Hybrid chestnut (Castanea X spp.)- Zone 5b

530 G’ville Road Complex hybrid from John W. Hershey. One of his most interesting trees. It produces heavy crops of sweet chinese type nut of medium size. The only tree that seems to have an issue with my culture. So far 4 out of 25 died with no sign of chestnut blight. It might be phytoptora root rot, as the season was very wet. It could be a localised pH issue as well. I am keeping an eye on them. Zone 6a and over.

Layeroka Hybrid of John U. Gellatly. A vigorous parent that offers the hardiest offspring. Male catkins are sterile. Nut shells can crack with a heavy rain near the ripening. Interesting tree for breeding as it is cold hardy and needs less GDD than the average to ripen. It should be crossed with chestnut blight resistant trees as Layeroka from Grimo nut nursery died in a high blight pressure environment. Zone 5a and over.

Mahogany x Nanking A C.mollissima x C. mollissima cross selection. The best cross out of 200 made with the same parentage. Ideal mollissima rootstock as it is vigorous and a heavy producer. Zone 6a and over.

Seedling of ACE The mother tree of this seedling had American, Chinese and European genetics, an easy peeling Chinese type nut with good flavor and hardy producer in USDA zone 5. The seedling of Ace’s pollen is sterile. Two seedlings of a male sterile mother tree has lower chance to pollinise eachother. The best practice is to plant a seedling from a male fertile mother tree nearby. Zone 5b and over.

Eaton mollissima x (crenata x dentata). A great tree from Ct Ag Experimental Station. Large delicious nuts 30/lb. Zone 6a and over. 

American R2T5 C. dentata hybrid. Survivor from the CAES plantings. Trees not resistant to chestnut blight died. Zone 5a and over.

RR Vigorous Sleeping Giant Seedling of Sleeping Giant C. mollissima x (crenata x dentata) Consistent producer of medium large handsome nuts, about 40 per lb. Reasonably hardy in mid Vermont. Large tree. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station selection. Zone 5b and over.

Sadie Hunter Rootstock sprout from a failed graft of Sleeping Giant. A likely offspring of Sleeping Giant. So far quite hardy in mid Vermont. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station selection. Zone 5a and over.

RR Sweet Green Liu Seedling of Liu from the Finger Lakes area. Chinese tree producing sweet nuts like Qing. About the grandmother tree : ‘’After storing dozens of cultivar nuts for seed we discovered one outstanding cultivar that had near zero blossom end rot and near zero storage rots for 2 years running: Namely ‘Liu’ ‘’ - Greg Miller Zone 5b and over.

Qing Is a cultivar of unknown origin found in Hickory (Kentucky) and named by Mike Nave. It is a very hardy (relative hardiness of -30C branches and -29C flower buds tested in a lab. True hardiness in a field is more as the organs are related to the rest of the tree. Hardiest scores from a pool of Luvall’s monster, ACE, Peach, etc.) Chinese type hybrid that is probably hybridized with c. pumila. Very sweet nuts of good size (20-25g/nut) that are ready to eat raw as they fall off the tree. Mid season producer that resists well to the late frosts. Zone 5a and over.

R.R. Qing #1, #2 and #4 Seedlings of Qing still unnamed, but productive in the Finger Lakes, NY. Grandmother being Qing 25% genetics are from Qing. Mother tree likely have cross pollenized with a chinese tree also productive in NY.  Zone 5b and over.