My First Chinkapins

[NorthPotter]

I looked at my tallest and widest chinkapin today. It is just a little taller than the one shown above and I stepped it 18 feet wide due to the low spreading limbs. When I looked at this tree the other day, I thought it had unpollinated burrs - but today I noticed that some of them were starting to open, and many had nuts. Looks like we could be having chinkapins for Christmas this year......

The first tree show above is still holding many nuts. I picked and ate a few today and they were delicious. .

yepper! IMHO, several times better tasting than most chinese trees and about 2x sweeter than c. dentata nut. try letting them set for a week and the excess moisture will evaporate. When you can slightly squeeze the shell and feel a small air gap between the shell and the kernel they are ready. Not too long or the kernel will harden.

One thing I love about chinkapins over chestnuts - I haven't seen a single worm in any of them. Yes, the nuts are small, but so easy to eat with just the tip of a pocket knife blade.

I do see few worms but no where near the quantity I see inside Chinese nuts. Have always thought that they are the most ignored and undervalued native mass tree/bush.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

North Potter - What kind of chinkapins do you have planted - Allegheny ?? Just wondering as we're pretty close mileage-wise.

Aren't they susceptible to chestnut blight ?? ( I haven't looked at chinkapins much at all. )

 

[yoderjac]

North Potter - What kind of chinkapins do you have planted - Allegheny ?? Just wondering as we're pretty close mileage-wise.

Aren't they susceptible to chestnut blight ?? ( I haven't looked at chinkapins much at all. )

They are susceptible to blight. However, unlike chestnuts which die back, possibly resprout, but don't produce nuts. Allegheny Chinquapins react to blight similar to fire. They dye back to the roots and resprout. However with that well developed root system, they start producing nuts again quite quickly.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[NorthPotter]

North Potter - What kind of chinkapins do you have planted - Allegheny ?? Just wondering as we're pretty close mileage-wise.

Aren't they susceptible to chestnut blight ?? ( I haven't looked at chinkapins much at all. )

I have Allegheny. I have bushes/trees from 2 different northern sources and 2 different southern source or province. The southern source are BARELY making it here, not surprisingly. But my Northern sourced do well. I can also tell you that there are enough phenotypically differences in the two that I very well believe there are more than 1 species...(edit: I should say more than 1 subspecies. when you are tired you make errors) The literature talks about multiple (sub)species but does not identify the different historical characteristics.

Mine are gone for the year or I would give you some. Animals ate them all in about 10 days or less. Some squirrels and critters even clipped the darn new shoots off with the burrs still on! Seen them dragging the whole darn twig down the path like a trophy...Varmints! Don't like them to cut the new shoots but don't think I should control that either.

Don't want to jinx myself so not going to share how few of mine seem susceptible to blight and don't want to share how many I have had for over 10 years that were never affected by blight. But when they do get it, it only seems to be 1-2 of the stems of the shrub/bush/small tree. And like jack said they grow back in about 1-2 seasons and will produce nuts again in the second season.

they are NOT easy at my zone (5a/4b) but you may be a little warmer and have better success. Remind me next September to get you some.

 

[yoderjac]

I have Allegheny. I have bushes/trees from 2 different northern sources and 2 different southern source or province. The southern source are BARELY making it here, not surprisingly. But my Northern sourced do well. I can also tell you that there are enough phenotypically differences in the two that I very well believe there are more than 1 species. The literature talks about multiple species but does not identify the different historical characteristics.

Mine are gone for the year or I would give you some. Animals ate them all in about 10 days or less. Some squirrels and critters even clipped the darn new shoots off with the burrs still on! Seen them dragging the whole darn twig down the path like a trophy...Varmints! Don't like them to cut the new shoots but don't think I should control that either.

Don't want to jinx myself so not going to share how few of mine seem susceptible to blight and don't want to share how many I have had for over 10 years that were never affected by blight. But when they do get it, it only seems to be 1-2 of the stems of the shrub/bush/small tree. And like jack said they grow back in about 1-2 seasons and will produce nuts again in the second season.

they are NOT easy at my zone (5a/4b) but you may be a little warmer and have better success. Remind me next September to get you some.

I wonder how your northern sourced trees would do here. I'm in 7a. There are only two that I've seen discussed in the literature, Allegheny and Ozark. There seems to be some who think they are the same. I don't know. I know with sawtooth, there are some big differences in when acorns drop depending on strain. I'm sure there are strains of ACs that are better adapted to different regions.

Speaking of cutting shoots. The first year I decided to grow them, I simply cut the stems just below the burrs on one tree and took them all back to camp to extract the nuts. One thing I noticed is that tree did not produce nuts the next year. It did fine the following year. I'm not sure if they only produce on a certain age growth or not.

Squirrels are my biggest issue when growing them in containers. They dig in the pots down to the roots and eat them and sometimes nip off the seedlings when they are young and don't have nuts. This kills them. I don't put them outside until they are large enough that I remove the original nuts, but that doesn't make them less attractive to the squirrels. I have the same issue with everything I've grown in the chestnut family.

Thanks,

Jack