Tissue Culture Szego Chestnut Trees

Tissue culture Szego Chestnut trees grown to 30-40 inches tall and shipped bare root in fall. The trees will be packed for safe shipping and should be removed from the bag and heeled upon arrival and then watered until ready to plant.

The photos are of the trees in the various stages of propagation & growth.

About the Szego Cultivar

The Szego cultivar is a relative newcomer to U.S. growers that was originally bred and named by Mike Nave. It's a cross between Chinese and European chestnuts (Castanea crenata/pumila x mollissima) that results in large (12-16 per lb), easy to peel nuts. Szego nuts are sweet and dense like Chinese chestnuts.

Szego has been shown to both pollinate other chestnuts and is resistant to chestnut blight and phytophthora. For best crop results, plant with another pollinating variety. Szego chestnut trees grow quickly, have large leaves, and reach a maximum height around 40 feet. These trees can be grown in USDA zones 5-9. Nut photos courtesy of Mike Nave.

We deliver trees to growers in all parts of the U.S.. Before selecting a cultivar for your farm, we recommend speaking with growers in your area, extension agents, or other advisors to select the best cultivars for your specific growing conditions.

Recommended Pollinizers:

Szego is not considered "male pollen sterile" so may be used as a pollinizer for other varieties. For more information on pollinizer selection see our Resources Page.

About Tissue Culture Propagation

Chestnuts are notoriously difficult to get into tissue culture. This means growers have had to use other forms of propagation, such as grafting and air layering to plant or expand an orchard. Non-tissue culture forms of propagation are both time intensive and have very high failure rates. For example, it's not uncommon for 50% of crafted chestnuts to die back to the graft within a few years.

Tissue culture chestnuts do not require grafting or air layering. There is no root stock and scion. Each tree is grown from a small piece of juvenile wood and is therefore a single, uniform tree.