One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

[Goldentriangle]

Thanks Wayne, I should have clarified... I did direct seed last fall and let them stratify in the ground. I am very pleased with 6/10. I just hope they work out in the river bottoms.
Thanks
Scott


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[Mitch]

For one year I'd go with a 7 gallon container. You won't get much benefit from the root pouch if you go to a 10 immediately. I'm getting ready to do something similar if Walmart will ever mark their trees down. First time my local Walmart has ever had Chestnut trees for sale and I doubt many people are interested in them at $30 a tree. I'm waiting for them to go 50% off.

Matt


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huh.....I didn't know Wally World would carry chestnut trees. Guess i'll be checking that out

 

[wbpdeer]

huh.....I didn't know Wally World would carry chestnut trees. Guess i'll be checking that out

It is a hit and miss situation. Some stores will have them. I suggest you check four or five in your immediate area - not just one you always go to. Hope you get a real deal.

Wayne

 

[JohnL48]

When is it safe to spray seven on the seedlings ? I've never seen a bug on these but it sure looks like something's eating them

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[wbpdeer]

Thanks Wayne, I should have clarified... I did direct seed last fall and let them stratify in the ground. I am very pleased with 6/10. I just hope they work out in the river bottoms.
Thanks
Scott


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Take the experience you have built this year. Next year give it a second go and you will have more fun and generally it is more success. You already have the containers - I am in my third year. I move 28 chestnuts out of my grow box to the greenhouse today. 11 of those trees are what I call legacy trees - from my wife's grandfather trees that will soon be cut down for property development. I hope I get chestnuts from those trees this fall before they are eliminated.

Regarding the river bottom trees - once they get established they are more resistance to wet feet. If they live to next spring 2018 I think you can count on them as long as rushing water don't mow them down.

Wayne

 

[JohnL48]

I'm getting new growth on some of the seedlings but the majority looks pretty grim. All the leaves are turning brown. Watering every day

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[wbpdeer]

When is it safe to spray seven on the seedlings ? I've never seen a bug on these but it sure looks like something's eating them

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The sooner the better because we want to stop that damage. Get 'er done ASAP.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

I'm getting new growth on some of the seedlings but the majority looks pretty grim. All the leaves are turning brown. Watering every day

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Cut the brown leaves off. That way we get the dead ones gone. Feed them with water and then the next day feed them with the stuff I showed you to use. I will post them again. Two days after feeding them with the fertilizer, water them good again.

Have you ever given them any fertilizer that is slow release. I will show that photo second.



Now for the slow release fertilizer below. Ignore the acid stuff in the photo below.


Get a spray bottle. Put water in it and spray the leaves of those chestnuts each day. You are hydrating the leaves without wetting the roots. To me they look deficient of nutrients and water.

 

[weekender21]

For one year I'd go with a 7 gallon container. You won't get much benefit from the root pouch if you go to a 10 immediately. I'm getting ready to do something similar if Walmart will ever mark their trees down. First time my local Walmart has ever had Chestnut trees for sale and I doubt many people are interested in them at $30 a tree. I'm waiting for them to go 50% off.

Matt


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The 3 gallon trees my dad picked up in SC went from $39 to $11 this week. Might be a good time to remind them the trees are there and need to move!

I spoke to Wayne at RootMaker this morning. He was hesitant to give advice until I could have my dad check each root ball and report back on the condition. Hopefully they won't be circling yet, guess we'll see. I'm kind of leaning towards the RootMaker knit fabric container in 7 gallon and sinking them in the ground until I can get them to their final location this coming winter. I haven't been able to find a good video tutorial on the knit bags yet.

 

[wbpdeer]

Friends

I believe the 11 nutrients in the Osmocote Plus are essentials for healthy chestnut seedlings. I used a bunch of it today when I moved Chinese Chestnuts up to one gallon fabric bags. Don't try to get by without is my motto.

Wayne

 

[JohnL48]

Friends

I believe the 11 nutrients in the Osmocote Plus are essentials for healthy chestnut seedlings. I used a bunch of it today when I moved Chinese Chestnuts up to one gallon fabric bags. Don't try to get by without is my motto.

Wayne

You suggest using this in addition of the Orchard food ?

 

[wbpdeer]

John

I use both the Osmocote Plus and the Orchid Food which is a mild fertilizer for acid loving plants. The Osmocote is slow release fertilizer with the 11 essential nutrients. The Orchid Food is a liquid fertilizer that gives a quick jolt. It does not burn the roots.

If you used triple 10 fertilizer like is sold in a Feed Mill that can burn the roots IMO.

So, yes I use both products. I will try to post a photo of some seedlings I just moved up to root pouches. You can see the scaffold of leaves on those seedlings.

I learned in the first year that I needed to feed the seedlings more and when I did I got better results. One lesson I learned was that yellow leaves Chinese Chestnuts usually were iron deficient. The Osmocote Plus really helped prevent that for me and me treating my city water with acid to get a lower pH on the water I use on the chestnuts in the rootmaker 18s.

Wayne

 

[Mitch]

Hey Doctor Wayne, the wind hit mine pretty hard about a week and a half ago. I'm leaving them in the garage from now on and they only get daylight when it's not windy. A majority of the leaves are turning brown. I used some wild orchid food in granular form a few days ago yet the leaves are browning. Help


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[wbpdeer]

The orchid food is to be dissolved in water per the instructions on the box first and put on the Chinese Chestnuts as a liquid fertilizer. I will feed them with that fertilizer every 14 days if my seedlings are not under stress. Yours are evidently under stress!

Brown edges on the green leaves is one thing - solid brown leaves that are crinkled up and dry is a different matter. I suggest you find a good nursery that sells flowers and plants. Take 3 or 4 of your seedlings to those people and allow them to examine them. People that grow flowers are very skilled at keeping their flowers looking lovely. Just make sure you tell them the chestnuts like an acidic pH.

Wind burn in your area is something to discuss with them. As I stated in another post in this thread, Osmocote Plus is a great product because it is slow release and it has 11 essential nutrients. Also, it is universally available as far as I know.

What size and type of container are your seedlings in right now. If they are in a fabric pouch and the wind and heat hits them, they can dry out extremely fast. I might take a picnic spoon and dig down the edge of the container to identify the moisture level close to the rootball. If they are dry, I would soak them in a 5 gallon bucket for about 2 or 3 dunks. After that dunking, I would put them where they could drain.

Best advice I have given you is to take 3 or 4 to a person that understands plant health and makes their living at it.

Your seedlings are stressed in some manner - they can help you ID the stressor and solve it.

Wayne

 

[Mitch]

I have some Osmocote Plus at home. I'll add that tonight. The leaves aren't all brown so I guess that's good. There is some tiny new growth on some of the plants too. Right now they are in 2 gallon root pouches. I'm going to plant them in their forever home this winter.....if we get that far.

 

[Bottomland]

Scott

This year has been a bust on germination! Why I don't know but we have seen a significant drop compared to the two previous years. Go figure.

Wayne, I had only 4 of 30 chestnuts germinate this. The year before I had about 85%. This year, I attributed the failures to the chesnuts being too dry during cold stratification but at least now I know there might be some odd environmental factors going on. Do you have any ideas of the possible causes?

 

[Bigeight]

I'm getting new growth on some of the seedlings but the majority looks pretty grim. All the leaves are turning brown. Watering every day

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I wouldn't worry about ones like that with survival. They are putting on new, nice looking growth and will do just fine after a bit. I assume the crusty leaves were indoor grown and got zapped by the sun, or wind? The roots are still alive, doing there thing and supporting new top growth. I'd guess it will all be fine in a calendar year and look the same as if none of those leaves turned crispy.
Sorry, late to the party, (didn't read all posts) but I've had some trees do that in the past when I got too aggressive with the acclimation process to real sun, or flirted with a late frost after growing them indoors. It all shook out in the end and they looked fantastic by that same fall

 

[wbpdeer]

Wayne, I had only 4 of 30 chestnuts germinate this. The year before I had about 85%. This year, I attributed the failures to the chesnuts being too dry during cold stratification but at least now I know there might be some odd environmental factors going on. Do you have any ideas of the possible causes?

Bottomland

This year has been very different for germination. I collect mine and ship them everywhere. I had lower germination rates but nothing like 4 out of 30. I do stick chestnuts that show no radicle into growing media after 90 days and I see most of them come on and germinate.

Possible causes - I wish I could put my finger on it but I am sitting here scratching my head. Of the 26 that didn't germinate, I would give them the squeeze test - between the thumb and fingers. If they are super soft, throw them away. If they are white from mold, I would throw them away. The others - I would soak them for 14 to 16 hours, dry them immediately and then put them into a growing pot with moisture and put heat on them. You can't do that outside without protecting them or the critters will smell them and raid them.

