Direct Seeding Chestnuts....Sort of...

[Kurt]

Short tubes and permethrin. I may try both on my spot. The tall tubes roasted them previously but I could see the short tubes adding protection till they get 15-18" tall. Good luck!

 

[yoderjac]

Short tubes and permethrin. I may try both on my spot. The tall tubes roasted them previously but I could see the short tubes adding protection till they get 15-18" tall. Good luck!

Yes, I've been told chestnuts do better in short tubes in general. I'm not sure why. On my rootmaker chestnuts, I did not use cages, so I used tall tubes. One key to tall tubes is making sure there is no gap at the bottom where a large volume of air can get in. If you have a gap, you can get a chimney effect where heating of the tube causes an updraft that dries out the tree. Tall tubes worked in my climate, but again these trees were much larger with the roots filling a 3 gal RB2 by the time they were planted. I did try to plant some of these unprotected and the deer turned them into bushes. Tall tubes were a necessity for me because I planted way too many trees at the farm to use cages.

At my retirement property, things are different. I only planted a handful of them and I can easily attend to them daily when needed.

 

[EET]

I’ve never used the tubes they seem like they would make the trees top heavy and lanky. I have a great supply of milk crates and cages. Seems like I’m always moving them around as trees grow and I plant other stuff. It is work that I enjoy doing.

 

[yoderjac]

I’ve never used the tubes they seem like they would make the trees top heavy and lanky. I have a great supply of milk crates and cages. Seems like I’m always moving them around as trees grow and I plant other stuff. It is work that I enjoy doing.

I was at the farm the other day and took a picture of some of the chestnuts. These trees were grown in a root-pruning container system and planted when the roots filled 3 gal RB2 containers. They were tubed and not caged. They don't really seem lanky or top heavy to me.

 

[yoderjac]

@KSQ2 ,

I got an email with this post but could not find it when I got here:

"I'm trying the 3 gallon root pruning method now, after seeing how well all of them on here turned out. They're in 1 gallon pruners right now and will be put in the 3 gallons this fall, if not sooner. I'm hoping to get them in the ground the fall of '26 or the spring of '27."

I started them in 18s under lights indoors in the winter as a cabin fever project. One nice thing about growing them from nuts in these container systems is that you can cull the weak trees. I generally kept the good and great trees for planting at the farm. The great trees were 6' tall with a 3/4" diameter and were planted that first fall. The good trees were smaller and did not fill the 3 gal RB2s in that first long growing season. I over wintered them in a cold room. It did not get cold enough to freeze the roots or warm enough for them to break dormancy. They do need some water when overwintering. By the end of the second growing season, they had filled the 3 gal RB2s and were then planted at the farm.

 

[EET]

I was at the farm the other day and took a picture of some of the chestnuts. These trees were grown in a root-pruning container system and planted when the roots filled 3 gal RB2 containers. They were tubed and not caged. They don't really seem lanky or top heavy to me.

They look really good.

 

[KSQ2]

@KSQ2 ,

I got an email with this post but could not find it when I got here:

"I'm trying the 3 gallon root pruning method now, after seeing how well all of them on here turned out. They're in 1 gallon pruners right now and will be put in the 3 gallons this fall, if not sooner. I'm hoping to get them in the ground the fall of '26 or the spring of '27."

I started them in 18s under lights indoors in the winter as a cabin fever project. One nice thing about growing them from nuts in these container systems is that you can cull the weak trees. I generally kept the good and great trees for planting at the farm. The great trees were 6' tall with a 3/4" diameter and were planted that first fall. The good trees were smaller and did not fill the 3 gal RB2s in that first long growing season. I over wintered them in a cold room. It did not get cold enough to freeze the roots or warm enough for them to break dormancy. They do need some water when overwintering. By the end of the second growing season, they had filled the 3 gal RB2s and were then planted at the farm.

I realized I was being pretty redundant, when comparing to other threads, so I deleted it.

 

[yoderjac]

They look really good.

Yes, the ground under them was littered with nuts and husks this past fall. I collected nuts from some of these trees for the direct seeding in this thread.

 

[yoderjac]

One of these trees ai almost out of the short tube:

The rest are all still alive but a bit behind this one.

 

[yoderjac]

It was the first one to make it out of the tube:

 

[cutman]

How big are those tubes? I directed seeded some chestnuts, too, but the tubes I put them in are 4 feet tall.

 

[yoderjac]

How big are those tubes? I directed seeded some chestnuts, too, but the tubes I put them in are 4 feet tall.

They are short, maybe a foot. When I planted my rootmaker trees in the field, I used 6' tubes for protection. I understand chestnuts do better in short tubes from my reading, but I don't have hands-on experience with it. Since these are protected from deer by fencing, I figured I'd go with the short tubes.

 

[yoderjac]

As of today, all but one of them is out of the tube. The only reason that one is still in the tube is that that tube is taller than the others. They all seem to be doing well so far.