Chestnut seeds

I picked a bunch of these from a grove of Chestnut trees, but have no idea if they are American or Chinese. Didn't have a camera with me at the time. Wil try and get over next week and get a pic of the grove and maybe somebody will know which they are.

Anyways saw that they was ready and grabbed bunch up, so I have some if anybody would like some. Figured I asked here first before offerign them up on the seed exchange.

Here a pic of them, don't know if that helps with id'ing or not.

Nice chestnuts! Can't tell which species, could just as easily be Sweet Chestnut or Japanese Chestnut as American Chestnut or Chinese Chestnut.

Keep them refrigerated and moist.

Resin

Thanks Resin. : )

It not fun picking these things. I get my fingers full of stickers. Haven't learned an easy way to get them to open without sticking me first.

Wow. Didn't realize there were so many differnt kinds of Chesnuts. Thought there was only two.

Should I put them in like a zippy lock bag with a touch of water or a damp paper towel for moisture?

Leave the burrs on the ground; wear stout shoes, and tease them open between your feet by half-standing on them. When you've opened them, then pick the nuts out. That's how I do it ;-)

There's 9 species of Castanea altogether. Some (e.g. C. pumila, Chinkapin) can be discounted as their nuts are smaller, others (e.g. C. seguinii) can be discounted as they are exceedingly rare in cultivation.

A ziploc with some damp paper towel would be OK, yes. Inspect them every few days to remove and discard any that show signs of going mouldy, or soft and blackish-brown, or oozing liquid.

Resin

American Chestnuts are distinctively hairy, so they aren't that. At any rate, it would be extremely unlikely for an American Chestnut to get big enough to make nuts in Alabama, the blight would get them first. The Eurasian species are more difficult to tell apart, but here is a website that might help:

http://www.mindspring.com/~psisco/www/overview.html

Oh,don't say that about amer. chestnuts! I just grew two from seed and was hoping to plant them out next spring.

Peggy

Resin. You just have no idea as to how uncordinated I can be. LOL I cna just see me tryign to tease these things open with my feet, slipping and landing on my rump and trying to dig a bunch of pickers out of it with a mirror and tweezers. At least I not chasing toleit paper roll down the hills to wrap seed in this year. Got me an extra stock of baggies I carrying around. LOL

:-))
It isn't that difficult!! Try it and see!

Resin

Peggy, we have a 14 year old American chestnut tree, and it is blighted badly, but keeps putting up suckers. It has blossomed the last 3 years, but there are no other chestnuts in the area, so although there are nuts, they are sterile.

now I'm scared to plant mine out

The fungus that causes the blight is now endemic in the soil.

here's a site in NYS that's working on a blight resistant chestnut:
http://www.esf.edu/chestnut/

thanks