Sweet chestnut · Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
When to plant sweet chestnuts in Srinagar
Main outdoor window
7 Nov - 27 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 April
In Srinagar, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 30 Nov
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Srinagar
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the tree
7 Nov - 27 Mar
Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.
Harvest
1 Oct - 30 Nov
Sweet chestnuts through the year
Against the frost risk in Srinagar
Why these dates
Plant dormant. Flowering is late, in midsummer, so frost is irrelevant to the crop; what the nuts need is a long warm autumn to swell before they fall.
Sweet chestnuts are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Srinagar is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Srinagar is zone 7a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 7, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Growing sweet chestnuts in Srinagar
When should I plant sweet chestnuts in Srinagar?
Aim for 7 Nov - 27 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Oct - 8 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sweet chestnuts be ready to harvest in Srinagar?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 30 Nov, based on 160 to 190 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.