Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: chestnut sprouting, 0 by Emaewest

Emaewest wrote:
fangNJ: I just found your post. Sorry your chestnut didn't make it.

I, too, brought home a sprouting chestnut from the grocery store around the end of November and my husband and I had the same discussion: does the sprout go up or down? (I HAD to plant it, of course. It was a BABY, after all. ; ) ) I thought it went up; he thought it went down. I planted it sideways. It got moldy. I took it out of the soil and dunked it in a bleach solution. I put it back in the pot with the sprout down and after a couple of weeks roots started coming out of the bottom of the pot. "Ah ha"--said my husband--"I was right!"

Weeellll...the nut (chestnut, that is) started poking its way up and out of the soil and I thought "Oh, it's going to split open and the leaves will come out. He was right. (grrr)" But, no. The leaves sprouted out of the soil. So, now I have the chestnut sitting on top of the soil, and the leaves springing out beside it.

I'm not sure if I should try to bury it or just leave it alone. I feel lucky it's made it this far!

So, if you find another one, I think the sprout goes up, but if you plant it upside down, it may be OK, too. Just make sure it doesn't get moldy.

Here's a pic of mine: