Dunstan chestnut.....prepare to be mind blown

[Spur]

I went to gather chestnuts off our Dunstans this evening and several nuts have sprouted on the tree! I had never seen them sprout on the tree though so this is a first. We had an extremely wet year and the sun rarely shown so maybe this had something to do with it. Anyways......boom!

 

[The Fishman]

That is weird. I have heard of acorns in the white oak group sprouting in wet conditions before falling off the tree, but never chestnuts. I am not a chestnut expert, but I thought they needed to be stratified. Looks like that will save you a step. Get it planted amd protected.

 

[yoderjac]

Very odd...

 

[TreeDaddy]

Where did you buy the trees?

Please report follow up if you direct seed/propagate them

thanks for posting

bill

 

[Spur]

Where did you buy the trees?

Please report follow up if you direct seed/propagate them

thanks for posting

bill

This particular tree came from Walmart in 2013 in a 3 gallon pot.

 

[H20fwler]

What? Mind blown is right!

Nature can be crazy sometimes...very interesting.
I've also seen it with white oaks before figured it meant conditions were ideal to start growing?

 

[NorthPotter]

Interesting. Do you have any Allegheny Chinkapins nearby? Germinating a radicle while the nut is still attached to the tree occurs regularly in Allegheny Chinkapins, they do NOT need stratified. I have some photos if I can find them...

2 in this group have germinated a radicle while still attached. 2017- severe drought year for me.
another burr than sat on my workbench for a couple days.
All the literature will tell you that Chinkapins produce 1 nut/burr. I find doubles and triples regularly.

 

[Spur]

Interesting. Do you have any Allegheny Chinkapins nearby? Germinating a radicle while the nut is still attached to the tree occurs regularly in Allegheny Chinkapins, they do NOT need stratified. I have some photos if I can find them...

2 in this group have germinated a radicle while still attached. 2017- severe drought year for me.
View attachment 20892 another burr than sat on my workbench for a couple days.
View attachment 20893 All the literature will tell you that Chinkapins produce 1 nut/burr. I find doubles and triples regularly.

These are definitely chestnuts. All have the standard 3 nuts per burr. The tree is about 18’ tall. Don’t know of any Chinkapin in the area.

 

[NorthPotter]

These are definitely chestnuts. All have the standard 3 nuts per burr. The tree is about 18’ tall. Don’t know of any Chinkapin in the area.

yes, they are chestnuts. Or maybe you meant they are 'definitely dunstans', IDK. I do believe you that they are Dunstans.

I am wondering if the nut from which this dunstan grew was originally pollinated by a chinkapin. Chinkapins are VERY common in northern florida. I believe that is the same area as the original dunstans.

Good stuff. thx.

 

[Spur]

yes, they are chestnuts. Or maybe you meant they are 'definitely dunstans', IDK. I do believe you that they are Dunstans.

I am wondering if the nut from which this dunstan grew was originally pollinated by a chinkapin. Chinkapins are VERY common in northern florida. I believe that is the same area as the original dunstans.

Good stuff. thx.

I meant Dunstans. I didn’t even think about the fact that a Chinkapin is in Florida as well and that possibility existed. I contacted Chestnut Hill and sent them pictures.

 

[yoderjac]

Nature can be odd. There could be several factors involved here. First, lets define Dunstan. It was originally a named variety of chestnut that was a cross (and back-cross) I think between American and Chinese. It later became a brand name registered to Chestnut hill. I believe they now sell seed grown trees under the brand name Dunstan.

A Chestnut can not pollinate itself (or a clone). So, the original grafted Dunstan chestnuts can't pollinate each other. Every seed grown "Dunstan" (the trade name) has one known parent (a grafted Dunstan) and one (usually unknown) male parent.

So, I think NorthPotter has a good point. If the tree was bought from Walmart under a Dunstan label, it was likely a seed grown tree. Who knows what the male parent was. It seem any tree in the chestnut family can pollinate any other tree in the chestnut family except itself. It is quite possible that an Allegheny Chinquapin could have been one of the parents of this tree.

Another factor may be the unusual weather this year. It has been an unusually wet year which could help spark germination. There seems to be a relationship between moisture content and cold stratification time and germination rates. More moisture generally means less cold stratification time is required. Is it possible this could go to zero? Generally nuts get moldy and don't germinate if moisture levels are too high, but could there be some protective component to being encased in the hull on the tree? I don't know the answers to these but they are interesting questions.

I would keep a very close eye on that tree. If you have a tree that produces chestnuts when young that don't require cold stratification, you could have a very unique tree. I find it very difficult to time chestnuts when cold stratification is required. I have the most success when I let the nuts tell me when to start them. If I try to time adding moisture to try to get them to germinate at a specific time, I usually have issues. Allegheny Chinquapins, on the other hand, are easy for me to time. I simply put them in ziploc bags with no added moisture and take them out, hydrate them, and plant them when I want.

Thanks,

Jack