Concerned I'm doing something wrong with trees in pots

[possum]

This winter I was given seven B3 F3 American chestnuts that had been cold stratified and had radicles emerging.
These are the 15/16ths American chestnuts that are highly blight resistant. In February I planted two of the nuts in my yard and placed 5' tree shelter tubes over them.
The other 5 I planted in white 5 gal buckets filled with same soil. The buckets receive same amount of sunlight and water.
In late March two sprouts emerged in the buckets and at same time the two in yard sprouted in the tubes. Since then the two sprouts in yard have grown at least twice as fast as the two in the buckets and none of the other three seeds in the buckets have sprouted.
Am I making a mistake with these buckets? Should I go ahead and transplant now? I was planning on planting the five trees in buckets next year at our hunting land.

Here is what the trees in tubes look like now.

 

[possum]

And these are the buckets

 

[Goldentriangle]

Some of the pros will respond shortly but I would question the drainage in the buckets. I am new to chestnuts also but from what I have heard and seen with my own seedlings, chestnuts do not like wet feet at all. My seedlings seem to be doing much better now that I let the media go almost completely dry before I water again. How much moisture is down under the surface in the buckets?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[letemgrow]

Drainage was my first question. Have holes in the bottom?

Personally, I'd move them out of those buckets ASAP to the perm spots, or put in 5-gallon rootmaker, or other root pruning containers. I think over watering is more of the problem for most of us growing in pots. At least until the tree fills out the pots with roots and then spray away.

 

[possum]

The buckets did have a lot of drainage holes and I've tried my best to monitor moister in the soil. But it's clear now that I did something wrong because there are still no sprouts.
A little over a week ago I went ahead and transplanted the only two potted trees that sprouted into earth. I was happy to see them doing well today! I'm going to keep a close eye on them and water them if we go through any dry spells this summer.
So out of seven, two are doing well in yard and two seem to be doing well down at our hunting land.