Care and Feeding of a Chestnut Tree

Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) Care Guide

Sweet chestnut tree is a gorgeous-looking deciduous tree whose green leaves turn yellow in the fall, adding color to your garden. It blossoms in the spring and summer, sometimes attracting hummingbirds. In the fall, it bears interestingly-shaped fruit to bring you the joy of harvest. Sweet chestnut requires some simple daily care and is considered of medium difficulty to grow.

Quick Care Guides

• Where can I grow sweet chestnut?
• What kind of sunlight is needed to grow a sweet chestnut?
• What kind of soil is needed to plant a sweet chestnut?
• How should I water my sweet chestnut?
• How to prune my sweet chestnut?

Condition Requirement

Condition Requirement

Water and Hardiness

plants of the Castanea genus are distributed in the mountains of Northern temperate and subtropical zones. They like warm, moist habitats and grow best in temperatures between 10 - 20 ℃ , though they can also tolerate a certain level of cold. They don't require much moisture, are quite drought-enduring, and usually don't need excessive watering.

Sunlight

Sweet chestnut tree needs sufficient sunlight to grow. plant in an open space with over 6 hours of sunlight daily. When sunlight is insufficient, its branches become slender and fragile, sometimes making it hard to support blooms and fruit.

Soil

Sweet chestnut tree likes moist, fertile, slightly acidic (pH value at 4.5-6.5), sandy soil. Clay, which has poor air permeability, is not recommended. Sweet chestnut can endure drought, but standing water can cause breathing difficulty in its roots and affect healthy growth. Therefore, the soil needs to stay properly drained. Sloping land offers good drainage, so when planting on a slope, soil with a slightly poorer water-draining ability can still be used.

Care Guide

Care Guide

Planting

Choose an open, elevated spot to plant sweet chestnut tree. Before planting, clear surrounding trees and weeds to allow sweet chestnut the best chance of sufficient sunlight and nutrition, so it can grow exuberantly and fruit in abundance. Because its fruits are spiny and fall off when ripe, sweet chestnut should not be planted along the streetside.

You can transplant sweet chestnut seedlings in the spring. Dig a pit 1.5-2 times wider than the plant's root ball and plant level to its root collar (the juncture of the aerial and underground parts of a plant). During the transplant, protect the root system to avoid damaging the plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients. After the transplant, water the plant sufficiently and use a shading screen until the sweet chestnut tree is well established.

Water

Sweet chestnut tree doesn't require much moisture. Once adapted to its growing habitat, it becomes very drought-tolerant. Usually, watering once per week is enough. Fruition does require sufficient water, so when the plant is ready to fruit, increase watering frequency. Watering can stop after the plant sheds its leaves. Resume next spring, before new leaves bud.

Fertilizer

In the first year after planting a sweet chestnut seedling, apply a little fertilizer to promote the growth of the plant's root system. From the second year on, sweet chestnut's need for nutrition increases and requires nitrogen-rich acid fertilizers, such as those with a 30-10-10 or 20-10-10 NPK ratio. Before it blossoms and fruits, apply more phosphate fertilizers to facilitate the growth of flowers and fruits. Water after fertilization to help the roots better absorb the nutrients. Do not fertilize in the fall or winter, as it may affect the plant's growth in a bad way.

Pruning

Sweet chestnut tree likes sufficient sunlight. Its flowers often bloom on external new branches. Pruning its internal branches make it look more beautiful, increase internal ventilation and light, promote flowering and fruition, and reduce the chances of pests or diseases. When the plant blossoms, only keep early blooms to concentrate nutrients and make fruits plump; trim the rest. Prune old, dried, or pest-or-disease-infested branches are found at once. Do not prune on rainy days, as rain can help transmit pests and diseases and infect the pruning incisions. After pruning, apply fungicides to the incisions.

Harvest

Chinese chestnuts( Castanea mollissima) have varying maturation periods. Wait to harvest until the chestnuts fully mature and fall off to the ground naturally, as those harvested this way are plump fruits that taste the best and store the longest. Don't make the chestnuts fall off the tree by shaking the trunk. If you want to harvest the chestnuts to sow next year, place them in a cool shady corner, wait for the surface moisture to evaporate, and put them in dry, low-temperature storage (the temperature should not go below 0 ℃).

Propagation

You can propagate sweet chestnut tree by sowing seeds. Seed in early spring to allow ample time for the plants to grow. Seeds can be sown in pots indoors; the depth of the pots needs to be 30 cm or more. Fill the pot with soil and dig a 3 cm-deep hole. Place a chestnut in it flat side downward. Cover with soil and water every day until the seed buds. The budding seedling will grow towards the light, so rotate the pot from time to time to make sure the seedling grows up straight. When the chestnut shell falls off naturally and the frost season is over, move the pot outdoors on an overcast, rain-free day.

Seasonal Precautions

Paint the sweet chestnut tree trunk white in the winter to reduce solar heat absorption by the dark-colored trunks. Sunlight causes the trunk temperatures to rise, while at night the trunk temperature drops drastically. Such alternating heating and cooling fissure the bark and damages the plant. To make picking up chestnuts easier, it's a good idea to remove ground weeds by the end of summer.

Common Problems

Why does my sweet chestnut tree only bear fruits on outer branches?

Sweet chestnut tree requires sufficient sunlight to blossom and fruit. When the tree is too lush, internal branches don't get enough light to blossom. Prune old, dried branches to increase internal air and light to increase fruition and reduce pests and diseases.

Pests and Diseases

Pests and Diseases

Leaf Spot

Leaf spot is a fungal disease. Yellow or brown spots show up on infected leaves in concentric circles. Leaf spot usually doesn't wilt leaves, but it can leave spots and bores behind, affecting the sweet chestnut tree's good looks. Cut off infected leaves immediately and mist the tree with fungicides. Prune the branches in daily care to make sure the plant is well-ventilated and well-lit, which reduces the chances of pests and diseases.

Blight

Chestnut blight is a hard-to-cure fungal disease. In the early infection, watery, irregularly-outlined dark brown spots show up in the bark of sweet chestnut, and yellowish-brown sap exudes from the spots. After that, the spots get dehydrated and the bark sinks and fissures. As the disease progresses, spots spread to other parts of the trunk, and young branches and new leaves gradually wither and die. Fungi mainly invade the plant through wounds, so once damage is spotted on sweet chestnut, disinfect immediately. Also, avoid pruning plants on rainy days. Once the disease is detected, the infected parts must be cut off and burnt immediately; otherwise, the entire plant will be in peril.

Aphids

Aphids eggs overwinter in tree trunks and hatch the following spring. Aphid larvae gather on the young branches and new leaves of sweet chestnut tree, sucking and feeding on the plant's sap, deforming or even killing new leaves. Aphids can be prevented and cured by spraying pesticides.

Weevil

Weevils lay eggs on chestnuts every summer. When the larvae hatch, they bore into the nuts and feed on them. Harvest mature chestnuts swiftly to reduce the chance of a weevil infestation. Once such a pest is detected, spray pesticides on the tree to eradicate them.

Other Uncommon Pests or Diseases

Besides these, there are other less common pests and diseases that need your attention as well.

• Powdery Mildew
• Anthracnose
• Japanese Beetles
• Spider Mites

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Source: https://www.picturethisai.com/care/Castanea_sativa.html

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