Of the many chestnuts I grow, the chinquapin never disappoints. Every year it is laden with crops. The only thing I wish was that I planted more of them. I only had four producing plants for many years. Yet from this small grouping, I found out how specific it was in growing it to obtain the best yields and how the plant survives in the world of chestnut blight. It also began showing up in greater diversity as time went on including its many seedlings we accidently planted as we tramped around the shrub picking the nuts as the burrs slowly opened over a two week period. In propagating it, the nuts are extremely perishable as they sometimes sprout right on the bush. The harvest window is very narrow. and the planting window was even narrower. The nuts were expensive to buy and difficult to get in good condition. Refrigeration did not work well if at all. The crispy sweet nuts are easy to shake directly from the bush onto a tarp on the ground. Then you would eat them fresh in the thin skin and all. This unique crop taught me a valuable lesson in how to manage such a prolific nut bearing bush. A new variety was selected from this group which shows greatly increased resistance to chestnut blight. “Resilient” chinquapin chestnut is highlighted in the article below in Ecological Enrichment.
