Chestnuts Still no radical! WTH

[Jordan Selsor]

I got a handful of nuts off my chestnuts this fall an have kept in the fridge since mid Oct. I have kept them moist in a ziplock with ventilation hole. Still no radical:/! WTH!? Ozark chinquapins shot radicals a month ago!
Y'alls doing anything yet?

 

[Catscratch]

I have some, but this isn't representative of the whole batch.

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[Jordan Selsor]

I have some, but this isn't representative of the whole batch.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

What am I doing wrong catscratch!? When you put yours in the fridge an when you see signs of life? Are all your sprouting?

 

[Catscratch]

No signs of life until I took them out. I don't remember how long they were in there but I think it was just over 100 days.
1. soaked them when I got them (over night).
2. put in fridge in a bag with holes and a moist paper towel. (Sounds like we did the same thing here)
3. pulled out of fridge at Christmas and soaked half a day.
4. planted them in containers at room temp.
I don't have many germinating yet. I hope to have a lot more within a week. I can tell you right now that the one's I have this yr are going slower than the one's I did last yr.

How long have your's been out of the fridge? I had some last yr take around a month to germinate.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I cant remember who said to do it this way, think it was over on the old site. Take the chestnuts out of the fridge and keep them in some damp potting soil in a ziplock bag on the counter for a couple of days. Remove the ones that start a radical and return the others to the fridge for a week and then repeat the process. Worked well for me when I tried it a few years ago. As Catscratch said you might want to soak them for a bit and then return to the fridge as well. Moisture is important for the germination process to begin.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I cant remember who said to do it this way, think it was over on the old site. Take the chestnuts out of the fridge and keep them in some damp potting soil in a ziplock bag on the counter for a couple of days. Remove the ones that start a radical and return the others to the fridge for a week and then repeat the process. Worked well for me when I tried it a few years ago. As Catscratch said you might want to soak them for a bit and then return to the fridge as well. Moisture is important for the germination process to begin.

Tks Chris!

 

[Jordan Selsor]

No signs of life until I took them out. I don't remember how long they were in there but I think it was just over 100 days.
1. soaked them when I got them (over night).
2. put in fridge in a bag with holes and a moist paper towel. (Sounds like we did the same thing here)
3. pulled out of fridge at Christmas and soaked half a day.
4. planted them in containers at room temp.
I don't have many germinating yet. I hope to have a lot more within a week. I can tell you right now that the one's I have this yr are going slower than the one's I did last yr.

How long have your's been out of the fridge? I had some last yr take around a month to germinate.

Not out of the fridge yet. Thought last time I did this many sprouted while in the fridge. I have not soaked at all but kept moist. Hope they haven't dried out. Will do what TC suggested an go from there!

 

[Catscratch]

Good luck.

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[Jordan Selsor]

Good luck.

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Tks! Will let you guys know what happens!
Tks for for the help

 

[yoderjac]

I got a handful of nuts off my chestnuts this fall an have kept in the fridge since mid Oct. I have kept them moist in a ziplock with ventilation hole. Still no radical:/! WTH!? Ozark chinquapins shot radicals a month ago!
Y'alls doing anything yet?

Chinquapins don't require cold stratification. They will germinate immediately with the right conditions. Chestnuts require cold stratification. Cold stratification nominally takes 60 to 90 days for chestnuts. It is a function of the individual nut, moisture level, and temperature. If your temp drops to freezing cold stratification will slow. If moisture content of the nut drops cold stratification slows and takes longer. If the moisture content drops low enough, cold stratification stops.

So, there are a couple possibilities.

1) Did your nuts pass the float test. Some nuts will never germinate.
2) Your refrigerator could be set a bit cold.
3) The moisture content could be too low. It is good to see condensation in the bag.

At this point you have several options. If you have enough 18s to accommodate all your nuts, I'd just plant them in 18s now. They may be ready to pop. If they show no signs of mold and you plan them below the surface of the media, chances of mold are low at this point. I would soak them in water for a few hours before planting them.

Another option is to take them out and soak them luke warm water for a couple hours and then return them to the fridge and watch them each week. If you have more nuts than 18s, this will ensure the nuts are viable before they are planted.

Best of luck,

Jack

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Chinquapins don't require cold stratification. They will germinate immediately with the right conditions. Chestnuts require cold stratification. Cold stratification nominally takes 60 to 90 days. It is a function of the individual nut, moisture level, and temperature. If your temp drops to freezing cold stratification will slow. If moisture content of the nut drops cold stratification slows and takes longer. If the moisture content drops low enough, cold stratification stops.

So, there are a couple possibilities.

1) Did your nuts pass the float test. Some nuts will never germinate.
2) Your refrigerator could be set a bit cold.
3) The moisture content could be too low. It is good to see condensation in the bag.

