White oaks mixed results/ Chestnut question

A friend who lives in Barry's Bay has white oaks and they self-propagate. I've found the best way to sprout the white oaks is to rake the acorns up with the leaves in the fall and then just leave them in a pile. Then in the spring carefully go through the pile, pick out the sprouted acorns, pot them and in the fall plant them.

At our old farm we had a lot of red oaks and the easiest way to sprout them was to just leave then out in a sunny spot, on the surface of the ground, water them occasionally and wait for them to sprout.

Not American chestnuts but I did grow some "horse chestnuts" in zone 3 (I picked up the chestnuts in Ottawa) but I had to put snow fencing around the young trees to make a micro-climate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoldenLakePete

Not American chestnuts but I did grow some "horse chestnuts" in zone 3 (I picked up the chestnuts in Ottawa) but I had to put snow fencing around the young trees to make a micro-climate.

---

We used to collect the Horse Chestnuts and roast them back in the UK, they are actually quite good. I am just researching the Dunstan Chestnut (hybrid cross between the Chinese Chestnut and American Chestnut), apparently it is less susceptible to Blight which almost wiped out the American Chestnut in the 1900's. Not sure how hardy the Dunstan is though is I am in the North end of the historical range of the American Chestnut.

we buried the acorns under 4 inches of mulch and thy sprouted very quik ,made them easy to dig up to as long as you did not leave them to long as the tap root grows deep very fast ,,Dutch