My method in the previous paragraph will get 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 to germinate. Some chestnuts are super slow to germinate - it is what it is.

Killers of chestnuts are many - poor pots, wet potting soil, poor stratification are a few of them.

This is my third year with chestnuts and I enjoy them. I get reminder repeatedly - Nature is in Charge!!!!

Wayne

 

[Bottomland]

Bottomland

This year has been very different for germination. I collect mine and ship them everywhere. I had lower germination rates but nothing like 4 out of 30. I do stick chestnuts that show no radicle into growing media after 90 days and I see most of them come on and germinate.

Possible causes - I wish I could put my finger on it but I am sitting here scratching my head. Of the 26 that didn't germinate, I would give them the squeeze test - between the thumb and fingers. If they are super soft, throw them away. If they are white from mold, I would throw them away. The others - I would soak them for 14 to 16 hours, dry them immediately and then put them into a growing pot with moisture and put heat on them. You can't do that outside without protecting them or the critters will smell them and raid them.

My method in the previous paragraph will get 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 to germinate. Some chestnuts are super slow to germinate - it is what it is.

Killers of chestnuts are many - poor pots, wet potting soil, poor stratification are a few of them.

This is my third year with chestnuts and I enjoy them. I get reminder repeatedly - Nature is in Charge!!!!

Wayne

Thanks for the tips. I've tried several of those in the past few months and given up. No worries, 2018 is a new year! I have plenty of changes to make for next years growing routine to improve.

What I meant was, do you know why germination rates have been down across the country? I know you send thousands of chestnuts out every year and it sounds like many including myself are having below average years? Could it be something that affected the nuts while they were still on your trees?

 

[wbpdeer]

I developed the information below in a previous growing cycle. It is helpful to me and I have shared it with many individuals that purchased chestnuts from me. I am posting it here to help some of us who are dealing with issues with chestnuts/seedlings. One point I can add - nature reclaims the weak. If you lose some seedlings thru no fault of your own - that is nature eliminating the weak.

What Kills Our Chestnuts When We Try to Grow Them?

#1 Main Killer is Moisture! We over water them. We think Miracle Grow with Moisture Control has to work - look who is selling it. More chestnuts will rot before they break soil than a first timer would ever guess.

#2 Wrong Type of Growing Medium - We don't need soil & we don't need moisture control. Chestnuts like to get to the point of dry before they like water. Using the right growing medium helps the roots and allows us to learn what watering plan works. Roots need air for oxygen and they need space to grow.

#3 Mold Kills - We put them in airtight container with no chance to breath & we put too much moisture inside the container.

#4 Sunlight & Heat Kills - We collect chestnuts but we put them somewhere and forget about them. When a chestnut is collected - get it cleaned and inspected to see if it is a firm chestnut with no rattling in the hull. Leaving them in a hot vehicle for a week after collecting - just reduces our chances.

#5 Chestnuts Smell Good to Critters. Chipmunks, Squirrels, Rabbits, Deer, Turkeys, field mice, etc. Our chestnuts get killed because we don't protect them. If you plant a chestnut in the wild outdoors - you better protect it for a couple of years. Better to plant 5 trees well than plant 50 trees without protection.

#6 Chestnut get killed / setback by sunlight. Grown inside means we must gently push them into the sunlight. Baby steps required here. I use a pine tree that protect them from mid day and pm sun. My seedlings get early morning sun. Worked well until the squirrels made a raid.

#7 Lack of Moisture During Dog Days of Summer. Depending on your containers and location, in July and August if you go three or four days without watering seedlings that have many leaves, you can lose all of your work. Shade cloths are what nurseries use and they water twice a day.

#8 Chestnut Seedling is in Perfect Health then it gets planted in the wrong location. Sunlight is the power plant that generates the chestnut seed. We have to get pollinated by another chestnut tree that is nearby. Location of tree and proximity to other trees matter. We avoid stream sides due to risk to standing water during certain months.

#9 Negligent will kill. Every two or three days you better check on chestnuts under grow lights. In summer heat, you better water at reasonable intervals for your climate. I like to feel of the chestnut leaves with my eyes closed. What does the touch tell me? If you check ten seedlings - one of them may really need some water while the other nine show no stress.

Folks I am not an expert. I am motivated to accomplish my goal - improve my deer's habitat. It is certain I left something off the list above. I just wrote the hard lessons I have learned. If you like to cut corners - your success rate will go down. Mine did until I wised up.