Chinese / Iowa-proven · Seed-family seedling

Gideon Family

A production-first family. Chosen because the parent tree simply makes a lot of nuts, year after year.

Species	Castanea mollissima
Seed parent origin	Midwest-selected Chinese chestnut, used as a productive orchard parent.
Nut size	Medium to large
Ripening window	Mid season
Cold hardiness	Zone 5 proven in Iowa
Blight resistance	Strong Chinese blight resistance
Best for	Wildlife orchards where pounds per acre is the goal.

About this seed family

Gideon is valued for consistent, heavy annual bearing rather than for one headline trait.

For a food plot or wildlife orchard, total pounds on the ground beats individual nut size, which is exactly what this family is built for.

Standard Chinese chestnut care: full sun, well-drained ground, slightly acidic soil, and no standing water.

What you are actually buying

This is a seedling grown from a nut produced by a named Gideon Family parent tree. It is not a grafted clone and we will never sell it as one. It inherits roughly half its genetics from that known mother tree and half from whatever pollinated her, which means you get a real head start on quality plus the seedling advantages of a natural taproot, lower cost and genetic diversity across your planting.

Every tree is started in our insulated shed under grow lights and grown in a 4 inch by 12 inch deep tree pot, so you receive a well-rooted young tree with a developing taproot rather than a root-bound plug.