Choose nuts for planting should be strong tree. It is better to take those fruits that have fallen to the ground on their own. This indicates that the nut has matured and is ready to give life to a new plant. The fruits selected for planting should be prepared.

This process is called stratification. The term of its implementation depends on the season in which the sowing will take place - autumn or spring.

For autumn planting, chestnut nuts must be kept in a cool place. within 10 days. To do this, they are lowered into a container with wet sand and left in a refrigerator or basement. Preparing nuts for spring planting is primarily about preserving them. It can take place in two ways:

  1. homemade- selected fruits are stored in the basement or refrigerator throughout the winter. At the same time, you need to make sure that the nut does not dry out, otherwise the sprout from the dried seeds will not work;
  2. street- chestnut nuts are added dropwise under the mother tree with sand and fallen leaves. In this state, they are stored until spring, then they are dug up and planted in a pot or other container.

Landing

Before planting a nut in the ground, its peel must be softened. To do this, the fruit should be placed in a container with warm water. The fluid will constantly need to be changed as it cools. The duration of this procedure is 7 days. After that, large, white sprouts appear in the fruits.

This is the basis for planting nuts in the ground. It is recommended to grow a seedling at home in a plastic or wooden container. It is better to choose a large pot right away in order to avoid the need for a transplant. In a bulk container, chestnut roots can develop without oppression.

The depth of planting a nut should be equal to three times the length of the fruit itself. Therefore, if the diameter of the chestnut seed is 3 cm, then the planting hole should not be less than 9 cm deep. Trees planted in spring should produce better fruits (if we are talking about an edible species).

However, when growing chestnuts for ornamental purposes, experienced gardeners recommend plant nuts in autumn. Then the seedling has a better chance of survival, and the tree turns out to be strong and branchy.

tree care

Sprouted chestnut seedlings better to keep at home throughout the winter and spring. In this case, the plant must be carefully watered and periodically fed with natural fertilizers. The best time for planting chestnuts in open ground is May-June. The main thing is that the spring frosts have finally receded.

It is advisable to transplant a tree in the garden in cloudy weather. Previously, the seedling should be hardened. To do this, the pot with the future tree is taken out into the street, gradually increasing the number of hours of stay. You need to start with 3-4 hours, and finish the whole day.

Fans of a healthy lifestyle should definitely pay attention to such a useful plant as chestnut. This tree will not only be a great decoration for a summer cottage, but also a wonderful remedy for various diseases. From the fruits of edible species, dishes are prepared according to various recipes, and inedible species are mainly used for medical purposes.

What are chestnuts

The plants in question are not at all the ones that we are all used to seeing in the parks and gardens of our neighbors in the country. In some cases, experts even refer these trees to completely different families.

Usually the height of the tree reaches from 1 to 35 meters, depending on the specific species. Its beautiful pyramidal inflorescences adorn the gardens for two months - from May to June. To know how to properly grow a chestnut from a fruit, you need to understand its structure.

Each fruit of this plant is in a shell, which is enveloped by a peel with thorns. As a rule, one to three small nuts can be found in one shell. It should be remembered that chestnuts create a dense shadow due to their crown.

In addition, they have very strong surface roots. These are the main factors that affect the growth of surrounding crops, which rarely grow near this tree. Correcting this shortcoming is very simple - you need to put a few benches here, turning the space around the chestnut tree into a cozy corner.

Many people ask how to grow a chestnut from a nut. The first thing to do is to allocate a place for planting the future plant, the diameter of which should be at least three meters. Moreover, the chestnut should be planted in loamy black soil.

It is very resistant to frost, besides, it is not at all afraid of strong winds.

We plant seedlings

Two-year-old seedlings are best suited for planting. First of all, you need to prepare strictly square pits with a length, width and depth of 50 cm. The dug-out earth should be mixed with sand and humus, and a little dolomite flour should be added.

Before placing the seedlings in the pits, pour 200 g of fertilizer, consisting of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Small pebbles are poured onto the bottom, which is a draining layer, 15 cm thick.

The resulting soil substrate is poured on top, the hole is filled with water, and a seedling is placed in it. A mound 20 cm high must be formed around the seedling. This is done due to the fact that a slight subsidence of the soil may occur in the future.

If a tree of large varieties is planted, its root collar must be placed at least 8 centimeters higher than the planting mound. When planting low or medium varieties, there is no need to overestimate the land. Each seedling should be attached to a support, which will protect it from strong winds.

