The store is now open for spring deliveries unless you order seeds.
UMCA® Chestnut PQK seedlings 2 yr. old - Bare root - Spring Ship

UMCA® Chestnut PQK seedlings 2 yr. old - Bare root - Spring Ship

$29.00 Sale

PURCHASER’S LICENSE: Z’S NUTTY RIDGE LLC, HEREBY GRANTS THE BUYER OF THIS CHESTNUT SEEDLING A LIMITED, NON-EXCLUSIVE, NONASSIGNABLE LICENSE FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF PRODUCING A CHESTNUT CROP

The University of Missouri Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center ("HARC") chestnut grove is considered one of the best sources of hybrid chestnuts, as their grove of chestnuts contains some of the best chestnut tree cultivars available.  Included among these cultivars are the mother trees that generate UMCA® PQK seedling trees.  These UMCA® seedling trees descend from three high performing grafted cultivars: Peach, Qing, and Kohr, which are crossed via a controlled pollen cloud in an isolated grafted orchard at HARC. 

The seedlings named UMCA® PQK are Chinese chestnut hybrids bred for productivity, blight resistance, and adaptability. As Chinese chestnut hybrids (Castanea mollissima), they are hardy in USDA zones 4–8, with proven performance in trials across the eastern U.S., including colder areas like zone 5a in Missouri and the Midwest. Meaning, great for the Northeast!

These are large two-year-old trees and some will start producing in two years after planting.

Trees are typically 18" to and up to over 48"when shipped as they are now two years old.

Key Traits of PQK Seedlings
  1. Nut Size
    • Large to very large (typically 18–28 nuts per pound, often averaging ~22 nuts/lb).
    • Consistently bigger than most pure Chinese chestnuts.
  2. Nut Quality & Flavor
    • Sweet, rich, starchy flavor — rated among the best-tasting of the UMCA hybrids.
    • Low pellicle (inner skin) intrusion into the kernel, so the nut meats peel cleanly and easily after boiling or roasting.
  3. Yield & Precocity
    • Extremely early bearing — many trees produce a crop by year 3–4 from seedling.
    • Heavy, reliable producer once mature; often out-yields pure Chinese chestnuts.
  4. Drop Time
    • Very early season — nuts typically begin dropping in late August to early September in Missouri (one of the earliest UMCA cultivars).
    • This allows harvest before most wildlife competition and before fall rains can cause rot.
  5. Tree Habit & Vigor
    • Moderately upright to spreading growth habit.
    • Vigorous and fast-growing; reaches 30–50 ft at maturity if not pruned.
    • Good pollenizer (produces abundant catkins).
  6. Disease Resistance
    • Excellent resistance to chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica).
    • Very good tolerance to Phytophthora root rot (cinnamon fungus) when grafted or grown on good sites.
  7. Cold Hardiness
    • Proven hardy through USDA Zone 4b (−25 to −30 °F / −32 to −34 °C).

When mature at 25 years they generally are about 25 to 35 feet tall and 25 feet wide, with a round form as shown. Some seedlings can be much taller.
Chestnuts often start producing nuts in year 4 or 5.

HARC PQK is the University of Missouri suggestion of what will make a successful chestnut orchard.     

You can eat fresh or make your own gluten free deliciously sweet flour.  The nuts fall free to the ground.  All you have to do is pick them up.
Please see our web pages on chestnuts to learn more or buy our book.

Trees were started in March in our greenhouse to produce larger caliper than most nurseries. 

When do we ship trees in the fall and spring?

We are at the mercy of nature when we ship trees.  We must wait for the trees to be dormant to supply you with the healthiest trees for spring vigor.  Juvenile trees do not like to go dormant until there is “killing frost”. The term killing frost just means the trees will stop growth and go dormant for the winter.

Spring we typically ship late-April to late-May weather dependent, dormant and bare root.  In the fall we ship mid-October to early November, dormant and bare root. 

You will be notified of pending shipment to your address, when a shipping label has been made for your order.

    We cannot ship to the west coast states or where chestnut gall wasps quarantines exist, like Michigan.  Cannot ship to Canada for small orders.  We do not have chestnut gall wasps on our farm, but they are getting close.

Reminder a "cultivar" is a clone of the parent tree and performs just like the parent as it is the one and same genetics.  Whereas, "seedlings" are just like children, it inherits traits from both parents and what traits are expressed we learn as it matures.

For tax exempt orders please email info@znutty.com with the desired quantity and your ship too address.  We give discounts for quantity orders. 

You need two trees for pollination. 

We will do our best to make you happy as we state on our Terms and Conditions page. 

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