-
The forum has been upgraded to support both light and dark themes. Click here for directions.
Anyone want cheap Chinese Chestnut trees? 3 ft tall, good roots, 10% off with code 2026 www.folkrockfarm.com
- Thread starter Folk Rock Farm
- Start date
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
Seems pretty spindly to me, but maybe that is just the pic. The caliper and root mass is probably more important than height. Most of my experience growing trees from nuts is with rootmaker trees. My better ones were about 6' and 5/8" in caliper after one growing season. Keep in mind that those trees were started under lights indoors in the winter so they had a long growing season the first year. I finished up with all of my tree planting at the farm a couple years ago and sold most of my growing equipment.
I'm still dabbling with trees around the retirement property. Last year, I grabbed a bunch on nuts from my Dunstan progeny trees at the farm. The retirement property is only 8 acres. A couple years back I tried direct seeding Allegheny Chinquapins in the fall. It was a complete failure. So last year I tried something new with the Chestnuts. I cold stratified them as though I was going to start them under lights indoor, but instead, I just put them in buckets and hung them from a post in the spring until they germinated. I then directly planted the young seedlings. So far that approach seems to be working, but they have not made it through the first winter. Some young deer were small enough to get their heads thorough the remesh cages and nibbled a but they all made it through the growing season. The details with pictures are on this thread: https://deerhunterforum.com/threads/direct-seeding-chestnuts-sort-of.7637/
I'm still dabbling with trees around the retirement property. Last year, I grabbed a bunch on nuts from my Dunstan progeny trees at the farm. The retirement property is only 8 acres. A couple years back I tried direct seeding Allegheny Chinquapins in the fall. It was a complete failure. So last year I tried something new with the Chestnuts. I cold stratified them as though I was going to start them under lights indoor, but instead, I just put them in buckets and hung them from a post in the spring until they germinated. I then directly planted the young seedlings. So far that approach seems to be working, but they have not made it through the first winter. Some young deer were small enough to get their heads thorough the remesh cages and nibbled a but they all made it through the growing season. The details with pictures are on this thread: https://deerhunterforum.com/threads/direct-seeding-chestnuts-sort-of.7637/
Folk Rock Farm
New Member
These were grown in air-prune beds outside in Rhode Island, so definitely a shorter season compared to indoor starts. I grow them pretty tight to get a lot of trees so they usually grow pretty tall and skinny the first year but they are certainly sturdy. I fall plant half, and spring plant half and they both establish well. The second year typically sees them put more energy into lateral growth with branches and some more height. In good soil and sun I usually get them to fruit by year 6 from seed, sometimes year 5 depending on genetics.
