Chestnut experts, need help

[massey]

So, 2 years in a row I’ve had weird anomaly with my chestnut trees Last year was the heaviest production I’ve ever seen in a grove of 15 -20 year old dunstans. At the end of the season there were thousands of perfectly formed nuts laying on the ground, uneaten. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Like walking on marbles. No bear poop for the first time in 12-13 years. This year, very very sparse production. I’ve looked at the cams, temps and so forth and last freeze was around late April in Virginia. These trees usually blossom around mid May, so I don’t think it’s weather. Also, as I was walking through there today, notice that 2 of 25 trees completely aborted the burrs. All green, unopened and untouched by critters. Any idea of what’s going on? I’ve googled and came up with nothing. Thanks!


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[Native Hunter]

When wildlife is not touching a certain food, it generally means that there is something else available which is more preferred.

My chestnut drop coincides with my White Oak drop. When deer have good White Oak acorns, they are not interested in anything else. I suspect that is what happened to you last year. It is happening here this year. We have had the biggest white oak crop I can remember in my life, and chestnuts were ignored for a long time. The white oak acorns are almost gone now, and deer are turning to other foods, including chestnuts. On the flip side, I have noted many years when the white oak crop was a failure - in those years, chestnuts are gobbled up as quickly as they hit the ground.

Since you had such a good chestnut crop last year, I would bet that is one reason your trees are producing less this year. It is common for an above average crop to be followed by a below average year. I also think that rain, wind and other weather factors at the time of pollination can have an impact. It doesn’t have to be just a freeze that causes poor pollination and/or crop failure,

Oaks are more prone to up and down years than chestnuts, but it does happen with chestnuts too. My chestnut crop last year was great but not that great this year. I constantly see up and down years in chestnuts as well as other nuts and fruits.

As for bears, we don’t have them, so I can't speak from experience - but I do know that they can be very mobile and follow the food. Maybe they are just on to something they like better.

Good luck Massey.

 

[yoderjac]

There is only one thing I would add. Food choices by deer are driven by more than the food itself, and there is some learned behavior and habituation. So, while chestnuts are reported to be favored over white oak acorns, think about these other factors. Oaks are not generally grown for nut production. So, they end up in a general wooded environment. The canopy is generally closed, but there are always some mid-story and understory trees. While not great cover for deer like a young clear-cut, it is generally much better cover than an orchard. Orchards are generally planted with good crown separation and are manicured to reduce competition around trees.

I don't know your general environment, but consider this. If white oak acorns were also abundant, perhaps deer felt safer feeding in those areas, and were used to feeding in them an on them. While chestnuts were abundant in their home range many years ago and the primary nut source for deer, they are a relatively new food source to deer.

Guys often experience this effect when growing brassica for the first few years in an area. We had brassica untouched for about 4 years. We then had a mast crop failure that was so bad, our food plots were the only game in town. Everything we planted was mowed down by deer that year. Ever since then, deer have learned that the brassica is a good food source and eat it readily.

It may take a year where your orchard chestnuts have good production and oaks in the area do not. This could create a condition where deer are willing to sacrifice security for food and use your orchard. Once they begin to use the nuts in a year like that, I would expect more regular use if only at night.

 

[massey]

This particular orchard is canopied out and covered in crownsbeard. Trees are 35-40 feet. I’ll bushhogg a strip through so I can actually see the deer but it’s thick. For 14 years they’ve been hammering the chestnuts until last year. White oaks were ok last year and non existent this year. I think all critters prefer the sawtooth over just about anything. Deer and bear, but the last two years have been strange. Also weird that a couple of interior trees lost all their burrs without ripening.



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[yoderjac]

This particular orchard is canopied out and covered in crownsbeard. Trees are 35-40 feet. I’ll bushhogg a strip through so I can actually see the deer but it’s thick. For 14 years they’ve been hammering the chestnuts until last year. White oaks were ok last year and non existent this year. I think all critters prefer the sawtooth over just about anything. Deer and bear, but the last two years have been strange. Also weird that a couple of interior trees lost all their burrs without ripening.
View attachment 26541


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Interesting.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Are you sure the burrs we "unripe"? I'd guess maybe they were not pollinated for some reason. Do you have any pics of the "unripe" burrs and nuts?

 

[massey]

No pics. I’d say 3/4 of 30 trees were barren. 3 trees on the south side had decent but not great production. A few had maybe a quarter of what they normally do and two were loaded with the dropped green burrs. All the ones that opened were brown, as they usually are. I smashed green one and it had regularly formed nuts but were soft.


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[gurgalunas]

So, 2 years in a row I’ve had weird anomaly with my chestnut trees Last year was the heaviest production I’ve ever seen in a grove of 15 -20 year old dunstans. At the end of the season there were thousands of perfectly formed nuts laying on the ground, uneaten. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Like walking on marbles. No bear poop for the first time in 12-13 years. This year, very very sparse production. I’ve looked at the cams, temps and so forth and last freeze was around late April in Virginia. These trees usually blossom around mid May, so I don’t think it’s weather. Also, as I was walking through there today, notice that 2 of 25 trees completely aborted the burrs. All green, unopened and untouched by critters. Any idea of what’s going on? I’ve googled and came up with nothing. Thanks!


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There is a general shortage of chestnut seed this year across much of the country. That April freeze is to blame according to most of the growers I've been in contact with. Some think the timing of spring growth with the freeze damaged trees enough that they invested in regrowth instead of nut production.

 

[EET]

I’m not an expert at all but my 1st guess would be poor pollination. Last summer my wife and I vacationed in Virgina. We ended up at James Monroe highlands. Every time I go on vacation I’m always looking for trees and shrubs at nurseries(especially for the Allegheny Chinquapin) any way I spotted a chestnut(Dunstan) that had been donated to the park, it was loaded with burs. I was so excited that I was gonna harvest some chestnuts to bring home. I started stepping on these burs only to see that they was all empty. Upon further investigation I found it to be the lone chestnut tree. I thought to myself great job donating the tree but why not 2 trees. I’ve been a beekeeper for 12-13 years, at 1st I became obsessed with the bees and learned a lot. One thing I always pass along is sunflower production gets a 40% boost when adding 2-3 colonies of honeybees. Sorry to ramble on but that would be my guess.