The full lineup
Chestnut seed families
This is the deep-dive page. If you would rather answer one question and get a short list, use the shop by goal tool instead.
How to read this page. Families are grouped by genetic background, and that grouping tells you most of what you need to know. Chinese families are the safe, blight-resistant, cold-hardy backbone of any Iowa planting. Chinese hybrids add growth speed and nut size with slightly less disease resistance. Japanese and European hybrids give you the biggest, best-looking nuts but need your best ground and carry the most winter and blight risk. Experimental means exactly that.
Our standing recommendation for Iowa: make Chinese families at least half your planting. Treat European and Japanese hybrids as the high-reward portion, not the foundation.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Qing Family
If you only plant one family, plant this one. Qing is the all-around standard: sweet, easy-peeling nuts, dependable production, and genetics that have already proven themselves through Iowa winters.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Peach Family
Selected for flavor. If you plan to actually eat, roast or sell your crop, this is a family worth putting in the ground.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Gideon Family
A production-first family. Chosen because the parent tree simply makes a lot of nuts, year after year.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Scott Family
A tough, dependable Chinese family. Not flashy. Very hard to kill.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Resilient Family
Bred and selected around one question: which trees are still healthy in year twenty?
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Auburn Super Family
Chinese chestnut genetics pushed toward size. Big nuts without giving up blight resistance.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
QingSu Family
Qing quality with an extra push on nut size. One of the best all-around picks in the lineup.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Mossbarger Family
An old, well-documented selection with a reputation for exceptional flavor and heavy annual crops.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
BadgerQing Family
Northern cold hardiness plus Qing eating quality. Built for the coldest, most exposed ground in Iowa.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Large Badger Family
Cold-hardy northern genetics, selected up for nut size.
Chinese / Iowa-proven
Giant Badger Family
The biggest nut we offer that is still fully cold-hardy northern genetics.
Chinese hybrid
Chinese hybrid
Skioka Family
Hybrid vigor. Fast, upright growth and big, sweet nuts.
Chinese hybrid
Layeroka Family
Early ripening and heavy bearing. The family to plant if you hunt the early season.
Japanese / European hybrid
Japanese / European hybrid
Precoce Migoule Family
The name means early. Precocious bearing and large, sweet European-quality nuts.
Japanese / European hybrid
Whitten North Family
Hybrid nut size with selection pressure toward northern survival.
Japanese / European hybrid
Whitten South Family
The size-focused half of the Whitten line. Best on warm, sheltered southern Iowa ground.
Japanese / European hybrid
Silverleaf / Eurobella Family
European nut size and market appearance. The one you put on the table at Thanksgiving.
Japanese / European hybrid
Marsol Family
The wet-ground hybrid. Bred in France for resistance to ink disease, which is a root rot problem on heavy soils.
Japanese / European hybrid
Tanzawa Family
Very large nuts, very early ripening, and it bears young. A specialty family with real advantages.
Japanese / European hybrid
T0613 Family
A numbered French research selection, bred for root disease resistance and vigor.
Japanese / European hybrid
Primato Family
A European market-type chestnut: large, uniform, good-looking nuts.
Japanese / European hybrid
Marigoule Family
The classic French chestnut. Large, glossy, dark nuts with excellent flavor.
Japanese / European hybrid
Maraval Family
Large French-type nuts with better root disease tolerance than most European selections.
Experimental / heritage
On the watchlist
Colossal Family - not currently offered. Not currently offered. We will list it only if quality seed becomes available, and only with full disclosure of its limits.
Prolific is not on our list and will not be. We chose not to plant or sell that line due to disease concerns. There are too many proven families available to gamble on one with a question mark.
Still deciding?
Send us your county, your soil, and what you want the planting to do. We'll build a mix.