A strong and powerful chestnut with a dense crown is often used to create shadow relaxation areas. In the spring garden, a magnificent tree captivates with the beauty of its flowering, in which snow-white and fragrant flowers bloom, collected in inflorescences resembling candles. Before planting a chestnut in a garden, which he will decorate with his spectacular appearance, you should study the nuances of planting and caring for the crop.

The main varieties of chestnut for growing

Not all novice gardeners know that the familiar inedible horse chestnut variety that adorned squares and parks belongs to the Konskashtanovy family. While edible chestnut is a representative of the Beech family.

The most popular and spectacular types and varieties:

• Horse chestnut. Decorative appearance, which is characterized by slow growth in the first 10 years after planting. Valued for its unpretentiousness and beauty of flowering. Common varieties: Pink, Ordinary and Horse small-flowered.
• American, or notched. The variety is represented by powerful trees that can grow in natural conditions up to 30 m. A dense crown is formed by thick shoots and large, pointed leafy plates, the edges of which have notches. In the autumn period, when the foliage becomes scarlet, the tree looks even more spectacular. Flowering species occurs in July. Fruits, which are a gourmet product, in an amount of 2 to 3 peanuts, are ripe in green boxes covered with thin and long spines.
• European.A tall plant with sickle-shaped, pointed leaf blades of a deep green color, the lower part of which is covered with a light fluff. After June flowering, during which spike-shaped inflorescences are noted, spiny seed capsules are formed with edible fruits inside. Fruiting occurs at the end of October.
• Chinese chestnut is the softest. Medium-sized trees with serrated leaves having a whitish fringe from below. They can bloom in different shades depending on the particular variety.
• Japanese chestnut. A distinctive characteristic of the species are large edible fruits, the size of which is 6 - 8 cm

How to plant chestnut in the open ground?

There are 2 main and effective ways of planting chestnuts on a personal plot. Before their implementation, you need to choose the right place and soil.

Preference should be given to sunny spacious places where there are no farm buildings and other cultural vegetation within a radius of 5 m. The root system of the chestnut is powerful, but superficial, so it requires fertile soil with a loose structure and a neutral reaction.

How to Plant a Walnut Chestnut

When the fruits of the chestnut ripen and begin to fall off, you must choose healthy, intact nuts. Planting material should be placed for 7 days in a cool room, and then bury in the soil to a depth of 3 cm, where it will undergo a natural stratification. With the onset of spring heat, the gardener will see the shoots.
Before planting a chestnut from walnut in the spring, it is necessary to stratify the fruit yourself by storing it in a refrigerator during the winter season, followed by keeping it in warm water for about 5 days. Swollen nuts must be planted in moist soil.

Features of planting a chestnut seedling

You can buy a three-year-old seedling of chestnut and conduct a spring planting as follows:

1. At the selected site, a landing pit in the form of a cube with a depth of half a meter is dug.
2. A strong, high stake is driven into the hole
3. A drainage layer of 20 cm is placed at the bottom.
4. From the extracted soil and humus in a separate tank, a fertile soil mixture is prepared.
5. A seedling is placed on top, the straightened roots of which are sprinkled with a prepared compound.
6. The soil in the near-stem circle is trampled and watered.
7. The young chestnut is tied.

Planting a chestnut seed

Ineffective and very long process.

Sowing seeds in accordance with the technology, as described for planting fruits, does not guarantee that the gardener will see the sprouted chestnut: the sowing material of the crop has a very low germination.

Further care of the chestnut tree

It is very easy to grow a beautiful tree from a young seedling with minimal care.

• Watering. Chestnut is a drought tolerant crop that requires regular watering only during the first few years after planting. Adult specimens do not require hydration. But if you water the plant at the rate of 10 liters per 1 m2 of the crown projection during a period of prolonged drought, then the chestnut tree will thank the gardener with bright and dense greens.
• Feeding. Chestnut is fed twice a season. In the spring, a mullein solution prepared with water in a proportion of 1:10 is introduced into the trunk circle. In the autumn period, phosphorus-potash fertilizers are necessarily added to the fertilizing composition.
• soil treatment. To ensure the necessary friability of the soil and not disturb the surface root system by loosening, it is recommended to mulch the trunk circle with peat.
• Cropping. Every spring, sanitary pruning is performed, in which injured, dried branches are cut. A culture is formed in the form of a standard tree, therefore, root growth should be systematically removed and the standard should be cleaned.
• Shelter for the winter. The chestnut is frost-resistant. But the culture should be protected in the first 3 years after planting with mulch and wrapping the trunk with burlap.

Read also:tomatoes: planting and care in the open ground

Growing difficulties

Despite the non-capricious nature, it is necessary to monitor the health of the culture so as not to encounter the following problems:

• Defeat of the chestnut with powdery mildew, black and holey spotting - with the development of such diseases, the leaves lose their decorativeness. The plant can be cured with the help of timely treatments with fungicide.
• Population of a tree with chestnut moth and wood tick. If, when damage is detected, it is not immediately necessary to use protective equipment in the form of an insecticide, then the plant may wither over time.
If planting is carried out correctly, then the majestic and undemanding chestnut will create a shadow over the recreation area for a long time without loss of decorativeness.