Protecting chestnut trees.

P

Prelude8626

Member
All. Just purchased some 7 gallon and 3 gallon chestnut trees. Wondering what’s the best way to protect them when I plant them in September. Should I use the wire fencing like my apples (was hopping for a cheaper options) cause I purchased 33 trees.

Thanks.
 
I like 5 feet high to protect a chestnut tree. I like to cut a tree tube to about 18 inches to protect the bottom bark from rabbits and mice.

I use wire and two posts - rebar and fiberglass that I buy from the wildlife group.

Just remember what you paid for those big seedlings - so don't get them destroyed with trusting deer to leave them alone.

Good luck.

Wayne
 
Get yourself 3 rolls of 150' 4 or 5 ft high welded wire. Your choice. Each roll will make 12 cages if you cut the pieces to 12.5', I forget the exact circumference it will make, but it's a good sized circle.
 
I make chestnut cages much smaller then fruit cages. Fruit trees often have lower branches that need space; I want chestnuts to grow vertically before they branch out. Cages are expensive and time consuming, but I prefer them over tubes. That said, all you need the cage to do is protect a tree from a deer rubbing it...it does not have to be 5 feet in diameter to do that.
 
In many areas, deer will also browse young chestnut tops just like they will apples. I saw a volunteer Chinese Chestnut seedling the other day at my place, and the top of it had been eaten severely. What I've learned about the height of cages is that a 4 foot high cage will protect from rubbing but not from having the tops eaten. For that reason, I always use 5 foot high cages on any small tree but will still use a 4 foot high cage if I'm protecting something tall enough that they can't reach the top. Diameter of the cage is a personal choice, but there obviously comes a point when you can get the diameter too small or too big. As I have experimented with different cage diameters over the years, I now lean toward bigger being better. I makes it easier for me to open the cage up and do maintenance down the road, such as killing blackberry briers that come up at the base of the tree.
 
I cage mine just like a fruit tree. 5 feet tall wire exclusion cage with a wire mesh/cloth added to protect the trunk from smaller critters. Weed barrier fabric on the ground with some gravel to hold that in place. Keep the cage in place with some sort of stake/post.....at least 1, maybe 2. If your gonna spend $30 on a tree...you should be interested in protecting it properly with a $20 hole!

After all that I still had the exclusion cage removed from a nice 6 to 8 footer I had and the deer chewed and rubbed the piss out of it to the point I had a tattered 3 foot stick left! I cut it back and it's recovering now.

Only thing I can figure is a buck got his antler caught in the cage and freaked out....then the tree was fair game!

I swore to kill the SOB responsible....but to my knowledge he never showed back up!

Something I want to offer up, because I just had a recent issue with one of mine, watch excessive ground moisture. I have been working with Chestnut Hill (I was really surprised at the level of interest they had) and a local arborist to see why the tree I had in the ground since 2014 suddenly died this spring. Excessive ground moisture....not root rot, but they do NOT like wet feet. So choose your location wisely, or at least stay away from areas where water may like to stand. I was also warned about planting the tree too deep (which many folks tend to do) as this makes water run toward the tree and can cause issues. Good luck.
 
Native Hunter said:
In many areas, deer will also browse young chestnut tops just like they will apples. I saw a volunteer Chinese Chestnut seedling the other day at my place, and the top of it had been eaten severely. What I've learned about the height of cages is that a 4 foot high cage will protect from rubbing but not from having the tops eaten. For that reason, I always use 5 foot high cages on any small tree but will still use a 4 foot high cage if I'm protecting something tall enough that they can't reach the top. Diameter of the cage is a personal choice, but there obviously comes a point when you can get the diameter too small or too big. As I have experimented with different cage diameters over the years, I now lean toward bigger being better. I makes it easier for me to open the cage up and do maintenance down the road, such as killing blackberry briers that come up at the base of the tree.
Click to expand...
Picked up 5 Dunstan Chestnut at Rural King Friday that was 75% off. Planted Saturday went today to water them the deer browsed every leaf and small branches almost completely off
 
Buckeye

It will be interesting to see if that stress kills them. Removing the leaves may help the roots get ahead of the top growth. When you read J Bird's post and your post, you see why it is important to protect them.

Get them protected now - they have seen too much stress.

Wayne
 
Buckeye said:
Picked up 5 Dunstan Chestnut at Rural King Friday that was 75% off. Planted Saturday went today to water them the deer browsed every leaf and small branches almost completely off
Click to expand...

That doesn't surprise me at all. And if it had been October, I bet they would be rubbed to sawdust by now.
 
wbpdeer said:
Buckeye

It will be interesting to see if that stress kills them. Removing the leaves may help the roots get ahead of the top growth. When you read J Bird's post and your post, you see why it is important to protect them.

Get them protected now - they have seen too much stress.

Wayne
Click to expand...
Yeah I wasn’t planning on buying anymore trees but to good of price not to,it’s been extremely hot by the time I got done planting them I was whipped. I have the post and fence to put around the trees but the deer beat me to them. I guess the alfalfa\clover plot, Ag soybeans and deer feeder wasn’t enough of a food selection for them lol
 
Deer seem to be drawn to anything new and they will investigate....and if it's to their liking....well, it's chow time!

They reduced my tree to a stick in less than a weeks time. They did this and I live on the property and it was fine one saturday and destroyed the next.....it doesn't take long.

Water them trees and hopefully they will pull thru. Mine took a hell of a beating , but produced a couple new shoots and I left them grow and removed all but the best one in the winter. It has bounced back well. I have found that in my summers and soil I have to water them with about 5 gallons of water a week all summer long (sometimes twice) and then maybe even thru the next summer. I put a 5 gallon bucket with a small hole in the bottom edge inside the cage and then fill it by using my 55 gallon 3 point sprayer as a water wagon. Don't wait for signs of drought stress....once it starts getting hot...start watering.
 
Put as big a cage as you can around chestnuts. As big AND tall as possible. Trust me--and stake the hell out of it.
 
I’m planning on keeping them in the pots they came in until September so that I can keep them watered at the house. Dunstan agreed that would be the best option.
 
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