Trees looking good!
Whitetail Deer
As with most summers, my trees are really taking off.......most of my chestnuts are 36" or more......hoping for 48" by fall!
This heat really gets them going, just have to be diligent with watering!
I grow about 200-300 a year......its a great way to beat cabin fever come about February.
Anyone else growing some trees for habitat improvements?
The one's I got from you this Spring aren't quite that tall but they are doing good & every one of them is still alive!
I got one that's 25' , the rest are smaller. deer are munching the ones around food plot , I have to place wire around them soon. And you will get them bigger faster in the ground, why the pots ?
Ill have to apologize Troy......I "tweeked" my method this year and they seem to like it!
No gripes here!
It's been horribly dry here till recently & have had to water them a bunch, but every one of them grew just fine, unlike the junk trees I got from Summerstone Nursery.
That's incredible growth right there CAS. The sawtooths that I germinated in February are now about 24" and they've been in the ground since May. I'll be doing chestnuts this coming winter.
Thanks guys.....all these trees are about 4 months old, so I am pleased with their performance thus far.
r-man......the reason for pots is to keep the tap root in "check" and ideally create a fibrous root system which aids in future growth rate. They WANT to push a deep tap root, which can be a real problem if you want to move them in the future as cutting the tap root can kill them or at least set them back pretty bad. I do agree that the pot limits growth, but he containers are easy to handle during the summer and during planting time as opposed to digging trees to move.
& this pertains to bow hunting how? Geeez
pop-r.....read some books, articles, or other things......then you should be able to put the pieces together on how its related ;-)
Cas , I hear u , Its hard to keep a potted plant alive here in SC , I only have success in the shade. I also keep mine in large 30gal pots with 12-20 per pot. Its only potted because there spot in the woods is not ready. I have to graft some persimmon female top to ten male one this winter , I planted them in there permanent places. Any one planting or using there smaller cousin the hasel,filbert nut ? I want use them for a hedge between plots and as a screen
How often are you watering your trees? I planted 10 apple trees last spring and they haven't really grown much in little over a year that they have been in the ground. I admit though I have not been watering them much at all, just hoping mother nature keeps them watered.
I collect nuts from oaks, hickoris, walnuts, and store them in a freezer until spring and then broadcast them in selected areas. I also collect and start soft mast trees such as persimmon, Apple and cherry. I like this as a better more natural alternative to food plots that advertise your hunting area. Granted it's a slower process but I beleive much more rewarding
R-man......I plated 25 hazelnuts a few years back. They are growing but not big enough to make a hedge yet. I got mine from WV dept of nat resource. ......Missouri sells them too at better prices.
Njbuck.......I dont water my trees once in there final spot, but we usuially have enough rain. If we were in a drought.....I may consider watering more.
There is saying with trees and their growth......sleep, creep, leap. First year they basically sit there. Second year they put on some growth. Third and beyong they will start to take off.
Not always the case as ALOT can go wrong, but its usually not noo far off.
sugar and miracle-grow, you wont believe what sugar will due.
What kind of Chestnuts are they Cas?
I have chinese and dunstan, but most are dunstan this year. Think I grew about 60 or 75 total.
Dustans!! Do you ship? : )
I'd even take some nuts to start on my own.
I shipped 25 from ohio to iowa for t-roy this spring........they all lived, so he must've done a good job planting them! Haha
Considering how well they did, Id ship again.
They are all still doing good & starting to gain on the ones in your pics CAS!! They have really taken off in the past month!
This WAS one I planted 3 years ago & was about 4' tall when I planted it. It exploded that summer. I didn't protect the trunk from the stinkin voles & they killed it that winter:>(
Fantastic job CAS! It doesn't take just work to do what your doing, but the right work and a lot of it. We have some Dunstans purchased from WalMart on our ground, we usually plant a couple each spring. We started the spring of 2013. I have a question regarding them that I'm hoping you may be able to answer. The two that we planted 2013 have looked great and have grown well since we planet them. Last year one of the trees started for nuts last year, but they didn't turn into anything I'm guessing because the tree next to it didn't get blossoms to cross pollinate. So we were excited thinking that this year we would maybe get some actual nuts. But this year neither tree blossomed, not even the one that did last year. I'm a little nervous about that, should I be? The other question is do they rebound well from being stressed a little bit? We had a very dry summer here and we haven't been able to get to the ground much to do any watering. You can definitely tell that a couple of the trees have suffered, browning a good bit in the leaves. Will they come back next spring that is new?
I do grow my own oaks and walnuts from seed I collect. I did a few pecans this year.
I love collecting different varieties of oak... glad to see I'm not the only "nut" out there: )
Haven't had any luck finding a source with Dustan nuts in stock... been looking for 2 or 3 years.
It's amazing how my survival rates have sky-rocketed since growing them on my own.
I do a lot of direct nut planting as well (mainly walnut and pecan), but that's more to stretch my legs... don't think the survival rates are very high at all with that method, but I'll keep doing it.
stick n string.....They can handle some stress, but older more established tress can take more than young ones. More than likely they will bounce back unless it stays dry for a long time. Also, yearly dry spells can cause some issues too, so if next year you are real dry they may begin the slow decline to death.
They do need other chestnuts to pollinate, so it sounds like that would be the reason for no good nuts last year.
This year and no nuts it a little odd. Couple be just the drought and they aborted all potential nuts to save energy to stay alive.....this is not uncommon when stressed. One other thing to look for is signs of boring insects on the trunks......mainly little holes or what look like little straws sticking out of the trunk.....those are a big problem!
Glad to see I'm not the only one giving back. I gather nuts where ever I go and start them in pots. Right now I have persimmon, Nutall oak, swamp chestnut oaks, sawtooth and some water oaks growing. Would love to get my hands on some chestnuts.
