Chestnut care in winter months

[mattpatt]

Wanted rouge start a thread on things that need to be done to care for Chestnuts during their dormant period. Mine haven’t really completely went dormant yet here in Texas so I haven’t done much yet. Things I can think of are...

Replace weed mats as necessary

Add mulch as necessary

Prune? I find a lot of mine try to send up sprouts from the base of the tree.

Fertilize????



Matt


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[Brushpile]

I don't do anything. I leave the weed mat and cage in place.

 

[Native Hunter]

Once a chestnut gets established well it will do fine if the weed mat finally rots. But don't ever think you can remove the cage. This year I had a chestnut in my yard that was 18 feet tall and as big around as my forearm at ground line to get hit by a buck. The rubbing is so deep and covers so much area I'm considering cutting the tree off at the ground and hoping to get a new sprout, which I will cage like I should have in the beginning. I already have most of the trees in my yard caged, and next spring I will finish doing the rest.

PS - This happened because I cleaned out around the tree in late summer. Its near a fence row and I had always just let the weeds grow up around it. If you open the spot up, the tree will get hit here.

 

[Brushpile]

I was sold a tree that was said to be a Chinkapin Oak/Dwarf Chinkapin Oak Hybrid, that turned out to be a Chinese Chestnut. The tree was the first Chestnut tree I ever planted, because it was a mistake. Five years after it was planted I removed the tube, and it was promptly rubbed.

Chinese Chestnuts often have multiple trunks, and that's okay. I just let the tree do it's thing.

 

[TreeFan]

Every October, I use a tree tube split length wise. Wrap it around the trunk to prevent rubbing and then remove it in the spring.

 

[j-bird]

Yep - keep them caged. I had a deer pull a cage off one of mine.....reduced a 6 foot tree to a two foot stick! I don't do anything to mine for winter. I don;t use mulch - I use gravel and I may pull the weeds from that when I feel like it but other wise I do nothing. I cage mine like I do my fruit trees. Cage from rubbing and a cage chew rodents chewing on the trunk.

 

[H20fwler]

I keep mine caged and screened too, I mulch in spring so the mice/voles don't try and winter right over the roots.

I haven't ever fertilized around my chestnuts...is that needed with chestnuts?