Ozark Chinquapin

Size, growth and what to expect

Expect a small tree of 15 to 30 feet. Chestnut blight kills the stems above ground but dies at the soil line, so the roots send up new sprouts. Those grow to 15 or 20 feet before the fungus kills them again within 4 to 6 years. Before the blight, trees stood as much as 60 feet tall. Our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, a foot and a half a year, since no source rates its speed. Seedlings bear their first nuts at 3 to 5 years in good conditions.

It flowers in late May and June, after the danger of frost. Each spiny bur, up to 1¼ inches across, holds one small, sweet nut. The nuts ripen from September into November across the chinquapins' range. Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, turkeys and bobwhite eat them.

It grows wild on rocky upper slopes and ridges in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, often beside chinquapin oak. Its northern Alabama stands appear lost to the blight.

How to grow Ozark Chinquapin

Ozark chinquapin wants full sun and a well-drained, acid soil, dry to average, on a slope or a ridge if you have one. It will not take heavy clay or ground that stays wet. Set trees 15 feet apart, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. The nuts die if they dry out, so keep them cool and damp until you sow. Sow them in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for two to three months first.

Water weekly through the first two summers in dry spells. Rabbits and voles gnaw young stems, so guard each sapling with wire for its first three years. Prune only to take out dead or blighted stems at the base.

Chinquapins do not set nuts from their own pollen, so plant two or more from different seed. Chestnut blight is the main trouble, and no treatment prevents or cures it. A blighted stem dies back, and the root crown sends up new ones. Leaf spots, anthracnose, cankers and powdery mildew can also show, and weevils take some of the nuts.