One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

[lakngolf]

One thing that may come out of Wayne's dedication to helping folks start their own Chinese chestnut trees from seed is that we will all probably learn the geographical limits on how far north and south this species can thrive and where it may just barely survive. I've got some planted in a location on the edge between 5 and 4b. I haven't been brave enough to plant any at the 4a property, but maybe I should, just to see what happens? The thing is, I get kind of attached to the little guys and don't want to "experiment" with them, at least not at this stage. I talked to the forester for the region and he's not even sure they'll do very well in the worst of Zone 5 winters. Time will tell!

This one is loving zone 8a in Alabama. I grew it from seed from Wayne, put it in the ground year and half ago. Fast grower that has really enjoyed this spring

 

[wbpdeer]

My trees are looking better but now leaves on some are getting brown. I'm thinking they need fertilizer ? Was going to put some 10-10-10 but how much do I put in the root pouches

Don't put triple 10 on them in a root pouch - I am concerned you will burn them.

Here is what I use and you can feed them every two weeks until July 4th. It is dissolved in water - I use 5 gallon buckets. I purchase this at Walmart or Lowes. Chestnut are acid loving trees. I have used this product for two years with great success.



It is not expensive IMO. It will green them up and they will add new tender growth (scaffolds of leaves are a sign of a healthy tree).

Wayne

 

[JohnL48]

Don't put triple 10 on them in a root pouch - I am concerned you will burn them.

Here is what I use and you can feed them every two weeks until July 4th. It is dissolved in water - I use 5 gallon buckets. I purchase this at Walmart or Lowes. Chestnut are acid loving trees. I have used this product for two years with great success.

View attachment 7062

It is not expensive IMO. It will green them up and they will add new tender growth (scaffolds of leaves are a sign of a healthy tree).

Wayne

Do you use the 1/4 teaspoon per gallon or the 1 teaspoon per gallon formula ?

 

[wbpdeer]

Best I remember is I always follow the instructions on the box. I am mixing 5 gallons volumes because I have so many to water and I have 5 chestnuts trees in the yard that are 7 to 8 feet tall.

Don't overthink it - just feed them and then feed them 14 days later with this product - you will get a jump out of them.

Wayne

 

[Mitch]

One thing I've noticed is these things really get beaten up by the wind. I would definitely use Wayne's advice and "train" your trees with a small oscillating fan. I have all of mine in pouches now and I guess they are doing okay but you can tell by looking at the leaves they are stressed. I don't even have them outside but for more than maybe 30 minutes a day....(whenever the garage door is open)...thats when they get their sun. Hopefully they come out of the little funk they appear to be in right now.

 

[JohnL48]

One thing I've noticed is these things really get beaten up by the wind. I would definitely use Wayne's advice and "train" your trees with a small oscillating fan. I have all of mine in pouches now and I guess they are doing okay but you can tell by looking at the leaves they are stressed. I don't even have them outside but for more than maybe 30 minutes a day....(whenever the garage door is open)...thats when they get their sun. Hopefully they come out of the little funk they appear to be in right now.

I have half of mine staked. I noticed the trunks on the staked one's are half the diameter of the unstaked one's

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[Mitch]

If I didn't stake them, they would be dead in a day. So you're saying the staked ones have a smaller trunk?

 

[blumsden]

Mine are looking real good, i'll try and take some pictures. I have quite a few that are sending up more than one trunk, some are 3 or more. Should i just leave them alone for now? I'll try and post pictures tom.

 

[weekender21]

I have a few questions regarding chestnuts and this seems like a good place to ask!

How large of a tree can you transplant? I'm currently looking for a piece of property back home and have been considering planting some trees at my parents place to give them a head start. (Upstate SC 8a)

If I planted one of the larger 3 or 7 gallon plants could I potentially dig it up and plant it on my future property in a year or two? Just trying to get a head start on mast production!

wbpdeer, I'd love to plant some of your chestnuts as well.