After that, future trees are watered with warm water. With a successful landing, you don’t have to worry too much about the further successful growth of the chestnut tree.

Reproduction by seeds

Without human intervention, chestnuts can perfectly grow on their own. Therefore, a good solution would be to plant the seeds of this plant. Growing a chestnut from a nut means that the seeds are planted in the ground in autumn.

At this time of the year, a few fallen nuts should be collected and placed in a cold place. This is the so-called stratification process, in which chestnuts are placed in a box filled with sand, which in turn is placed in the basement.

The most optimal temperature is about six degrees Celsius, and the storage time is from ten days to two weeks. After that, the seeds must be placed in pre-prepared grooves. They should be deepened by 6 cm.

The distance between each nut should be at least 15 cm. From above, the seeds are covered with dry fallen leaves, but they are not buried in the ground. Thus, the seeds will overwinter in the furrows, and in the spring they will sprout.

Growing chestnuts from seeds in the spring is carried out as follows.

  1. Fallen fruits in autumn are completely covered with sand. During the winter, they should be stored at a constant temperature of 6 ° C. Before the planned planting of chestnuts in the spring in open ground, the fruits must be removed from the sand and placed in warm water. In it, they should be stored for 5-7 days. As a result, a new embryo will be formed inside the fetus.

A tree planted from such seeds will grow up to 30 cm in height within a year, and in five years it will reach 3 meters.

tree care

Many gardeners believe that the best time to plant a chestnut is still the middle of spring. Until a beautiful and large tree grows from a small seedling, 10 years will pass. At the age of 1-2 years, it is convenient to transplant a chestnut with an earthen clod.

And more or less adult specimens that have reached 10 years of age are transplanted without a coma. The main rule when transplanting is to carefully dig up the tree, and at the same time not damage its roots. The chestnut loves moisture very much, so it needs to be watered as often as possible.

The best soil for planting will be a combination of turf, leaves and sand. With the onset of spring, experienced gardeners recommend fertilizing the plant by adding a composition that includes urea and mullein to the soil. If the summer is too dry, there is almost no rainfall, then the tree must be watered even more abundantly than usual.

When weeding the soil, it must be carefully loosened, and mulching with peat is carried out around the trunk. The taller the chestnut grows, the more dry branches should be cut down to make the plant feel freer. As soon as winter approaches, absolutely all young seedlings need good shelter, which can be arranged by covering them with leaves that have fallen in autumn.

What are the types of edible chestnuts

In total, there are more than 30 different types of chestnut trees in nature. The most common types of chestnuts:

  • European sowing; Chinese softest; Japanese (or crenate);

This type of plant depends on how chestnuts grow. For example, the European seed chestnut, as a rule, reaches a height of 35 meters and at the same time has a crown of the correct ovoid shape. Its leaves are very large, over 30 cm long.

Such trees have incredibly lush inflorescences, and nuts reach especially large sizes. They are edible and kept inside a round, slightly fluffy cocoon. These chestnuts are long-lived.

If you take good care of them, they can live for more than 500 years. Unlike the previous species, the Chinese chestnut is much lower - its average height is 15 m. The leaves of this tree are finely toothed, covered with white pubescence. But the color of horizontal inflorescences depends on what kind of chestnut it is.

With the fruits of the softest Chinese chestnut, there are a lot of recipes for dishes. If a person wonders where the chestnut grows, you can answer - in various parts of the globe. So, there is also a city chestnut, it comes from Japan, and is also common in such eastern countries as Korea and China.

It grows incredibly fast and bears fruit in about the third and sometimes the second year after planting. Among all known edible chestnuts, its fruits are the largest - their weight is 80 g, and they reach 6 cm in diameter.

To date, more than 100 varieties of this species are known. As a rule, most gardeners choose inedible chestnuts for planting. Basically, they prefer the most common type - horse chestnut, through the luxurious crowns of which lush white or pinkish inflorescences peep through in the spring.

Beneficial features

The fruits of ordinary chestnut are used mainly in folk medicine. Most often, it is used to eliminate such a problem as venous blood stagnation.

The fruits of this tree contain pectins, flavonoids, healthy oils and various biological components that are beneficial to health. It is these components that significantly reduce the permeability of capillaries, and also significantly reduce the viscosity of the patient's blood. Various drugs are produced from chestnuts that increase the tone of the veins.

