Planting Chestnut trees.. anyone?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: standswittaknife
10-May-19
Can you tell me about your experience? Thx ,Danny
From: BOHUNTER09
10-May-19
Hedge hunter is correct. I have both Chinese and dunstans 6 years old. All stated producing in years 4 and increased in year 5. They don’t do well with wet feet.
From: craig@work
11-May-19
How would they do on dry soil?
From: Scrappy
11-May-19
I don't think dunstan chestnuts like the cold. All four I have in the backyard have not leafed out yet.
From: BullBuster
11-May-19
I’m in year 3. Growing nicely. Got from Washington Chestnut Co. More cold tolerant species.
From: BOHUNTER09
11-May-19
My dunstans are in southern Illinois. We get below zero here each winter. They leaf out about the same time as white oak
From: Wishedhead
11-May-19
In east central Wisconsin. Planted 20. Have 15 left. The 5 that died were in a lower area. Found out after they don’t like wet feet. At all!!!! Bought mine from Walmart which are the real tree brand. I would spend the money on the 7 gallon pot trees, they’ve done much better. I am happy with them so far. Got about 5 gallons of nuts off of 5 trees last year. They others are coming along. U have to fence them or the deer will destroy them. Treat them like a fruit tree.
If u buy them at Walmart save the receipt, they will replace or refund them up to 1 year later. Just yank, them out of the ground and take them into the store and they’ll refund u
From: Catscratch
11-May-19
Got a bunch planted... they are growing slow for me. I hope to see nuts someday.
From: t-roy
11-May-19
Wishedhead X2. My smaller trees aren’t growing very quickly, whereas the trees that I bought in the bigger pots did very well. Definitely cage them and wrap the trunks with window screening as well to keep the rabbits and voles at bay. I’d recommend doing that THE DAY you plant the tree! Don’t plant it, then say” I’ll protect them later. It won’t get done. Been there...done that:-( Even if you put them in tubes, I’d still recommend wrapping the trunks.
From: Sean D.
11-May-19
I just bought 9 dunstan chesnuts to plant here in Ohio, hopefully they all live.
From: Old School
11-May-19
I’ve got 60 Dunstans that I stratisfied this winter and have them in very small pots now. Hope I end up with 30 mature trees some day.
-Mitch
From: standswittaknife
12-May-19
Trying to get some to plant in Oklahoma.. i can’t seem to find any. But I’ll jeep trying. Thank you for all the great responses.
From: Single bevel
12-May-19
I've planted both Chinese Chestnuts and Dunstan chestnuts here in SW PA (zone 6). I do have them in some areas that are seasonally wet. The spots are soggy all winter and until mid spring during most years. Most are doing okay. My better trees are in spots that are a little less wet, but my entire property is considered anything but dry. I've had 5' Dunstan that I got from Walmart and Rural King make nuts in 3 years. I've also direct seeded some chestnuts with limited success. But I confess that those trees have not been treated with kid gloves. They've been set back by deer damage and weed competition. They would probably take off if I treated them a little better.
From: weekender21
12-May-19
I planted 11 two-year-old Dunstan's in 2017. They're looking pretty good so far. I'm in western NC, zone 6b. I wouldn't be surprised to see a catkin this year.
From: weekender21
13-May-19
No, they are 4 years old. I planted eleven two-year-old trees.
From: Sean D.
13-May-19
Weekender, whats the bucket inside the cage for?
From: t-roy
13-May-19
Sean...most likely it’s to water the tree. You can drill a small hole in the bottom of the bucket, and it slowly trickles out. Kind of a poor man’s drip irrigation. Works really well. The only problem I ever had doing this is, sometimes the small hole will scum over and plug up.
From: weekender21
14-May-19
"Weekender, whats the bucket inside the cage for?"
I live 4600 miles (not a typo) from my property. The 5 gallon Lowes buckets have 4 small holes drilled towards the bottom. This allows the trees to take advantage of water from pop-up thunderstorms that are common in the Appalachians all summer. Typically rain from a 2" downpour would mostly run off down the hill. The buckets distribute the water at a slow rate. The buckets also make watering easier even if you live close by. Not my idea, got it from threads on Habitat Talk and the deer hunter forum.
From: ACB
14-May-19
Some are 5 years old some are 3 Dunstan.
From: Ernie santana
29-May-19
I’ve planted a bunch. Lost quite a few but if you’re persistent and replant I think it’s a great species to have for both deer and personal consumption.
From: BOHUNTER09
01-Jun-19
Mine all have lots of blooms now. Hopefully my best crop yet.
From: t-roy
01-Jun-19
Looking good, Carl!
From: keepemsharp
01-Jun-19
Have some Dunstan planted two different years 5 and 6 years old now and I water them all summer. Very little growth and no nuts, guess KS flinthills land just doesn't work.
