Chestnut is a tree that can be part of our garden if we have enough space. It can reach a height of up to 35 meters, its trunk is robust and its life is quite long. Its fruits, chestnuts, are harvested between the months of October-November. Chestnut cultivation is not very complicated. If you know how to do it well, it doesn’t require too much care.
Therefore, we review the necessary care for the cultivation of chestnut, and we will explain everything you need to know if you want to plant it in the ground.
Key features
Image – Flickr / Ramón Durán
El brown It belongs to the Fagaceae family, which is made up of many well-known trees. It is considered a large tree reaching over 20 meters in height under normal conditions.. It provides very good shade as it has a fairly wide and rounded crown morphology. Its wood is highly valued and has a light brown color with a smooth texture.
Its leaves are relatively large and consist of 5 leaflets. They are leaves that have a light green color in different shades. Making the underside has a slight yellowish color. Being a tree typical of cold climates, it has its leaf change, making it a deciduous tree. In early or mid spring it will begin to emit new leaves and it is then when it returns to have all its splendor and leafiness.
Its flowers should not be completely ruled out even if it does not look too visual. Its inflorescences exceed 20 centimeters in length and have various shades between white and pink.. Chestnuts are the fruits and are of a brown color highly valued in gastronomy. Its shape is round and it is quite complicated to describe its flavor.
The chestnut is a kind of tree that it grows fast and is something that is valued very positively to be able to sow it in the garden. As an ornamental species it is perfect and for the production of fruits and chestnuts it is appreciated very well in the coldest times. In addition, it is a tree with great longevity that usually exceeds 80 years of age. Its growth slows down as it reaches maturity and the trunk cracks. It also becomes more susceptible to attack by pests and diseases.
Chestnut cultivation
We are going to see what are the cares of the chestnut tree for its correct cultivation. We can plant it by seeds, although the process will be slow and it will take an average of 25 years to bear fruit.. Another option is to plant it by grafting bought in a nursery, in which case we will get the fruits in about 10 years. It is a crop that adapts quite well to the climate although they prefer more temperate climates that have humid environmental conditions. In the first years of life it is more necessary to shelter it both from the cold and from intense exposure to the sun. This helps proper growth.
The adult no longer has trouble withstanding the cold, but yes you have to take care of it from some late frosts that come at the beginning of spring. This is because at this time it is more vulnerable because it is blooming. The cultivation should be avoided in areas that have very hot summers, especially if they are dry summers. If it is located in areas closer to the sea breeze, it can grow with less problems.
Environmental humidity is important for flowering and fruit ripening. It is vital to guarantee a certain degree of atmospheric humidity, especially in the period from summer to early fall. It is from this time that the fruits gain a lot of caliber to reach their final stretch.
As for the ground, can grow well in places with moist soil. To increase the humidity of the soil you can use some techniques such as the mulching technique to also increase the availability of organic matter in the soil and increase humidity. The pH should be somewhat acidic around 6 and have good drainage. Drainage is key so that rain and irrigation water does not accumulate. We must avoid at all costs heavy soils that have a large percentage of clays. This type of soil causes it to puddle quite easily and diseases related to facultative fungi can develop.
Chestnut maintenance and care
The chestnut tree needs plenty of water, especially in the vegetative seasons, so before planting it we must make sure that the place remains quite humid even during the summer, but without accumulating water accumulations that could make it sick. The time that has more demand when it comes to watering is in spring and at the beginning of the formation of the fruits. The most common way to water these types of trees is through the drip system. We must take into account when caring for the chestnut tree that the production of a specimen you can consume between 20-30 liters of water per week.
They do not do well being exposed to the sun throughout the day even though they need its light to grow, especially when they are young, so it is preferable to plant it in a place where there is enough light but full sun exposure only lasts a few hours.
Chestnut trees are strong trees that do not need excessive care, although it has been proven that tilling the land helps increase its production. As for pruning, it is necessary to do it when they are young to give them a rounded shape, once they are adults this will no longer be necessary and we will limit ourselves to eliminating those branches that die in summer.
For your maintenance, a compost rich in organic matter is recommended. You can do the padding technique which is very useful since you can take advantage of the leaves that come off the chestnut in the autumn time to make leaf mulch. This mulch is going to decompose in order to become part of the nutrients that the tree needs.
Multiplication
Finally, It can be multiplied by means of seeds since it has a fairly high germination power. If it does not have seeds, you can obtain new ones from vegetative methods such as layered.
Pruning is important for its maintenance and only you have to keep the branches vigorous and prune those that are not so vigorous. In this way, we avoid possible pests and diseases and we give it a correct growth.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the care of the chestnut tree and its characteristics.