Thanks in advance for the help, love this site!

 

[wbpdeer]

Wind and Seedlings

A Chinese Chestnut is grown properly can have huge leaves inside of 4 months. I am talking the size your hand and many scaffolds of leaves. When this occurs they can take a horrible beating if they are thrown into the outdoors without any wind training.

For example, have you ever seen a seedlings that is top heavy - too many leaves for it to stand straight up. It arches over. Mitch is wise to stake his because his northern winds can destroy seedlings with big leaves and below average stem girth.

Not every situation is the same. So just try to examine your seedlings and look at the stem and the leaves and how erect the seedlings holds up. Many of the best fruit trees you see in a nursery or garden center are stakes trees.

I do have to stake some of my seedlings - not all but some.

Where a seedling is positioned on your property can impact how much wind it is subject to. I like to use leaves in a garbage bag that get placed in a cardboard box as a screen when I position seedlings against a house. Others have used hale bales successfully. Think outside the box and you can protect them other ways as well.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

I have a few questions regarding chestnuts and this seems like a good place to ask!

How large of a tree can you transplant? I'm currently looking for a piece of property back home and have been considering planting some trees at my parents place to give them a head start. (Upstate SC 8a)

If I planted one of the larger 3 or 7 gallon plants could I potentially dig it up and plant it on my future property in a year or two? Just trying to get a head start on mast production!

wbpdeer, I'd love to plant some of your chestnuts as well.

Thanks in advance for the help, love this site!

Weekender

I will respond with a 2 year plan. If you collected a chestnut in Sept 2017, you would store it properly in the fridge and then put it in a growing container after 2018 rolls around. Myself, I put that chestnut in a rootmaker 18 in Jan. 2018 and then I would transplant it to a root pouch (one gallon) in April 2018. In the fall of 2018, I would move it to a 2 gallon or 3 gallon root pouch.

In April 2019, I would move it to a 5 gallon root pouch. Likely in the winter of 2020 (likely Feb 2020), when all of the leaves are off that Chinese Chestnut I would plant it in it's forever home (final location).

Under the example above it hit the growing media in Jan 2018 and gets planted in Feb 2020. It will be a very nice seedling when it is planted. These would be fabric bags - not pots.

Before anyone jumps my case - there are numerous other ways you could do this. I would never be cutting a tap root from a garden planted chestnut and trying to transplant it elsewhere. Root pouches are cheap IMO.

My two cents ...

Wayne

 

[weekender21]

Would it be ok to plant a 3 gallon tree (store bought plant) in a 10 gallon root pouch for a year?

Thanks for your time and explanation with the seed planting timeline!

 

[wbpdeer]

I think that will likely turn out the way you want. Why do I use these specific words - because I have not done it before.

If it was me I would try to go a 7 gallon size container before the 10 gallon size container. I just think it is unwise of me to suggest it is ok unless I have done it. MattPatt and others may have very well done this.

If that is the case, I hope they reply to your post.

Wayne

 

[Sam]

I got a 3rd seedling coming up!

 

[Gravel Road]

I'm up to 11 seedlings so far! So, now the question is what to do with them? Should I try and put them in the ground at the farm (tubed and staked) or pot them in larger containers here at the house and plant in the fall? Would it be too stressful at this stage to put in tubes with summer heat coming?

 

[wbpdeer]

Here is my suggestions:
1) Hit them with fertilizer every two weeks. I will post a photo below of what to use . It is water soluble and will not burn them. Stop that within a few days of July 4th so the tender growth can harden off before cold weather.
2) Keep them at home this summer - so you can water them and reduce the stress on them.
3) Later in this year or early 2018 when they have dropped their leaves (they are dormant) plant them in their final location. At that time I would tube them and put gravel around them or landscape fabric. When the spring of 2018 arrives they will already have their roots settled in well and they will do well in the spring. During the Summer of 2018, water them in the hottest most stressful times.

