Chinese chestnuts are known as being prolific producers for hundreds of years.
Are we being too ambitious planning one hundred years into the future? Maybe so.
We understand there is considerable risk raising chinese chestnuts in northern Idaho. Experts are concerned that north Idaho does not have enough solar thermal heat units, also known as growing degree days for reliable, sustainable commercial chestnut orchards.
Considerable research has been performed by our mulit-lingual team. Educational resources in Engligh, Chinese and Japanese were reviewed with an aim to learn from the experts before we made too many mistakes on our own.
Rest assured, we'll still make mistakes. We will be planting and pruning chinese chestnut orchards very similarly to the Chinese and Japanese commercial chestnut growers. Within five years, we shall know whether our Porthill, Idaho orchard has enough growing-degree days to warrant expanding our orchards.
Until then, we can envision hundreds of acres of chinese chestnuts pulling carbon from the atmosphere. We'll keep you posted regarding this commercial chinese chestnut operation.