For this reason, many doctors advise using them for patients suffering from varicose veins and thrombophlebitis. These drugs also have an analgesic effect on a person, and are also able to stop inflammatory processes in the body. Thus, chestnut is used both externally and taken orally.

Application

As a hemostatic agent, a decoction is made from chestnut, which is also taken as an anesthetic. Moreover, not the fruits, but the bark of the tree are used for the decoction, and they are taken both inside and used for external use, for example, during the treatment of hemorrhoids or intestinal diseases.

Juice is extracted from chestnut flowers, which is able to save the patient from thrombophlebitis and atherosclerosis. The skins of the fruit are widely used in the treatment of uterine bleeding, also making a decoction of them. Those who doubt when wondering how to sprout a chestnut from a nut that this is a difficult process, it is recommended to think about the benefits that a person will get who will grow a real chestnut in the garden.

For example, by growing this tree, you can later use its bark in the treatment of rheumatism and similar ailments. Dry chestnut fruits can also be used as a decoction to treat the respiratory tract.

And the fresh leaves of this plant can save a person from whooping cough. The combination of bark and fruits when preparing a decoction will give a remedy that can stop severe bleeding from the nose, as well as relieve swelling. In this case, the liquid is taken orally, and is also used for external treatment. This decoction in particular helps with boils - you just need to make poultices.

Even more interesting is the edible chestnut. Its decorativeness is also very great, but, in addition, you can also enjoy delicious baked or boiled nuts.

Let's say right away that the fruits of an edible chestnut that grew in the city, near highways, are categorically not suitable for food - they accumulate heavy metals and other toxic emissions. But outside the city, in the country, near the fence, it is worth planting this beautiful and useful tree. True, edible chestnut does not have such high frost resistance as horse chestnut.

But, in regions with relatively mild winters, it will actively grow. The tree withstands short-term frosts down to -15-18 degrees. In the first years, it is desirable to cover a young seedling for the winter.

It should be noted that the tree grows very large - up to 35 meters, and will shade a large area.

Therefore, it is preferable to grow it outside the garden. Still, all types of chestnuts are good honey plants, but honey is obtained with a bitter aftertaste. It is not recommended to plant it in places where apiaries are kept.

Planting material preparation

In order to grow horse chestnut, you should pick up even, strong and beautiful fruits. Only fruits that have fallen from the tree are suitable for planting.

They should be collected much more than it is planned to grow plants. You can start the cultivation process immediately in the fall, in the year of fruit ripening, or in the spring. Before planting a nut in the ground, all planting material should be stratified.

The essence of this procedure is to place the collected fruits in wet sand, soil or cellar. In modern conditions at home, this can be a refrigerator.

Stratification stimulates growth and increases fertility, because, being in a warm and dry room, the chestnut dries out and loses its ability to reproduce.

If planting a nut is planned in the spring, then you can put all the fruits in a bag of wet sand and keep them there until spring and planting time. They are planted at the onset of warm days, i.e. end of March - beginning of April.

How to quickly grow a chestnut on your own?

Before planting a nut in the ground, its outer shell should be prepared - it should be soft. To do this, the chestnut is immersed in warm water and kept in it for 5-7 days. Water should be changed periodically to avoid stagnation.

The soaking process should end with the appearance of a small white sprout. Next, the fruits with sprouts are planted in the ground. The depth of penetration is up to 3 times the diameter of the seed. When planting in autumn, seedlings appear much earlier than spring specimens. Spring planting gives a higher percentage of germination, besides, the quality of the sprouts is much better and stronger, and in terms of development they are far ahead of their autumn predecessors.

The easiest way to grow chestnuts at home

By choosing a less labor-intensive method of cultivation, the gardener receives ready-made germinated seeds. In autumn, the collected fruits are dug into the hole between the roots of a large tree. From above, the hole is sprinkled with old leaves, and the fruits remain there until the onset of spring.

With the advent of warm days, the hole is dug out and the general condition of the seeds is assessed. Strong specimens with large thick sprouts are selected and transferred to a permanent place of growth.

Experienced gardeners recommend pruning the root of the embryo, thereby forming a compact root system, and the future plant receives a powerful guarantee of growth and health. Years of growing experience has shown that the development of the fruit improves the land taken from under other chestnut trees. Such a substrate has a positive effect on the development of sprouts and the root system. For those who do not have a plot of land, another way can be recommended, how to grow a chestnut from a walnut at home.

