So my cousin gave me some chestnuts and butternuts. I decided that I want to plant them and see if they will grow. He has two chestnut trees on an old homestead on a farm he owns and they produce every year. He has only two butternut trees on all of his land. I watched some videos on YouTube about chestnuts and they look easy enough. I have not found much on butternuts.

I have a few questions concerning both. I'm wondering what time frame you would start stratification ? I'm thinking of starting in January. I have grow lights to start garden seeds so they can go under them until they can go outside.

Does anyone have any information on starting butternuts ? I have heard of canker. I assume that the fact these trees have survived this long that they must be somewhat resistant to canker. I'm thinking the seedlings would survive. I think that I will try the same method as with the chestnuts unless anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks for your help.

I'd stick them in damp soil and the fridge now.

I put my chestnuts in a gallon zip loc with moist peat moss in the fridge. Every month open up the bag to get a little fresh air and I planted mine in the ground around March. Have to be careful of the taproot while planting.

And then graft them to walnut rootlings

Dust them good with Banrot or some other good garden fungicide. Put them loosely packed into ziplock bags, then poke lots of pencil sized holes into the bag for air circulation. Plant them in the Spring after the soil warms a bit. That is the method we have used in the nursery for decades.

White Walnuts are extremely rare in my area.
I found a tree about 60 miles away and gathered a couple of buckets of them.
Two springs in a row I just tossed where i wanted some trees and buried under a few inches of dirt.
I did use a manure compost on top to soak into the ground for feeding them.
They were without the husks on

About a 60-70 % success .
Possibly the manure masked the smell of the nuts enough that the yard squirrels didn't find them to dig up ??

I'm very excited with my results, probably a few years away from a harvest , but it's coming.

I do like Turkey time for Chestnuts. If they are American Chestnuts they are not immune. Be very careful of the roots. they get damaged easily.

White walnuts sprout easy

There was a small (6" trunk) butternut tree in the yard where I grew up and a very large one in a neighbors yard. They are miserable things. The leaves yellow and drop all summer long and are always a mess. You would be a lot better off with walnut.

I have sprouted a lot of butternuts. I bury them about a foot deep in a single layer and then cover them with an oversized piece of 1/4” or 1/2” hardware cloth - that is touching the nuts down in the hole - to keep the squirrels and chipmunks from digging down and getting them. Cover the nuts and hardware cloth with dirt, and let them overwinter. No need to remove the husks, just bury them as they come off the tree. Also, if they have been de-husked and dried, like for storage and eating, often not as many will sprout but some usually still will. Best is to just put them in the ground still wet in the husk.
In the spring, before daytime temps hit the 70’s, dig them up and plant them in a prepared bed of nice loose shovel turned soil and plant them about 4 inches down and protect from rodents - i lay 1/2” hardware cloth on top of the soil until the shoots come up but don’t let them get too big so it tears them up as you lift the hardware cloth. After they sprout up, they don’t seem to have much trouble with the squirrels and chipmunks eating them.
Then, the following fall, carefully dig up those one-summer old plants and transplant to the forever home. They love to be on well drained slopes beside water, but will really do well about anyplace that isn’t too dry or poorly drained.

Thanks everyone for the information

Kind of, sort of, off topic... but does anyone on here have an American chestnut tree they gather nuts off of?

What type of chestnut did you get? Post a picture of the nut. You may have a horse chestnut (buckeye) or Chinese chestnut or american chestnut cross.