Temprate Fruits (1+1)

ROOTSTOCKS AND PROPAGATION

Rootstocks:

• Some species of chestnut are used as rootstock for propagation.
• Chestnut are highly cross pollinated and hybrid seedling used as rootstock is a possible cause of graft union failure in chestnut. Therefore mixed hybrid strains should not be used as rootstock.

Propagation:

• Chestnut seeds planted immediately after harvest showed poor germinate.
• The seeds are stratified for 50-60 days in moist sand at 0 to 2.2 oC to break dormancy of chestnut embryos and ensure uniform germination.
• The chestnut stratification in moist sand kept in wooden boxes at cool shady place proved better than in refrigerator because of fluctuating temperature under field condition help in promoting the seed germination.
• The stratified seeds are sown in nursery beds in the month of March.

Grafting and Budding:

• The chestnut has only one bud at each node and if it is killed by spring frost bud break fails. So early grafting should be avoided.
• Splice grafting and tongue grafting done in March are generally used for the propagation of chestnut,. Chip budding also perform well.

Varieties

• Most of nurserymen in Western countries grow only seedling plants because of their easy availability at lower price, however, grafted trees are superior to seedling in nut production.
• The cultivars which are of commercial importance are :Abundance, Crane, Kuling, Meiling, Nanking, Orrin, Colby and Hemming :

Planting density:

• The planting is done during winters.
• Before planting, the site should be properly laid out with contour or terrace systems.
• The pit should be prepared well in advance and refilled with soil mixed with 60 kg well rotten FYM.
• Plants should be spaced about 30 feet apart as trees are very large in canopy.

Pollination:

• All cultivars and species of chestnut are self sterile. Two or more cultivars and seedling must be planted in the orchard to ensure cross pollination.
• Young orchard trees may not set nuts when the first flowers are formed because of lack of pollination.
• When young trees start flowering the few staminate catkins apparently do not produce enough pollen to fertilize the pistillate flowers.
• Chestnut is wind pollinated as well as insect pollinated.