In autumn, the seeds can be planted in a flower pot and watered systematically like houseplants. In the spring, care will be rewarded with the appearance of a white tender sprout, and then it can be transplanted into open ground to a permanent place.

chestnut bonsai

By the way, horse (and edible chestnut) is great for growing bonsai trees at home. To do this, you need to germinate the nut, as described above, and then cut the root and plant it in a pot for growing a seedling in the first year. In the second spring of life, a young tree is removed, the roots are cut off, and the seedling is placed in a special bowl.

Care and feeding of the sprout

Growing an adult plant from a germinated nut is a laborious task and requires patience and strength. Having planted weak defenseless sprouts at home or in public squares, they should be protected from sloppy and careless human legs and movements.

They are fenced with pegs and entangled with bright ribbons or wire. In places of strong wind loads, a thin and fragile trunk is tied up in order to avoid breakage. A young plant needs abundant watering, since the root system is not yet strong enough and branched.

In the first 10 years, sprouts grow very slowly, but at the age of 10-15 years, rapid growth and development of a lush crown should be noted. To form a beautiful crown, pruning and shaping the branches should be done.

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In the spring, dry and frozen branches are removed from the trunk. Chestnut prefers loose loamy soil. If the soil does not meet the stated requirements, then the soil is brought to the required consistency - ennobled.

Sand is added to clay soil, and a little clay is added to loose soil. The depleted land is fertilized with rotted manure or compost mixed with the soil. Clay soil will cause moisture to stagnate in the upper layers of the soil, and the roots of the tree will swell. If the soil is excessively loose, then water will accumulate in the root system, which will also negatively affect the growth of the tree. Young plants should be fed at home 2 times a year: in spring and autumn:

  • In the spring, a solution of 15 g of urea diluted in 10 liters of water, 1 kg of mullein should be applied. In autumn, the chemical fertilizer nitroammofosk is used: for 10 liters of water up to 15 g of the substance.

Young sprouts are watered regularly, because their root system is still quite weak. Adult plants are watered only during the dry season. After watering and fertilizing, the soil surface near the ground is mulched with peat or wood chips.

The plant requires special care and attention in the first few years after planting, care is no longer required for adult plants. Knowing the secret and method of how to grow a chestnut from a walnut at home, the site owner may not look for young sprouts in nurseries and gardens, but grow himself a healthy and strong young plant.

How to grow a chestnut tree

The chestnut tree inspires many. People like its unusual, fan-shaped large leaves, candle flowers that appear every spring, and in autumn the tree entertains with its fleshy hedgehog fruits, which open up and drop shiny brown nuts on the ground. Chestnut is a powerful tree, it is often planted for landscaping cities, parks, squares, it is very popular in landscape design, because it gives a lot of greenery and shade.

If you want to plant a chestnut, then you do not have to look for a ready-made seedling, you can grow a chestnut yourself from a nut. Now is just the time for chestnuts, in order for the experiment to end successfully, you can pick up a whole package of fruits. Growing a chestnut tree is a very exciting business, invite children to do it - they will be happy to support you or friends - you can arrange competitions, who will have shoots first, and then plant the trees on your own friendship alley.

How to grow chestnut at home?

First you need to collect raw materials for planting. When picking chestnuts, take only smooth, beautiful fruits that have ripened on their own and fallen to the ground.

It is better to collect nuts with a margin, since not everyone can hatch, sprout and grow into a seedling - you need to play it safe and grow several copies. This will allow you to choose the strongest and healthiest plant in the future. Then you can proceed in different ways. Chestnut nuts can be planted immediately in the fall or wait until spring, but in any case, they must undergo a procedure called stratification.

To do this, the fruits just need to be placed for a while in a cool place, for example, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. As you know, for many plants, winter cold is the key to rich fruiting and health, low temperature activates the program of further growth, reproduction of offspring.

For a chestnut, this condition is mandatory - in a warm, dry place it will dry out and become unsuitable for planting. In order to plant nuts in the fall, they are put in a container or bag with wet sand and sent to the cold for 10 days. This will be enough.

For planting spring chestnuts, the fruits are kept cool all winter, this keeps them until March-April. Before planting a nut, he needs to be helped to soften the dense top coating.. To do this, chestnuts are placed in a container with warm water for five days.

