The Precoce Migoule is a chestnut hybrid (CA 48), a natural cross between a European chestnut (
Castanea sativa
''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...
) and a Japanese chestnut (
Castanea crenata
''Castanea crenata'', the Japanese chestnut, also known as the Korean chestnut is a species of chestnut native to Japan and Korea. ''Castanea crenata'' exhibits resistance to ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'', the fungal pathogen that causes ink diseas ...
). It was discovered by J. Dufrenoy at the orchard of Migoule in
Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 7 ...
. The tree is vigorous and erect growing with growth of a metre (3 ft) or more in a season if the conditions are right. It is a large sized chestnut tree with height reaching 20 m (60 ft) or more and 7.5-10 m (25-35 ft) wide. Trees start to bear after 3 to 5 years. Full nut production in 12 - 20 years depending on the location.
This hybrid can be grown in many areas where grapes are grown. It is cold hardy to -28C (-20F
In an orchard with South West orientation it can be grown up to 500 m (1640 ft) elevation. It is an early ripening variety - great for northern climates where late ripening varieties can get damaged by frost - a very dependable producer in cool region
It blooms early and is frost sensitive but can produce nuts from secondary buds. The pollen has low to medium fertility. In the Northern hemisphere, the bloom period for the male
catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...
s is June 15-30, female flowers June 25 - July 10. It can pollinize all Castanea sativa cultivars and can get pollinated by Basalta #3, Belle Epine, Bournette, Ginyose, Marigoule, Marsol, Tsukuba, and Vignol
Precoce Migoule is sensitive to codling, susceptible to bark canker, resistant to
rust (fungus), rust.
Phytophthora
''Phytophthora'' (from Greek language, Greek (''phytón''), "plant" and (), "destruction"; "the plant-destroyer") is a genus of plant-damaging oomycetes (water molds), whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on cro ...
resistance is poor on its own root stock. It is better to graft Precoce Migoule onto ink disease resistant rootstock of
Marsol,
Maraval
Maraval is one of the northern suburbs of Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain, a valley in northern Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is situated at the bottom of the hills of Paramin and located east of the Diego Martin valley to which it is conn ...
or
Marigoule.
Trees drop nuts free of the burr. Nut fall is usually mid to late September and continuing until the first week into October.
Depending on the root graft, the nuts can be large (24-26 per pound, 15-18 gram/nut). Precoce Migoule is a variety of chestnuts with more than 12% double embryos, which is still commercially acceptable because of its large nuts. The color of the nuts is light mahogany. The nuts are as sensitive to kernel rot as Marron du Var and Marsol and exhibit higher sensitivity to kernel rot than
Bouche de Betizac Bouche de Bétizac is a French chestnut cultivar developed in 1962 by INRA at the station of Malemort-sur-Corrèze near Brive. It is a controlled hybrid between Castanea sativa and Castanea crenata (female Bouche rouge × male Castanea crenata CA04 ...
,
Mardonne, Maraval and Marigoule.
The flavor of the roasted nuts is variously described as good, very good to excellent. Nuts peel well and store well. Nut production is mostly for the fresh market.
References
* "Châtaignes et marrons" - Henri BREISCH - éditeur CTIFL - 1995
* Hennion, B.; Chestnut production in France: review, perspectives.; Acta Horticulturae, 2010, No.866, pp.493-49
* Pereira-Lorenzo S. et al. (2012) Chestnut. In: Badenes M., Byrne D. (eds) Fruit Breeding. Handbook of Plant Breeding, vol 8. Springer, Boston, M
* Andrea Vannini and Anna Maria Vettraino; Ink disease in chestnuts: impact on the European chestnut; Forest Snow and Landscape Research 76, 3: 345–350 (2001)
* Sandra L. Anagnostakis, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Statio
CULTIVARS OF CHESTNUT 2013, accessed 2017
Chestnut cultivars
Edible nuts and seeds