You can not only multiply flowers yourself, but also trees as large as chestnuts. However, it takes some time before your tree is big enough to bear fruit. Don't expect a quick harvest.
Chestnuts can easily be propagated with seeds
Propagation by seed
If you would like to grow chestnuts yourself by sowing, then consider that there is no purity of variety. So you don't know what kind of chestnut your sweet chestnut was fertilized by and what characteristics were inherited. You also need a lot of patience until the first harvest. You should expect at least 15 to 20 years. Sowing is pretty easy.
Fresh sweet chestnut seeds can be planted in the ground immediately after harvest; dry seeds should be soaked for a day or two beforehand. Use nutrient-poor substrate that should cover the seeds about an inch high. Don't forget to water lightly and always keep the seeds slightly moist but not wet.
Sowing in brief:
- collected seeds do not provide varietal purity
- soak dry seeds for 1 to 2 days
- fresh seeds can be sown immediately
- nutrient-poor substrate
- Place approx. 1 cm deep in the substrate
- water lightly
- keep evenly moist
- repot after about 1 year
- Protect young plant from frost
Propagation by cuttings
As sticks, it is best to cut off strong and healthy shoots with at least three to four dormant eyes from a sweet chestnut in late winter. Make the cut at an angle. Plant about two-thirds of the shoot in a moist mixture of peat and sand. Cut the top of the shoot straight off.
Keep the substrate only slightly moist and new roots will soon form at the underground leaf nodes. For this, however, your cutting needs a bright, frost-free place. After successful rooting, your little sweet chestnut will show its first leaves in spring. However, the young tree is quite sensitive to frost and should stay indoors for the first winter, after which you can plant it in the garden.
tips
The propagation of the sweet chestnut is quite easy, but it takes a long time before the first harvest.