Dunstan Hybrid Chestnut Trees

[horntagger]

I had a area doze off to plant Chestnut Trees

I have a guy that has a Chestnut Farm down the road about 2 to 3 miles. He is sell his house and farm

He will sell me potted Dunstan Hybrid Chestnut Trees for 10 dollars I just have to bring back the pots. Should produce in 3 to 5 years I am being told.

Also my friend also has a Chinese Chestnut Tree at his farm with some sampling growing near it. Thought i would did them up to this fall.

Any thoughts, first experience with this tree.

 

[Native Hunter]

Dunstans have been a little slower establishing than Chinese for me, but both are good trees for deer. That seems like a reasonable price for the trees if they are nice and healthy.

The Chinese seedlings should do well if you get a good root ball when you dig them. I've done that with great success.

Best Wishes.

 

[j-bird]

I have my first "burrs" on my dunstans this year. These were purchased as 3 gallon trees and planted in 2014. I planted mine, watered the first summer and caged like a fruit tree and they have done fine ever since. Crossing my fingers that these burrs turn into nuts. I buy mine in 3's and plant as such to try to ensure they get the pollen they need to produce. 3 gallon retail trees will run you $30 each and if you can find them on clearance at 50% from that......so as long as they are healthy trees $10 sounds like a good deal. I have no experience with chinese chestnuts.

 

[TreeDaddy]

My walmart chestnut hill trees 2015 coughed,spit,hacked,sneezed and groaned the first 2 summers here

After babying them and with decent rain, they seem to be doing well in 2017( 3rd growing season) and developing burs

Keep plantin'

bill

 

[horntagger]

So I see cage them like fruit trees I assume keep bucks from killing them in the fall. Do you guys mulch them?

 

[Native Hunter]

So I see cage them like fruit trees I assume keep bucks from killing them in the fall. Do you guys mulch them?

Cage to prevent both browsing and rubbing just like fruit trees. I also use a weed mat rather than mulching.

 

[j-bird]

I don't mulch....I use stone/gravel. Yes - I protect mine just like any fruit tree - from browsing, rubbing and rodent chewing of the bark.

 

[Native Hunter]

One more thing horntagger - Keep in mind the ultimate size of a Chinese Chestnut tree. They eventually become much larger than most people realize. I've seen some old trees that could easily shade out a semi dwarf apple if planted within 20 feet of it.

Drive around in the spring and look for old chestnut trees when blooming and you will see what I mean - some are 40 to 50 feet tall and nearly as wide. You don't notice those old trees in yards the rest of the year.

 

[horntagger]

Going to measure area before buying and decide how many too plant. But this is the area.

It was a temporary log deck before they moved them up the hill about 9 years ago.

 

[horntagger]

Thanks everyone for the help

 

[j-bird]

For the dunstans - Chestnut Hill's web sites states a spacing of 30x30 or 40x40 for orchards, just as an FYI.

 

[horntagger]

Thanks for the info

 

[TheOldOak]

My opinions only. Dunstans are a bit over-rated. I planted about 15 Walmart dunstans around my place back in 2013-2014, still waiting to see any burs. I started buying chinese chestnut trees from wildlife group for $3/tree, these are small, 3 feet trees sent with roots covered in moist packaging. I've had good success with these. Based on my research, the chinese chestnuts produce earlier and substantially more poundage in nuts per tree than dunstans. I haven't seen production from either type yet, but am amazed how fast the chinese chestnuts are growing. Both type of trees grow fairly rapidly when exposed to full sunlight, they don't do well at all if they don't have majority of day in the sun. Long story short, if the chinese chestnuts are a better deal, I would go with those. If I had to do over again, not sure I would have planted any dunstans, but I guess a little diversity won't hurt. I would also plant them closer together than 30-40 feet. You can always thin a few 10 years down the road if it becomes a problem. You may lose a few over the 10 years anyway. They pollenate through the wind, so having them a bit closer together would seem to benefit early production. I've used a cage around mine, that seems to be all they really need.

 

[j-bird]

I did go out and check mine and they are almost exactly 25 feet apart. The few burs I have this year are a little bigger than a quarter right now.

 

[HawgPharm]

I picked up a couple of good looking Dunstans on clearance at Wal Mart yesterday. I already have some Chinese seedlings planted so it will be interesting to see how they compare going forward.


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[horntagger]

Want to tell everyone thanks so very much - Great information keeps on coming.

 

[H20fwler]

I've got loamy clay ground here. I've planted around thirty 3 gal potted Dunstans over the last few years, all screened caged and mulched. I've probably lost ten of them mostly due to too much rain, they don't like wet feet or heavy clay. That being said a few of them are full of nut burs this year and are around 9'-12' tall.
I also have a BUNCH of Chinese chestnuts planted some caged some not, haven't had any nuts yet my tallest are maybe 6'-7'. They were potted, bare root and direct seeded. The Chinese seem to grow faster tolerate the clay better and just seem healthier over all. The only ones I have lost were due to deer eating them up. The bare root planted very early in spring caged and screened have done the best for me.

The Chinese seem way easier to get started for me and are almost a zero maintenance tree. I will still plant a few more Dunstans I'm going to try a few different spots and see if I find a place they like.

 

[TexOk]

Just another thought, Dunstans and Chinese chestnuts typically drop through September and maybe early October. Depending on when your hunting season starts (if this spot is designed for hunting) that might be a bit of an issue. For my chestnut hunting plot I also planted some AU Buck IIIs and Buck IVs since these are grafted Chinese chestnuts that drop through October and early November. I'm also planting some Seguin chestnuts that drop from September through November. The AU Bucks are way more expensive than what you're paying for your Dunstans but they will give you a draw later into the hunting season. The Seguins you can get for pretty cheap though. The other nice thing about the Seguins is that they also bear much faster. These are a couple that I planted as a bare root this winter, and one already has a bur on it!

 

[Baker]

Dunstan chestnuts with their first fruit at 4 yrs old. New deal for me. Have about 20 planted

 

[TreeDaddy]

TexOK

Where did you get the seguin bare root seedlings?

bill