One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

[j-bird]

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

Thanks Wayne, I am so used to discovering new things only to find out it's something bad. Nice change to hear it's good news. We have been getting regular rain, so watering hasn't been needed thus far. I CAN water the tree if needed, but I tend to not water my trees beyond their planting year and they have all survived. But I also realize there is a difference between surviving and thriving as well. I have 2 burs on one tree and a single bur on another.....I need to check my other 2 and see how they are doing. Thanks for the confirmation.....

 

[Mitch]

Mattpat how do your chestnut trees manage through this heat? Mine are struggling. I have them in the garage, they only get a little sun each day but it almost seems like they can't handle the heat....


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[Mitch]

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[Mitch]

They turn brown at the tips now for whatever reason


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[Mitch]

Wayne, how do I increase my airflow? Right now I have chestnuts in 1 gallon rootmakers and some in 2 gallon root pouches. They pouches are struggling and on life support. When I water the 1 gallon rootmakers the water goes right through....


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[wbpdeer]

I assume you mean airflow getting to the roots in the container. I like perlite and I mini-pine bark. If you can only locate pine bark then chop it up so the stuff is in smaller pics. I don't like rootmaker round containers. I think I see some of those in the photo - but I may not.

O2 getting to the roots is important just as moisture getting to them is important.

I say turn one of the black round pots upside down to remove the rootball. What do you see? Are the roots white or brown as in dead.

The black container in the sun can dry out the roots especially if the roots are circling around a round pot.

Find a good nursery or garden center and take some of those brown end leave pots to them. They will help you.

If water is running thru a round pot - it may be root bound. Have you ever dunked a pot so that it down gets completely watered.

Sorry your seedlings can't turn the corner.

Wayne

 

[Mitch]

Never dunked a pot. They flourish then get to this stage and can't turn the corner. I was thinking it was because they needed to be in bigger containers. I was always under the impression rootmakers were good quality pots to grow trees in because of the roots get air pruned and encourage new roots to grow.


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[wbpdeer]

Some rootmakers are round one gallon pots that don't air prune. The rootmaker 18 trays are what air prunes and I start all of my chestnuts in those but I move them into rootmaker pots with the dimple holes all over them or move to a one gallon root pouch.

I did purchase some rootmaker 1 gallon permanently round pots ONCE but I will not purchase those again. There is no way for air to get into them and roots circle the round pot.

If you believe your round containers are root bound, get larger root pouches and move them up to them. If they are stalling - that is how you get them going again. I don't think you want to plant seedlings in their final location in late June in your part of the world.

Wayne

 

[Mitch]

No these weren't going in the ground until this winter. I'll move them to 2 gallon root pouches. But the last batch of trees I did that with went belly up. I'll try again though.


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[Goldentriangle]

Just got done dusting all of my Chestnut seedlings. Saw these guys when I went out to water today. Fortunately not to much damage yet..

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[JohnL48]

My worst seedlings have bounced back with new growth. Keeping these in the root pouches til fall

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[John Barnes]

First pic is a couple of the six seedlings I've got growing.

Next pic shows one of the 35 bareroot chinese chestnuts I planted this spring. As you can see from the pics I've been battling beetles, but all trees continue growing strong.

A couple of the bareroot plantings did not grow from the central leader, but from suckers. Will prune down to one leader in the future but for now just trying to get as much growth as possible.

And the 4th pic is of an American chestnut. Planted 6 bareroots in the spring of 2015 with this being the lone survivor. Crossing my fingers, but not expecting it to survive long-term.

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[j-bird]

Need another quick confirmation. I "think" these are fertilized and growing burrs. You can see they are a bit bigger than a quarter as of today. Damn jap beetles have been visiting my trees!

 

[Goldentriangle]

Jaybird, I am not the person to answer your question since I am very much a rookie. But, your burs look identical to the Dunstan trees up the street from my house which produced tons of nuts year after year. I was by them today and the burs are the same size as yours now. I know none of this means squat since there are tons of different variables but I think you are in great shape and should have chestnuts from this point forward.


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[wbpdeer]

JBird

Your trees are in great position. The more water they get right now the better the burs will develop. I have been so lucky to get rain numerous times in the last 8 days and mine have increased in size.

Water in July and August will help some burs become 2 or 3 viable nut burs.

Wayne

 

[j-bird]

JBird

Your trees are in great position. The more water they get right now the better the burs will develop. I have been so lucky to get rain numerous times in the last 8 days and mine have increased in size.

Water in July and August will help some burs become 2 or 3 viable nut burs.

Wayne

AWESOME!!! I have been getting regular thundershowers thus far this summer. IF I get some dry spells - I'll water. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[wbpdeer]

My Chinese Chestnut trees that were planted in my back yard are growing great. I have three that have burs on them and two that don't. One of the five trees is loaded for it's age and size. I have two photos of some of the burs on this tree. These photos were taken this morning on July 19th.

This photo is a close up of one of the burs.


The photo below shows one of my best branches that has multiple burs on it. All of these have increased in size in the last two weeks.


Notice the upward angle of this photo. This tree is approximately 10 feet tall.

Thanks for reading this thread.

Wayne

 

[John Barnes]

This is one of the 35 bareroot trees I planted. The main trunk of the tree never leafed out and is dead from about 6 inches above ground. But there are 5 shoots on it that have sprouted from below soil level. Did I plant them too deep? And what would you recommend I do with it? I have 4 that did this.

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[Neahawg]

My Chinese Chestnut trees that were planted in my back yard are growing great. I have three that have burs on them and two that don't. One of the five trees is loaded for it's age and size. I have two photos of some of the burs on this tree. These photos were taken this morning on July 19th.

This photo is a close up of one of the burs.
View attachment 8187

The photo below shows one of my best branches that has multiple burs on it. All of these have increased in size in the last two weeks.
View attachment 8188

Notice the upward angle of this photo. This tree is approximately 10 feet tall.

Thanks for reading this thread.

Wayne

Let's get a pic of the entire tree!

 

[wbpdeer]

It is July therefore I would not prune anything now. You have green growth from the roots. We should wait and allow nature to show it hand for the rest of 2017. In late February of 2018 it will be dormant and I would prune down to the two best shoots.

In the spring, summer and fall of 2018 I would expect one of those two shoots to establish dominance. At that point, you can leave a double or you can prune one and place your bet on one main stem.

Good news - you have roots that are supporting life - be a patient man and allow that life to continue until it goes dormant.

I hope my answer helps - if not follow up with any questions you have.

Wayne