Correct procedure for planting butternut?

[ultimate buzz]

I need a little help/advice/opnions here.Last fall I collected nuts from chinese chesnut, American chesnut, butternut and black walnut trees. I let the husks dry and fall off. I then put the nuts in a bucket of water and tossed out the ones that floated. From there I let them drain,put them in a plastic bag, and put them in my freezer.This was in November. In late April, I took them out of the freezer and put them outside,potted separately,under about an inch of topsoil.As of the middle of June, nothing is happening. As an extra precaution, I put the potted nuts inside of a screened cage. The reason for this, was the year before, squirrels literally dug up chestnut seedlings that were about six inches tall to get to the nuts. Any ideas what I did wrong, and is there any way to dig up the potted nuts and try to get them to sprout or are they a lost cause?

 

[brnchbrkr]

I would hang loose.

This year has been kind of cooooool so far.

The heat should be coming one of these days.

Keep them moist.

Maybe dig one up and take a peek.

 

[ultimate buzz]

Mistake to store in freezer?

Okay, Its been three weeks and after digging up all of the nuts, all I see are the early signs of decomposition.They were water tested last fall,and floaters were discarded.The only thing that I can come up with was that I put them in a plastic bag in the freezer for stratification. Was this a mistake and should I have put them in a rodent proof container of soil out in the garage over winter? I'm just trying to figure out what I did wrong.Any ideas?

 

[S Mc]

UB, I don't have personal experience here, but the plastic bag may indeed have been the problem. It would make sense to put in soil and provide rodent protection to let the nuts be scarified naturally by weather conditions.

Sylvia