American x Chinese Hybrid Chestnut Tree Seeds | Castanea dentata x mollissima

The comeback tree. The blight resistance the American Chestnut needed.

The American x Chinese Chestnut Hybrid is the product of one of the most important tree breeding efforts in American history, a cross between the magnificent American Chestnut, nearly wiped out by blight in the early 20th century, and the disease-resistant Chinese Chestnut, combining the size, flavor, and ecological significance of the American species with the blight tolerance that allowed the Chinese species to survive. These hybrids produce large, sweet nuts superior to most Chinese Chestnut varieties, on trees that demonstrate meaningful resistance to the Cryphonectria parasitica fungus that destroyed billions of American Chestnuts. Planting hybrid chestnuts is both a practical choice for nut production and a contribution to the broader effort to restore chestnut to the eastern forest. If you are looking to buy American Chestnut hybrid seeds or grow blight-resistant chestnut from seed, this is where the restoration of one of America's most important trees begins.

• Combines the superior nut flavor and size of American Chestnut with the blight resistance of Chinese Chestnut
• Produces large, sweet nuts in spiny husks in fall, one of the most productive nut crops available
• Contributes to the broader restoration of chestnut genetics across the eastern United States
• One of the most ecologically important trees to plant for food forest, wildlife, and timber values
• Begins producing nuts within 3 to 5 years, faster than most large nut trees

Things you probably did not know about the American Chestnut Hybrid

The American Chestnut Foundation has been working on full restoration for over 40 years. The American Chestnut Foundation was established in 1983 with the goal of developing a fully blight-resistant American Chestnut through backcross breeding, essentially breeding the Chinese Chestnut resistance into an otherwise American Chestnut genome. After nearly 50 years of work and hundreds of thousands of trees tested, the program is approaching its goal. The hybrid chestnuts available today represent an intermediate stage of this decades-long effort.

The blight does not kill the roots. Chestnut blight only kills the above-ground portions of the tree by girdling the trunk and branches with cankers. The root system of a blight-infected chestnut survives indefinitely and continues to send up new sprouts. American Chestnut stumps are still sprouting in eastern forests a century after blight killed the original trees. The hybrid chestnuts, with their blight resistance, can survive long enough to produce seed before blight progresses, contributing to natural regeneration.

A mature chestnut forest once fed the eastern United States. Before the blight, a single mature American Chestnut could produce 6,000 pounds of nuts in a mast year. These nuts fed Appalachian communities, schoolchildren who gathered them for pocket money, and the livestock that roamed the mountains eating fallen nuts in fall. The economic and ecological loss when the trees disappeared was staggering and has never been fully replaced.

The nuts must be planted fresh. Chestnut seeds are recalcitrant, meaning they cannot be dried without losing viability. They must be kept moist and cool from harvest through planting. This characteristic is why chestnuts are typically planted in fall soon after harvest or stored in cold moist conditions for spring planting. A dried chestnut seed is a dead chestnut seed.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Castanea dentata x mollissima
• Stratification: Required, 60 to 90 days cold moist stratification, recalcitrant seed, must be kept moist
• USDA Zones: 4 to 9
• Soil: Well-drained, slightly acidic, avoid compacted or waterlogged conditions
• Light: Full sun
• Height: 40 to 60 feet
• Spread: 40 to 60 feet
• Growth Rate: Moderate to fast, 2 to 3 feet per year

Plant two or more for cross-pollination and nut production. You are growing something that matters beyond your property line.