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.