Castanea grows best in a soil with good drainage and adequate moisture.
The tree prefers sloping, deep soils; it does not like shallow or heavy soils with impermeable, clay subsoils.
The Chinese chestnut prefers a fertile, well-drained soil, but it grows well in fairly dry, rocky, or poor soils.
Recently cleared land is best avoided to help resist the root rot, Armillaria mellia.