Chestnut hatchlings

Last fall I aquired 4lbs of American chestnuts that totaled 226 nuts. I stratified them over the winter and now I have 221 hatchlings. Five nuts failed to grow. I planted them in a sand soil mix , heavy on sand. But in all the research I'm doing I'm finding that my pots are too short because chestnuts have a very long tap root. So instead of using my free pots, I have ordered 15" tall pots. When I replant I am going to add some peat moss to the soil mix. Don't know why, maybe over thinking things. I'll do an update when the trees start growing and see how many survive. Maybe do a comparison between sand soil mix and sand soil peat mix.

You didn't need to do that.they will be big enough to plant by the end of may.

I had walnut trees going in pots. They did pretty good but they grew out of room in my pots long before I realized it and they all died. I was using pretty big pots too. Must be like a 3 gallon pot or something like that. They were fine in the spring and dead by fall seems like but I don't remember for sure. Maybe they made it that year and the second year was too much.

I am going to sell them so I'll need a pot to hold them in all summer. I'm hoping that I won't have to over winter them. If I do they will get re-potted again.

Get some poly grow bags. You can get tall skinny ones made for tree seedlings.
They are inexpensive and usually easy to get on Amazon or at a greenhouse supply.
They hold water nice and are white on the outside so they don't overheat the roots in the sun.

I just stick the nuts in the ground where I want the trees in the fall with a wire cage around them to keep the squirrels at bay! Got 3 dandy's I need to prune a bit going now. I get all kinds of nuts at a grocery store in the fall at so much a lb.

And I thought I had a problem rehoming 50 starts

I have over a 100 bare root apple and plum trees coming this spring to plant and fence. And here I thought I had issues.......

I like the deep tree pots, often called tree seedling pots for starting trees and elderberry cuttings. I bought a pack of 500 last year for around $240.00. They are narrow and very tall. They allow the seedlings to develop a deep tap root. I place the pots in worn out utility/garden carts, with expanded raised bottoms to promote air pruning of the roots. The seedlings will grow much better, early on, if crowded fairly close together.

Another advantage is you need much less soil then you do for the wider pots. The pots have very large holes for drainage and air flow, that make it easy for the soil to fall out. I put 1/4 sheets of paper towels in the bottom of the pots before filling them. The paper towels completely rot away as the saplings start holding the soil together with their roots.

You are going to need to add fertilizer, once the saplings start growing, if you don't have many nutrients in the mediums you are using.

Keith

I hope it works.
I plant acorns. It's neat.
I've been looking for a company that sells chinese or dunstan chestnut seeds

You can buy chestnuts and many other seeds to plant at:

https://sheffields.com/

They sell from packets to hundreds of pounds of most varieties. They tell you the tested germination rate of the seeds they sale.

Keith

This is the place I got my deep tree pots from.

https://stuewe.com/product-category/treepots-trays/

I actually bought the pots from someone else, who had these people drop ship them to me. When I buy again, I'll cut out the middle man.

You can buy pots that allow up to a 40" tap root, that are only 5" by 5" wide. You can buy stands for the pots too.

Keith