Build a house, plant a tree, raise a son ... If you build a house, it is a two-story house, if you raise a son, then an excellent worker and an athlete, and if you plant a tree, it is powerful and spreading. Chestnut - that's an excellent way to perpetuate the name and green the planet.
Chestnut from seeds - planting
A chestnut seed is a nut inside a green, needle-like layer. And for planting a chestnut at home, you need strong and whole fruits collected in the fall. Nut should be ripe, as evidenced by the bursting green shell. You can gather in a park or park, directly under the trees of chestnuts.
On the question "how to properly plant a chestnut nut" there are two answers:
- It is possible to germinate the chestnut at home, planting it for the period of winter and spring in a pot, and already with the onset of stable heat to land in the ground.
- And you can put a nut in the ground in the fall.
How to germinate chestnuts for planting
Collected chestnuts to cold weather should be stored in a bag or in a canvas bag. Make sure that the fruits do not rot and are not stained. It is better to store them in a cool place, for example, on the balcony. Then the temperature decrease will not be sharp, but more natural.
As the air temperature approaches zero, you need to put them in a container and sprinkle with damp sand. Since storing a container with chestnuts will need to be in the refrigerator, where there is not much room, it is recommended to plant them in several layers, pouring sand.
Let's say at once that to plant one tree, you need to grow at least 10-15 fruits. Not all nuts are fully ripened and formed, some of them will not germinate, and some of the sprouted will not necessarily be taken in the open ground. And if on the whole you have not one, but several seedlings, it is still better than none.
So, poured chestnuts, damp sand, we remove to the lower shelf of the refrigerator, thus creating a "winter dream" for them. After it, around the end of February, the chestnuts swell and begin to burst, giving sprouts.
As soon as this happened, we take them out of the refrigerator, put them in a larger container, pour the loose earth 4-5 cm thick and wait for the germ to appear above the surface. We put the container on the window and water the ground as it dries. It will take about a month to wait.
The moment of germination comes sharply - only recently there was nothing, and already from under the ground there was a fat sprout. About a week later the leaves unfold. From this moment, the germ can be transplanted to the place of its constant growth. That is, in about May we plant a chestnut in an open ground: it absorbs the spring moisture, spreads the roots, adapts to the sun, perfectly transfers the summer and falls asleep with the onset of winter.
Planting of chestnuts in autumn
There is also a second option, how to grow a chestnut from a nut - immediately plant it in the soil after the autumn collection of seeds. Planting a chestnut seed, not sprouts, is different in that you do not need to do all those actions described above, but give everything to the mercy of Mother Nature. We put the chestnuts in a row with an interval of 15-20 cm to a depth of about 5 cm. We pour the earth mixed with sand, and just wait until everything is done by itself.
Care of horse chestnut after planting
The ascending tree needs watering, hilling, sprinkling over the winter and from the summer heat, weeding the weeds. In general, everything is like with any cultivated plant on your site.
But you every year more and more will be proud of your tree - not bought and planted, but your own! Grown from the seed to a powerful trunk with sprawling branches, under which you will transfer experience to your grandchildren.