Water should be changed regularly, but it is not necessary to heat a bowl of fruits on fire or in a microwave - there were cases when nuts were simply boiled in this way. In less than a week, you will see a white sprout appear on the wrinkled surface of an already soft nut - the process has begun.

Processed nuts are planted in the ground to a depth of 2-2.5 fruit diameters., not deeper. Autumn seedlings sprout first in spring, but not all of them survive frosts.

Spring ones appear a couple of weeks later, but it is believed that they are stronger and stronger, they have a faster root system and they take root better, grow, gain strength and subsequently endure their first winter. A young chestnut seedling must be fertilized, this will help him grow faster and become stronger.

When planting a tree in a crowded place, at the entrance, in the front garden, do not forget to make a fence for it - a small plant is very fragile and can be easily broken by both people and animals. There is another way to grow chestnut from a nut. You can put fruits between the roots of a large tree in autumn and cover them with fallen leaves. And in early spring, unearth your “treasure”, select a few sprouted nuts and plant them in the place you need.

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How to plant and grow a chestnut from a nut?

  • Stock up on two plastic bags and sand. Fill the bags with sand and wet the sand. The sand should be damp, but not wet. Put chestnut nuts (3-4 pieces) in the sand. Tie the bags tightly and place them in the refrigerator. After 1-2 months, packages can be obtained. As a rule, during this time the chestnut will sprout.
  • It often happens that not enough time passes for the sprouted chestnut to be planted in open ground - it is still cold outside. Therefore, we do not pack the bags again, but transplant the chestnut into a pot and grow it at home, like a houseplant. When the weather allows, you will plant the chestnut in the open ground.

Planted chestnut care

How to care for sprouted chestnuts at home? Yes, very easy! Chestnut is a wild plant that gets used to absolutely any vagaries of the weather.

  • At home, it is only important to provide a young seedling moderate watering, moderate humidity and good lighting. But while the chestnut is very small, do not expose it to open sunny places. Don't do this again. Fertilize should be periodically, alternating inorganic fertilizers with organic ones. It is good if there is earth in the pot taken from the place where you are going to plant the chestnut.
  • According to summer residents and those who have already grown chestnuts from walnuts, it is best to plant two-year-old seedlings in open ground. However, if you are sure that your tree is strong and will take root well in the wild, feel free to plant it. It is better to choose a sunny place for landing. There should be no trees within a radius of three meters from the chestnut tree. Chestnut is a depressing plant, no one gets along next to it. Therefore, plan your summer cottage so that the chestnut tree cannot harm fruit trees. Any soil is suitable for chestnuts, but loamy soils containing limestone are preferred. Fertilize the chestnut should not be very often. However, organics and minerals in the ground should be enough. Chestnut does not like excessive humidity, so it suffers in rainy years. He does not like drought either. During dry summers, water it more often and shower if possible.

Already in May, a ripe tree will delight you with an unusually beautiful flowering! Therefore, do not hesitate for a long time, find chestnut nuts and germinate them! A self-grown chestnut will give you a lot of unforgettable impressions and pleasant emotions!

Since the dawn of mankind, chestnuts have grown almost everywhere, including Greenland. In Europe, it has been cultivated as an ornamental tree for more than five centuries. Much later, the medicinal properties of chestnut became known. Deciduous tree with a dense crown does not require special conditions for planting, caring for it is simple.

Features of growing chestnut

Chestnut is a tall tree that can decorate a summer cottage. The umbrella crown gives a dense shade, and delicate flower candles delight every spring for 2 weeks. In autumn, fruit boxes covered with green thorns appear. When ripe, they crack, and from there hard, glossy brown nuts fall to the ground.

This perennial tree has many medicinal properties. Different parts of the plant contain coumarins, glycosides, tannins, vitamins C and thiamine, carotenoids, pectins, flavonoids. They contribute to the treatment of thrombosis, the elimination of edema, are useful for cardiovascular disorders, arthritis, anemia, bleeding and many other problems.

Horse chestnut grows up to 36 meters high

It grows wild in many southern countries, but is often found in the middle lane as a garden and ornamental culture. Proper planting and caring for a chestnut tree is not as complicated as it might seem to a beginner.

Often on the Internet you can find information that chestnut is a variety, which is not true. These are completely different trees from different families. The plane tree has characteristic maple-shaped leaves, a very specific trunk and inconspicuous flowering, unlike the chestnut.