At this point you have several options. If you have enough 18s to accommodate all your nuts, I'd just plant them in 18s now. They may be ready to pop. If they show no signs of mold and you plan them below the surface of the media, chances of mold are low at this point. I would soak them in water for a few hours before planting them.

Another option is to take them out and soak them luke warm water for a couple hours and then return them to the fridge and watch them each week. If you have more nuts than 18s, this will ensure the nuts are viable before they are planted.

Best of luck,

Jack

Correction Jack
I said ozark chinquapins above an meant allaghany chinquapins.

 

[yoderjac]

Correction Jack
I said ozark chinquapins above an meant allaghany chinquapins.

They are so pretty much variations of the same thing. Very closely related. Neither requires cold stratification. That is why you are seeing radicles on them. I put my Allegheny Chinquapin seeds in a ziplock bag with some slightly damp long-fiber sphagnum just to ensure they don't dry out and die. I keep them in the fridge from the date I collet them. That cold really slows germination. When I'm ready to plant them, I just take them out and plant them. I get fairly good germination rates that way.

Another thing I've done is vernalization. I plant them fresh in 18s or 32s and let them germinate and start a root radicle. Before they produce top growth, I water them good and then put the entire tray in an XL ziplock bag and put it in the fridge. This allows the root radicle to grow slowly with no top growth. When I'm ready, I pull the tray from the fridge and put it under lights in a grow box. They produce top growth pretty quickly that way. This emulates nature where they produce the radicle in the fall but cold weather sets in before they produce top growth.

In both cases, the use of cold with Allegheny Chinquapins is primarily to delay starting them.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

I cant remember who said to do it this way, think it was over on the old site. Take the chestnuts out of the fridge and keep them in some damp potting soil in a ziplock bag on the counter for a couple of days. Remove the ones that start a radical and return the others to the fridge for a week and then repeat the process. Worked well for me when I tried it a few years ago. As Catscratch said you might want to soak them for a bit and then return to the fridge as well. Moisture is important for the germination process to begin.

I think that is how Big8 does it! It works very well for him.

 

[H20fwler]

I got a handful of nuts off my chestnuts this fall an have kept in the fridge since mid Oct. I have kept them moist in a ziplock with ventilation hole. Still no radical:/! WTH!? Ozark chinquapins shot radicals a month ago!
Y'alls doing anything yet?

I've got a hundred plus Chinese chestnuts in the fridge and about half of them have sprouted small radicles, not as developed as Catscratch's. Mine have been in since early October, I wetted the pete moss good and once more since putting them in. I'm going to sort through them next week and plant the ones that are starting to show and baby them in the house till spring.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Pulled nuts out of fridge today an put in some damp shredded newspaper in tuperwear dish with holes poked in lid. Placed in sunny window on south side of the house. Give it a couple days an see if I can't wake them up. Soaked them for a few hrs first. Kept my boys busy for awhile cutting up newspaper lol

 

[H20fwler]

Took a pic today of how mine are doing, this is how half of them look.

 

[yoderjac]

Took a pic today of how mine are doing, this is how half of them look.

Looks good, but one note of caution. Normally we plant chestnuts with the flat side down if planted before the radicle appears. However, you want to avoid kinking roots. The nut decides shortly before producing the radicle which way is down based on gravity. If you change the orientation of the nut, it will eventually figure out down is a different direction, but that takes time and ends up kinking the root.

So, in a case like the one in the picture, you want to plant that nut with the round side we see on top down and the flat side that is on the table up. This will allows the root radicle to keep growing in the direction it started and you won't get a kink.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[wbpdeer]

Jordan,

Just be patient with the chestnuts. They will sprout over a wide range of time. It is common to see the first ones to sprout and the last ones sprout 21 to 25 days later. I think jumping starting them helps.

I stick all of mine in the growing media at the same time. Heat and moisture will get them to sprout after they have cold stratified.

It will happen - nature is in charge.

Wayne

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Jordan,

Just be patient with the chestnuts. They will sprout over a wide range of time. It is common to see the first ones to sprout and the last ones sprout 21 to 25 days later. I think jumping starting them helps.

I stick all of mine in the growing media at the same time. Heat and moisture will get them to sprout after they have cold stratified.

It will happen - nature is in charge.

Wayne

TKS Wayne
I pulled them out for a few days an set in a sunny window as I described above. Only one was starting to split so I put them back in the fridge as Turkey Creek an others suggested. I will pull them back out in a few days an see if I cant get them jump started:)

 

[TreeDaddy]

I am starting my sophomore season with chestnuts

I saw my radicals sprout over a 3-4 week frame

In addition, be patient awaiting top growth as well. Mine took 15-20 days

I did note that if they produce a good radical,they all produced top growth

bll