Chinquapin Chestnut

Dwarf shrub species of chestnut Produces Clusters of Small Nuts

Shrub species of chestnut found throughout eastern North America from Florida to Maine. Chinquapin is rarely cultivated to any extent partly due to propagation issues with the highly perishable seeds. Yet it is easy to grow and fruit and practical to grow where you need a dwarf nut tree. Ours are grown from seeds from our planting in pots and are well rooted.

Another great aspect of this shrub chestnut is its low height reaching only 5-10 ft. and with the small acorn shaped nuts stick on the outside of the husk making harvesting very easy as they fall off into your hand. The sweet nuts ripen in late August and begin producing on small trees usually 2-4 years after planting. 

Our strain originally came from an Ohio grower. Although not blight immune these shrubs are resistant enough to produce nuts in spite of the blight. Older trunks will fade with time but new sprouts constantly supply you with future branches for nut production.  Productive branches will grow and produce up to 15 years at our farm. We have had very good production here in southern Michigan. They are not practical to take the skin off the nut so it is best to chew them up as they come off the bush. They are easy to collect and eat fresh right off the plant.  No shipment to CA, OR, WA.