Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima)

Chinese chestnuts have NOT produced reliably on the home farm in SW Wisconsin, since they tend to freeze back during our brief extreme cold-snaps. They do not appear to be as aggressive as the hybrids in low-maintenance, certified organic conditions. The only surviving Chinese chestnuts producing seed in our breeding plots (the toughies!) are seedlings from Skookum, Layeroka and Skioka varieties.

Grown from open-pollinated seed collected from superior mother trees, selected for nut size and cold hardiness.

Resistant to chestnut blight. Worth experimenting with in zone 4.