Almost to the point of giving up…

[mattpatt]

Never thought I’d say this but after 15+ years of trying to get various varieties of Chinese Chestnuts, hybrids, Americans and everything in between to grow here in NE TX I’m about ready to throw in the towel.

I can amend the soil, no problem. I grow them in special pots for 2-3 years, no problem. I can add special fertilizer, no problem. I can protect them from varmints, no problem.

But the one thing I can’t control or deal with is our relentless heat and lack of moisture during the summer. I can water but it’s physically not possible to keep up. Even my big 13 yo trees in the orchard suffered this year due to the heat. I missed one day of watering my seedlings during August and half the Chestnuts turned brown and died. All the oaks I’m growing are still alive. All are in the same 16” deepots.

As harvest time for Chestnut rolls around I’m also finding that most are dried up and no good so that’s another kick in the crotch.

Going forward I may be shifting my efforts more towards oak varieties that I know do well here. DCO, Chinkapin, Concordia and the venerable Sawtooth to name a few.

Sorry guys just had to vent.

Matt


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[RGrizzzz]

I was surprised it was worth the effort for you over the years, knowing TX is outside of the native chestnut range. It's a labor of love for sure, but at some point we all change how we value our time. I'm a believer of work smarter, not harder.

 

[George]

bummer.
G

 

[Native Hunter]

Matt, I’m sorry to hear this because you were really into the chestnuts. I understand, because I’m going to give up on growing Red Osier Dogwood. They just don’t thrive here like they do other places.

But, good luck with your oaks.

 

[mattpatt]

Matt, I’m sorry to hear this because you were really into the chestnuts. I understand, because I’m going to give up on growing Red Osier Dogwood. They just don’t thrive here like they do other places.

But, good luck with your oaks.

I’ll still have my home orchard and will try to keep that going as best I can and will try to supply nuts to folks but unfortunately they just don’t do well here. They aren’t native here and there’s a good reason why I suppose. I do have some good chestnut trees here at the house if I can manage to keep them alive that I’m pretty excited about. I grafted two Black Satin two years ago that doing real well so far and should start bearing in 3-4 years. Also have a sleeping giant that should hopefully start bearing next year along with all my late dropping Dunstans. But as far as seedlings are concerned will probably just focus on oaks from now on unless someone talks me into something. lol

Matt


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[mattpatt]

I was surprised it was worth the effort for you over the years, knowing TX is outside of the native chestnut range. It's a labor of love for sure, but at some point we all change how we value our time. I'm a believer of work smarter, not harder.

Well had to try but you’re right. Gotta know when to say uncle and call it. Just took me 15 years to get to that point. lol


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[KSQ2]

Never thought I’d say this but after 15+ years of trying to get various varieties of Chinese Chestnuts, hybrids, Americans and everything in between to grow here in NE TX I’m about ready to throw in the towel.

I can amend the soil, no problem. I grow them in special pots for 2-3 years, no problem. I can add special fertilizer, no problem. I can protect them from varmints, no problem.

But the one thing I can’t control or deal with is our relentless heat and lack of moisture during the summer. I can water but it’s physically not possible to keep up. Even my big 13 yo trees in the orchard suffered this year due to the heat. I missed one day of watering my seedlings during August and half the Chestnuts turned brown and died. All the oaks I’m growing are still alive. All are in the same 16” deepots.

As harvest time for Chestnut rolls around I’m also finding that most are dried up and no good so that’s another kick in the crotch.

Going forward I may be shifting my efforts more towards oak varieties that I know do well here. DCO, Chinkapin, Concordia and the venerable Sawtooth to name a few.

Sorry guys just had to vent.

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No problem, I vent all the time about this blasted drought! I sincerely hope you have better fortune with the oaks. They are tough for sure.

 

[yoderjac]

Never thought I’d say this but after 15+ years of trying to get various varieties of Chinese Chestnuts, hybrids, Americans and everything in between to grow here in NE TX I’m about ready to throw in the towel.

I can amend the soil, no problem. I grow them in special pots for 2-3 years, no problem. I can add special fertilizer, no problem. I can protect them from varmints, no problem.

But the one thing I can’t control or deal with is our relentless heat and lack of moisture during the summer. I can water but it’s physically not possible to keep up. Even my big 13 yo trees in the orchard suffered this year due to the heat. I missed one day of watering my seedlings during August and half the Chestnuts turned brown and died. All the oaks I’m growing are still alive. All are in the same 16” deepots.

As harvest time for Chestnut rolls around I’m also finding that most are dried up and no good so that’s another kick in the crotch.

Going forward I may be shifting my efforts more towards oak varieties that I know do well here. DCO, Chinkapin, Concordia and the venerable Sawtooth to name a few.

Sorry guys just had to vent.

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Matt,

I'm really sorry to hear that. You really put in the effort and became quite knowledgeable when it comes to growing chestnuts.

Having said that, it is the same lesson I've learned over the years. We can bend mother nature a bit to favor deer or whatever species we are managing for, but the more we bend it, the less return and higher the cost. Eventually, success become unpractical. The zone pushing you've been doing with chestnuts is an example.

I learned that lesson before I started with trees. My approach was to minimize maintenance because I need some volume in permaculture to produce sufficient deer food. I knew from the start I could not maintain that large volume of trees with any kind of special care once planted in the field. I simply did not have the time, and the purpose of permaculture for me was to leave a legacy for the deer and other wildlife. I know there will come a time when I can't plant food plots, but my permaculture will produce deer food long after I'm gone.

To that end, I started with trees native to my area. I released native persimmons and then began bark grafting male trees to female. That was a great success. I'm in the original range of the American chestnut which is why I figured Dunstan or Chinese chestnuts would do well here. Probably the biggest risk I took was planting Jujube trees. I wasn't sure if I was far enough south, but although it took quite a while for them to produce fruit, they have become very reliable produces with heavy crops every year and deer and turkey love my Tigertooth. While we have apple orchards all over our area and apples are well adapted to our climate, they were last on my list because many varieties need maintenance to produce. I selected the most disease resistant varieties I could fine. I also did it on the cheap, buying scions and grafting them to the same rootstock our local orchards use. Apples still have not paid off for me. So trees are producing some fruit, but not enough volume to matter.

I wish chestnuts had worked out for you. I don't know if you grew all your chestnuts in root pruning containers. While they work great for me, I would be skeptical in an arid climate. I would think you might be better off direct seeding. It would likely require watering and special care and the planting location which is much harder than in containers, but a deep tap root is probably important when surface water is scarce for long periods.

Best of luck going forward!

 

[letemgrow]

You in the native range of this type chestnut?

 

[RGrizzzz]

FYI.

 

[KSQ2]

FYI.

View attachment 28646

Just getting ready to order some small Chinese chestnut and persimmon seedlings.

 

[yoderjac]

FYI.

View attachment 28646

I purchased AU buck III and IV from them a number of years ago. They were nut grafted and started in rootmaker bags and had a good root system when I got them I transplanted them to 3 gal RB2 containers and babied them on my deck for one growing season. They grew well. I planted them in the field the next year. The sort of stagnated and then died. None of my other chestnut family trees have done this, but I grew them all from nuts.

I have heard that there can be issues with lifespan of nut grafted trees. Not sure if I was just unlucky or what.

Having said that, the Wildlife Group was great to work with and I've purchased other trees from them that worked out well. I believe it was Alan that I worked with when I was buying trees from them. He shared plenty of details with me about how they are growing their trees and was quite helpful and answered all my questions.

Thanks,

Jack