Chestnuts need to be kept cool for about 3-4 weeks around 40 degrees before they are ready to eat or roast. This makes them sweeter. If not they will rot & start turning brown and nasty. We have over 200 Chestnut trees, most only a couple years old, but they are starting to produce and hope within a couple of years will have a marketable crop. We are growing Dunstin Chestnuts, but also have a couple of Chinese ones.