How to propagate horse chestnut

How to propagate horse chestnut

Seed collection

The first step is to choose the mother plant for seed collection. From the appearance point of view, choose a horse chestnut tree that is tall and straight, has many strong fruits, full fruits, and is growing healthily. In mid-autumn, the outer skin of the horse chestnut turns from green to brown-yellow, and when you see some cracked fruits, they are almost ready for harvest. After collecting, dry it in the shade and peel off the skin after the fruit cracks naturally. Choose seeds that are large, plump, bright in color, and healthy and intact. Mix the selected seeds and wet sand together evenly in a ratio of about 1:3. Then, store it using the wet stratification method in a moist, well-drained soil pit, remembering to leave ventilation holes.

Field preparation

Choose fertile, deep, well-drained, neutral or slightly acidic sandy loam as the seedling raising ground. Two or three months before sowing, deep plowing should be carried out to remove impurities and dry the soil, and then the land should be carefully prepared to make the ground as flat as possible and the soil particles uniform in coarseness and fineness. Apply 2,500 kg of fermented cow and horse manure as base fertilizer per mu, and then disinfect the soil with pentachloronitrobenzene.

Sowing method

For spring sowing, strip sowing can be carried out in late March. The plant spacing can be 20 cm × 25 cm. The depth should be 3-4 cm. The hilum should be sown downwards, and then covered with soil about 4 cm, level with the bed surface, and finally lightly compacted with your feet.

Post-sowing management

Keep the soil moist before germination and wait about a month before unearthing. When the seedlings are 25 cm tall, loosen the soil and weed in time, and thin out the seedlings on rainy days. The nursery should be kept moist during the growing period of the seedlings. The growth period of horse chestnut is from emergence to early June, at this time, the amount of watering should be increased; in July and August, the seedlings are in the lignification period, and the amount of watering should be reduced to promote the growth and lignification of the seedling stems. During the rainy season, drainage should be carried out in a timely manner to avoid water accumulation for too long, otherwise it will easily cause root rot of the plants. In the management of the seedlings, urea can be applied during the rapid growth period of the seedlings, and phosphorus and potassium fertilizers can be applied one month before the seedlings stop growing. Fertilize multiple times in small amounts.