How to Grow a Buckeye Tree From a Nut
The Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) and the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) nuts are the trees' inedible seeds. Both plants are native to North America and related. The red buckeye only grows to about 15 feet and attracts hummingbirds with its red flowers. The Ohio buckeye blooms in yellow and its trunk reaches 50 feet in height. Collect their nuts in early fall and plant them while they're still fresh. But don't expect sprouts until spring. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Remove the buckeye nuts from their husks, which split open as they fall to the ground.
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Soak the seeds in a bowl of water for three hours.
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Break up the soil with a pickax if necessary where you want to raise your buckeye tree. The developing seedlings need some shade, but the established trees can take the sun. Make a temporary cardboard shield in spring if all your space is in the sun. Rake the surface to keep it loose but smooth.
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Dig a furrow twice as deep as the diameter of the buckeye nuts. Sow the seeds 6 inches apart, planting more seeds than you intend to grow to make up for the ones that don't germinate. Discard the seedlings you don't want in spring.
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Cover the furrow with topsoil. Install a screen mesh over the seedbed to prevent wildlife from digging the nuts. Bury the edges of the screen in the soil and weigh them down with bricks or rocks.
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Cover the seeded area with a 2-inch layer of straw mulch to prevent soil erosion. Rake the mulch off the bed and remove the screen mesh after the ground thaws in the spring.
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Water the ground to the depth of the seeds at planting. Check the soil moisture every week and irrigate the bed whenever the surface begins to dry. Perform this step until the ground freezes. In spring, start giving the seedlings 1 inch of water a week.
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References
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