One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

I could not find any mini pine bark nuggets either. I bought a bag of regular pine bark mulch but it was on the bottom of the pallet at lowes and for the most part the bark was crushed perfect into little tiny pieces. I mixed at a 1-1-1-1 ratio of Peat, vermiculite, perilite, and crushed pine bark mulch and have had good success so far.


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Got home from a long day trip and checking my five young Chinese Chestnut trees in the back yard. The count is 17 burs, 1 bur, 0 burs, 5 burs and 0 burs. We have a thunderstorm while I was gone so I looked them over real well.

The tree with the 1 bur has been slow to add burs - it is what it is.

Wayne
 
The chestnuts I planted last fall have yellowish leaves. What's this an indication of? They are surviving but certainly not thriving.
 
I purchased a fertilizer in the past that dealt with Iron Chlorisis. But I no longer have the bag. I purchased it at Lowes.

Try them or Walmart.

Regarding my 5 young chestnut trees with burs - it is a long ways to see a viable nut but at this point we are in the game. Yesterday was another thunderstorm that didn't dent my chances.

Wayne
 
Usually you can see iron chlorisis in plants by looking at the veins in the leaves. The tissue between the leaves will be lighter than the veins.
In severe cases the margins of the leaf will turn brown. Not like when the plant is over watered and the margins turn brown. It's crispy and a different color. I have some Bur Oak seedling's that i wanted to see if granular iron would darken the leaves. I applied it as a top dress in the pots. I applied it about a month ago and I cant see any difference in their color than the other seedlings. I think the micro nutrients have to be foliar applied to do any good to plants in pots, and the benefit is very short lived. Once the tree is planted in it's forever location you might need to worry about chlorisis, but while in the pot i'd spray the fe if needed.
 
Ok guys, I have purchased orchid food awhile back and have been feeding my container seedlings per Wayne's instructions for a few weeks. I have yet to make it to my friends farm where I direct seeded a bunch. At this stage of the game, am I wasting my time by starting to feed them now? I would only be able to feed them a few times before the July cutoff. The seedlings have been doing fantastic all on there own with only being watered a couple times.
Thanks
Scott


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My CHESTNUT seedlings along with pear and sawtooth continue to get welcome rain showers. I know leaner days are near so I hope they get as strong as possible. Really pleased with progress so far.
 
Last fall's plantings all look like the top tree.
Compared to trees from a couple yrs ago they show some yellow, but otherwise healthy.
Still look like a fertility issue?
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I wish all of the dad's out there - "Happy Father's Day"

My dad passed this life in 1993 and I would give anything to hear him tell one more outrageous hunting story - he had plenty of them. Love you dad!

My dad is where I got my outdoor passion from. If you still have your dad - enjoy them while you can.

26 Chestnut Burs this morning - up from 23 and we have two of the five with zero. All trees are healthy - with a big rain coming this afternoon and tomorrow. 18-2-0-6-0 is breakdown.

Wayne
 
Couple of questions.... On a bunch of my 1 gallon Chinese and Dunstan hybrids, the radical part below the nuts are exposed.
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This happened due to the media settling and/or rough watering by either me or my kids. Even though the seedlings still look good, should I add media to the top to cover that up? I just havnt noticed this on pics of other people's seedlings.

Question no. 2....
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On a bunch of my Dunstan hybrids the large leaves have a weird split in them. Does this normally occur or does something cause this? Just thought this was odd because none of my Chinese nuts from Wayne are doing this.
Sorry for the dumb questions, obviously this is my first growing season.
Thanks
Scott


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Question #1. I would clip the nut off of that seedling and yes I would add some growing media to the fabric bag. That seedling has established itself and the nut attracts a predator (squirrel, chipmunk, etc) which can destroy the seedling. I was victimized by squirrels two years ago.

Question #2 I have nothing to share. That leave looks different.

Wayne
 
Wayne, I'm hopping you can confirm something for me...... Below is a pic of what I found on my Chestnut Hill chestnut tree this evening. I actually found 3 of these.... If anyone knows what this is it's you. I really HOPE this is my first "bur" with the chance of it producing my first chestnuts, but I have very limited experience with chestnut trees. I couldn't think of anyone more qualified to confirm if this IS what I think it is!!!! Please, please, please..... be a sign of a bur that can produce an actual nut!!!!!!! I know the brown "wolly-worm" looking thing is a catkin, but the little green thing I have not seen before.
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JBird and JohnL

Yes that is the beginning of the bur. My last count was that I have 26 on three trees plus two other trees stuck at zero. If you have a chance to water those trees with the burs - it can increase our chances of getting viable chestnuts later this Sept / Oct.

A Chinese Chestnut bur can have one, two or three chestnuts inside the bur. Personally I am hopeful that all of my burs are singles on the young trees - it means the one chestnut will get all of the nutrients.

So what you see is an exciting sign - congrats. This is nature moving in a positive direction and rewarding our habitat efforts.

Wayne
 
Jbird, how old is the Chestnut hill tree?


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I bought the tree as a 3 gallon potted tree and planted it in 2014, so this will be the 3rd year I have had it. I have no idea how old the tree itself is. I have had catkins before, but never a bur before......I realize there is a big difference between a bur and an actual nut, but at least it looks like we are heading in the right direction!
 
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