Yellow Buckeye Nuts-Ecos Select

currently unavailable At my farm, I have many species and hybrid buckeyes all grown from seed. I find the whole genus fascinating really but few customers shared my passion as it was not a popular tree in many ways. About 35 years ago, I received seeds from some incredibly large buckeyes on a college campus in the Midwest. For a while I sold the seedlings but eventually kept a small grove alive while I removed the weaker or slower growing plants. I pruned them up and removed the lower limbs as they quickly reached skyward. That turned out to be a good idea and today the trees are one of the best features at my farm now over 50 ft. tall.  The smooth beech like bark and bright yellow flowers are great ornamental features. This species does not suffer from leaf scorch which drops the leaves early in the season. The leaves are also mildew resistant. This is one of the best selections for fast growth and ease of care shade trees. It could be used for mixed plantings in a wide variety of soil types and climates. Certainly one of the best species level ornamental trees around and surprisingly is not used at all in urban or park settings. Probably the nuts are considered too messy. 

Before the age of plastic composites, the light wood was used for a variety of uses including artificial limbs and other applications where lightness and ease of transformation is essential. It is kind of the balsam wood of North America in many ways. Surprisingly the nuts are an asset as a lot of squirrels will eat them and it appears the deer will get into them a bit too but slowly compared to acorns. The nuts are poisonous for humans but the paste of the nuts was used for book bindings at one point for its  insecticidal properties. 

The yellow buckeye could be part of a windbreak selection for deciduous trees as well as a shade tree for parks. The shade underneath them is so uniform where the dappling shade like with maples is just not there. They really have a solid canopy of leaves and uniform branching to take advantage of even close spacing like I have them in.  Very cooling effect sitting underneath them in the summer. Maybe that is another reason to use them in this juncture in our history for our human family. 

To germinate the seeds: The seeds of buckeye are highly perishable and rot easily. It is difficult to do the refrigerator method for cold as the seeds perish so easily this way which causes them to rot and then ferment. Best to direct plant outside in a nursery bed or permanent spot in the fall right after collections. I refrigerate them to delay rotting and this works for 1-2 months in this condition but it is not a long term method. Seeds usually have a very high germinative capacity and you can often get close to 100 percent as there are not weevils or insects that damage the nuts. They should be planted 1-2 inches deep and could easily be planted in their permanent location.