In the photo, I see chestnut seedlings but not many scaffolds of leaves. If you carry them at home over the summer, you will get more scaffold of leaves. I would move them into large pots if they take off at home during the summer.

Now for the product I use to feed my seedlings:



Chestnuts like acidic pH and this product has been used successfully by me for three years. I mix it in a five gallon bucket. Follow the instructions on the box. I get mine at Walmart and Lowes.

Good luck.

Wayne

 

[Gravel Road]

Thanks for the detailed help Wayne! I'll keep them at the house this year.

 

[Goldentriangle]

Ok guys, this year which is my first Chestnut attempt, I didn't have very good germination rates. After following all these threads I see that I am not the only one.
Right now I have 21 Dunstan hybrids and 11 of Wayne's Chinese chestnuts going in my RM18s. I have kept all my nuts that have not germinated in the sphagnum and continue to pull anything that gets moldy. I had just about given up on these guys but I checked the bag today and here is what I have....

On the left there is 4 of Wayne's chestnuts and the right I have 18 of the Dunstan hybrids from my neighbor's tree. My problem is my rootmakers are full, I plan on purchasing more this week. In the meantime I planted these germinated nuts in small plastic pots that tomatoes come in, they are about the size of a RM18.
Would I be ok to just go ahead and purchase 1 gallon rootmakers and transplant them in a week or so when my pots or bags come in? I don't really want to buy more RM18s and have to transplant them 3 times in a short period of time. I still have a couple bags in the sphagnum and I'm guessing I will get a few more to germinate.
Also I started my first round of nuts indoors and had to acclimate them to the sun... Will I be ok to go ahead and put these newly planted nuts strait into the greenhouse? There is one side of the greenhouse that catches a little shade in the later afternoon heat. I am very fortunate that my neighbor has 3 20'x15' greenhouses and one WAS vacant this year!
Wayne, I also wanted to tell you that I did a little experiment with direct seeding some of your chestnuts on a beautiful farm that borders the Mississippi River levee here in the bottoms. Since the property is levee protected, it does not flood. They are planted on the highest ground I could find there but it is flat as a pancake and the water table isn't very deep along the river.. Out of 10 direct seeded into 6" pvc pipes, 6 are up and running. I will post pics soon. I am curious to see if these work.
Thanks
Scott


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[wbpdeer]

Scott

This year has been a bust on germination! Why I don't know but we have seen a significant drop compared to the two previous years. Go figure. When I look at your photo with curly radicles I want to find my sharpest pair of small scissors because I am going to clip the first change of directions on the radicle next to where it exists the chestnuts.

I would go the Dollar General store and get a dishwashing tub and put the chestnuts that have not germinated in that with potting soil. I would water them good and put them in a location where the sun hit them part of the date. I would put hardware cloth over that tub so the squirrels could not raid it. Do I expect any of them to germinate? Yes I will predict 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 possibly germinating. I want a high moisture level thru repeating watering and a high temperature provided by the sunlight.

I am impressed with the 6 out of 10 on direct seeding. That is higher than I get but I direct seed in the fall.

One major point for me to make - every year I do place some chestnuts in growing media that show no radicle at that the time I stick them in media. I don't throw away chestnuts that have not germinated - I instead hold out hope and a good many of them make seedlings and later trees. I wish chestnuts would germinate on a predictable time frame but nature is in charge.

Scott - you are going to gain chestnut trees out of this project - just not as many as we would have anticipated.

Wayne

 

[mattpatt]

Would it be ok to plant a 3 gallon tree (store bought plant) in a 10 gallon root pouch for a year?

Thanks for your time and explanation with the seed planting timeline!

For one year I'd go with a 7 gallon container. You won't get much benefit from the root pouch if you go to a 10 immediately. I'm getting ready to do something similar if Walmart will ever mark their trees down. First time my local Walmart has ever had Chestnut trees for sale and I doubt many people are interested in them at $30 a tree. I'm waiting for them to go 50% off.

Matt


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