Question
I was told after placing walnuts in the fridge for 90 days, I should drop them in boiling water or take a file to the shell to try and split it to help with the germination. I was also wandering, I have chestnuts in the fridge also and how do I germinate those.Thks

Answer
Walnut seeds require stratification (cold treatment) before they will germinate. Small quantities of nuts can be stratified in a plastic bag in a refrigerator at 34 to 41?Fahrenheit for 90 to 120 days. Do not put in boiling water this will kill the plant. After this time you can plant the where you want them to grow. The walnut dose not transplant well. A general rule of thumb for most seeds is to never plant deeper than the width of the seed itself. So basically what you want to do is make a hole big enough so you are just covering them. The germination is not too great so plant more than you need. You will more than likely not get more then 50% germination.

Chestnuts
Nuts collected in the fall must undergo several months of cold storage before they can be planted in the spring. Chestnut seed has strict requirements for storage-it must not dry out at all or become soggy; it must not freeze or be stored very long above 40?F. It is common for nuts to start sprouting in storage (usually between late February and late March). If the roots get much longer than 1 inch, they are hard to plant. Refrigeration between 32?and 34璅. may slow the sprouting somewhat.
Plant the seed with the root shoot down or on a flat side if there is no root yet. If only a few seeds are being planted, you may want to start them in large pots, temporarily, until transplanted. Plant the seed about one inch deep, and when the seedling is about 8" tall (roughly 4 months), it can be planted in a permanent site. If using a pot, make sure it is big enough so that (lie roots do not become root-bound. Twist off the old nutshell before planting outside.