Horse chestnut flowers have beneficial properties

Having decided to plant this sprawling tree in your garden, you need to take into account that for the normal development of its crown you need space: the distance to buildings, structures or other green spaces should be at least 5 meters. Even grass does not grow under its dense crown, but it is an excellent protection from the scorching sun.

What climate does chestnut grow in?

Despite its southern origin, the chestnut is quite winter-hardy. Under favorable conditions, some specimens survive for centuries. Thanks to a branched and powerful root system, a tree can grow even in a rather harsh climate, needing shelter for the winter only at a young age.

In summer, it can withstand 30-degree heat, but the best temperature for it is moderate heat from 20 to 25 ⁰C.

With good snow cover in winter, the tree experiences twenty-degree frosts, but suffers from cold, piercing winds.

Chestnut also does not tolerate a gassed atmosphere and dry winds. Therefore, it is often possible to observe on the streets of industrial cities the withering and drying foliage of trees in the midst of a hot summer.

Breadfruit, have you heard of this? An exotic plant that was first introduced to the inhabitants of Oceania. It is of high value due to the fact that it can replace ordinary bread:

What soil is preferable for him

Horse chestnut is sun-loving and drought-resistant. It prefers moist, fertile loams or chernozems with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction.

Soils should be loose, with good drainage. It grows poorly on poor, quickly drying sandy soils.

Popular varieties

The most common representative of this plant in our country is horse chestnut. In adulthood, it grows up to 30 meters, has large palmate (5 or 7) compound leaves with well-defined veins. Racemose inflorescences directed upwards appear in May. They have double white, yellow or pink flowers with red spots in the center. The fruits ripen in September - October.

The main use of chestnut in folk medicine is the treatment of blood vessels.

In addition to it, there are other types:

  • Californian. It grows in the western United States, its height is up to 10 meters, and the flowers are white and pink.
  • Meat red. Crimean variety with large racemose inflorescences of dark red color. A tree growing up to 30 meters absolutely cannot stand drought, loves abundant watering.
  • Yellow. An Eastern American variety with a pyramidal crown, yellow buds and golden serrated leaves. It is considered one of the most cold-resistant species. It blooms a little later than its relatives.
  • Small-flowered. Shrub form with complex small leaves, painted on the underside in a grayish color. Grow up to 5 meters tall.
  • Pavia, or red chestnut. A shrub or tree native to the eastern United States. It grows up to 10 meters and is distinguished by rich red flowers and smooth fruits.
  • Japanese. Tall, upright tree with very large leaves and yellow-white flowers. Its fruits are pear-shaped.

The Japanese have a lot of interesting plants in general. These include an incredibly beautiful shrub called Japanese Quince or Henomeles:

How to plant a chestnut tree

Planting a chestnut is a simple matter, but the condition of the soil on the site should be taken into account. If the composition of the soil is unfavorable for this tree, the seat is preliminarily prepared: they dig a hole and fill it with a mixture of three parts of soddy soil, two parts of humus and one part of sand.

Horse chestnut fruits are a valuable raw material for the preparation of medicines

The best time for planting is autumn or early spring, these dates are not recommended to be shifted, because there is a possibility that the seedling will not have time to take root.

Horse chestnut is widely used in park landscapes.

Three-year-old and slightly older specimens are excellent planting material.

Work procedure:

  1. They dig a hole with a depth and width of more than half a meter.
  2. Humus, a glass of superphosphate are introduced into the soil. An excessively acidic reaction of the soil composition is neutralized with dolomite flour.
  3. Chestnut roots do not tolerate waterlogging, therefore, for good drainage, the bottom of the ditch is covered with a layer of about 15 cm, consisting of sand with the addition of fine gravel.
  4. The root neck when planting is placed at ground level.
  5. To prevent subsidence of the root collar, the pit is not only densely filled with a nutrient soil mixture, but also a small mound is made around the trunk.
  6. Each seedling is watered with 3-4 buckets of warm water. After planting practice daily watering.
  7. For better rooting, the seedling is tied to a support. The prop can be removed when the chestnut is established and the tree can withstand the winds.

Sapling care in the garden

Under natural conditions, the chestnut tree prefers loose, fertile soils.

Caring for a tree planted in a permanent place in the garden is easy. At a young age, it needs to be constantly taken care of, while a mature tree needs almost no care.

Do not leave a newly planted tree under the hot rays of the sun, it can overheat and get severe burns. When growing chestnuts under the open sun and at high air temperatures in the first year of life, it is necessary to water intensively and additionally cover the chestnut tree.

After planting during the season, the following agrotechnical activities are carried out:

  • Watering. For young specimens, it should be constant, while mature ones are watered only as needed. It is better to use settled water. Water the plants at the same time - in the early morning or before sunset.
  • Weeding. It is done only at first, because the overgrown dense crown of the tree does not create conditions for the appearance of extraneous vegetation in the near-trunk area.
  • Mulching. So that the earth around the chestnut remains loose and does not dry out, it is mulched with a 10-centimeter layer of wood chips or peat with the addition of compost.
  • Top dressing. Fertilization is a mandatory ritual to achieve good tree growth. After wintering, manure and urea, ammonium nitrate and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are used for top dressing. In autumn, nitroammofoska is used for this. A layer of mulch made from wood shavings and peat is also a fertile option for additional feeding of young trees.
  • Preparing for winter. It is needed only in the first couple of years after planting. The trunk is wrapped with several layers of burlap, and the trunk circle is mulched. This prevents cracking of the bark in frost. The frost holes that have appeared are treated with an antiseptic and covered with garden pitch.
  • Pruning. It is necessary to stimulate a lush and beautiful crown. During spring pruning, the shoots grown in young trees are shortened by half. In summer, thin branches are removed to avoid excessive growth of the crown. Be sure to leave intact at least five strong side shoots. The places where the branches were cut are covered with garden pitch. In adult trees, only spring sanitary pruning of dry and damaged branches is done.

A decoction of the prickly chestnut shell is used in the treatment of gynecological diseases.

Prevention and control of diseases and pests

Although the tree traditional for landscaping city streets rarely gets sick, it sometimes suffers from fungal diseases, the invasion of beetles and other pests.

A diseased tree with dry, reddened leaves should be immediately sprayed with Bordeaux liquid or Fundazol, which helps out in almost all cases.

In recent decades, chestnut trees have been attacked by previously unknown pests - chestnut, or Balkan moth. From it, at the height of summer, the leaves dry and fall off, blooming again by autumn. The chestnut then goes into late flowering, and because of this, it faces the winter unprepared. This leads to its freezing and even death during wintering.

Escin in combination with flavonoids, which are found in chestnut fruits, prevent the formation of blood clots and strengthen the walls of blood vessels

It is difficult to fight this pest, you have to inject a special chemical preparation into the trunk of the affected tree. An effective preventive measure is the timely cleaning of fallen leaves, in which moth pupae prefer to winter.

A dangerous enemy of chestnut is a tick. To prevent its occurrence, 2 times a month you can treat the tree with Karbofos or Fitoverm. Of the folk remedies, decoctions of dissected cow parsnip and black henbane are considered the most effective.

Detailed instructions for the use of Fitoverm:

Problems that arise when growing chestnuts and their solution

Growing chestnut trees in most cases brings little trouble. But sometimes you have to face some complications:


Reproduction by seeds

The forums discuss the cultivation of chestnuts from nuts. This is a difficult, but affordable and informative method of getting a new tree in your garden.

When growing seedlings from nuts, to increase the effectiveness of the event, at least 5-10 pieces should be planted at the same time. There is always the possibility of planting immature or damaged nuts that will not produce normal sprouts.

A valuable feature of the sowing chestnut is edible fruits

The most interesting tips are:

  • Plant nuts on flower beds, for example, next to tulips. At the same time, dry grass is laid in the grooves in several layers, and covered with earth from above.
  • Spraying with Fufanon helps save young twigs from aphids.
  • From mice, it is effective to lubricate the nuts before lowering them into the ground with a clay mash with the addition of red pepper, tar or kerosene. Then you can sprinkle kerosene on the soil at the planting site.
  • For better growth, young shoots should be treated monthly with Mycorrhiza, Trichodermin or Fitosporin. This is additional nutrition and protection of plants from various pests and infections.
  • When planting chestnuts with seeds, it is better to immediately choose a permanent place for them. This prevents damage to the root system during subsequent transplantation and thereby increases their resistance to unfavorable wintering.

For medicinal use, horse chestnut leaves are harvested when they are green and juicy.