One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

[John Barnes]

Thanks Wayne. I know I have to be patient with these. I've had like 3 of them that came to life in just the last week. Just hoping they get established enough to survive the winter.

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[wbpdeer]

Let's get a pic of the entire tree!

I am getting a thunderstorm right now. Tomorrow I will take a photo of all five trees and post them. My five trees have different structure - I don't prune Chinese Chestnut very much. I let nature lead the path. I did prune some this year and will prune some lower branches next year on some of the five. I think too many leaves hurt the chance for burs at an earlier tree age.

So photos tomorrow. Chestnuts collected in fall of 2014. Stuck in rootmaker 18 in Jan of 2015. Planted in late April of 2015. Been shown special care ever since to prevent stress!!! Watered when nature with held rainfall. Here we are in July of 2017 with a chance at chestnuts in Sept / Oct. Got my hopes up.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

Thanks Wayne. I know I have to be patient with these. I've had like 3 of them that came to life in just the last week. Just hoping they get established enough to survive the winter.

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What state are you located in? I would think they will survive just fine. I would do my best to prevent the critters from harming the young seedlings. If you losses for whatever reason are at 12% or less then you are going to be golden. The ones that die - you can fill in those locations next year if you want to. I think you are in good shape numbers wise.

Chinese Chestnuts are tough and they want to live. Just remember - nature reclaims the weak. In order words there will be some loss in spite of your efforts.

Wayne

 

[John Barnes]

I'm in central wisconsin. Haven't had any critter problems besides rose chafer beetles. Chewed lots of holes in leaves, but the beetles are gone now and new leaves coming in well. Squirrels and rabbits are very scarce here as pur cats keep them pn the run. One just brought a bunny head to the doorstep last night.

I'm very happy with how things have went so far. Excited to see how they're doing 3 or 4 years from now!

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[wbpdeer]

In central Wisconsin I would encourage you to never fertilize the seedlings after July 1st. The tender growth that may be produced by a boast from fertilizer has to have time to harden off before cold weather bites it.

The hardened off leaf is stiffer and firmer than fresh green tender growth. Usually a hardened off leaf feels thicker.

In some situations, the top of the seedling / tree get bit hard and dies back but the roots survive the winter. This type of setback is how nature works and reclaims the weaker seedlings.

Another thing, check locally to see how other people do with Chinese Chestnuts. Does what they plant survive? Where we live can change the outcome.

Wayne

 

[John Barnes]

Well I bought 10 of the bareroots at a Jung's garden center 30 miles north of me, so they better survive here.

I gave them all a final dose of Orchid food the last week of June, so should be good there.

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[wbpdeer]

I am posting a photo of each of my five Chinese Chestnut trees that I planted in my back yard in late April of 2015. These photos were taken about 7 AM on July 20th. Three of my five trees have at least one bur and two of my five trees have no burs. Please notice how these five trees differ in the number of vertical stems they have.

Chinese Chestnuts are branchy trees while American Chestnuts are phone pole vertical. This spring I did prune some of the five but not all. Next spring I will prune some more.

Alpha is my favorite tree and it is in my avatar photo. It has about 18 or 19 burs currently and is extremely healthy and vigorous. Here it is:


Alpha has 18 to 19 burs - one bur can be called either a single or a double. I believe I will get viable chestnuts from this tree this fall.

Omega is planted right beside the Alpha tree. It has the tallest branch of the five and originally had 2 burs but we lost one early on in a harsh thunderstorm. So it has one bur on it now and this tree is about 21 to 22 feet from Alpha. Here is Omega:


Next spring I will prune some of the lower branches. This tree is loaded with big leaves - I wonder if that limited the bur development. In the left edge of the photo you can see the black shade cloth on my greenhouse. In the right side you can see the neighbors wood fence and one of my chestnuts trees on that side of the yard.

My middle tree next to the neighbor's wooden fence has 6 burs on it. I have three trees in a straight line - all 21 feet apart. Here is the middle tree:



I don't know if I will prune the two leaders on the left - will take my time making that call.

The 3 trees in this post have burs. The burs have gained size every week or two. I am very hopeful - reducing stress and good luck have been my secrets as well as full sunlight locations.

Thanks for viewing this thread.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

In this post I have photos of my two Chinese Chestnut trees without any burs. Heck I am so excited that three have burs and Alpha is loaded.

My front tree was covered by water for about 30 hours in 2016 and I thought it was a goner. It survived much to my surprise. Here is the front tree - it is very bushy in appearance. It has great leaves and all of them are close together.


Obviously it will benefit from some pruning in 2018. This tree is the leaf factory of the five trees.

The back tree has been a disappointment to me because it never produced a bur this year. It has good structure and might make the best looking tree in terms of shape. I don't think Chinese Chestnut trees should be producing burs as soon as mine have. Here is the back tree:


The main trunk is convential and is the only one of the five that is. In the right side of this photo you can see the end of my greenhouse.

So I have posted all five of my Chinese Chestnuts in my yard. Have I been lucky? Absolutely. That year I grew about 100 seedlings and these five were hand picked for me. It is possible in 3 or 4 years I can collect enough chestnuts from these five trees to ship out chestnuts to other seedling growers. Sure will be convenient if it works out that way. I will be trapping some city squirrels to prevent them stealing my chestnuts.

Thanks for viewing this thread.

Wayne

 

[mattpatt]

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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Not very well. They seem like they just try to maintain and do very little growing.

Matt


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[Goldentriangle]

Gorgeous trees Wayne! I don't want to wish time away but I really can't wait to see where my trees are at in the coming years.


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[Neahawg]

Looking mg awesome! Hoping to start getting production out of my trees in the next year or two.

 

[wbpdeer]

Neahawg,

These five trees show the different shapes a Chinese Chestnut can take. I have worked at keeping the stress low on these five yard trees and it has worked out very well.

Thanks

 

[E_308]

Wayne,
Those pictures have me excited for what all the trees in the tubes I have growing will do in a few years! Heading up to the farm this weekend I'll see if I can't get a better count of how many I have growing. Planted until I ran out of tubes, then planted the rest unprotected so we will see if any of those make it. Been fairly hot and dry, but I live 3 hrs away so I am not interested in trees that aren't tough!

 

[wbpdeer]

Two things that helps trees survive the important first year. 1) I use moisture miser in the hole (crystals that absorb water & release it back to roots). It goes by other names - but it looks like a blob when it expands if you spill any on the top of ground and then it rains. 2) place protective fabric around the seedling to eliminate competition and reduce evaporation of moisture.

I water these five trees today - we had the hottest day of the year.

Wayne

 

[TreeDaddy]

Wayne,

Did you finish the greenhouse? I enjoyed the thread on the old forum but haven't seen any updates

bill

 

[Neahawg]

Wayne,

Did you finish the greenhouse? I enjoyed the thread on the old forum but haven't seen any updates

bill

It's under the how to build things section turned out pretty cool.

 

[wbpdeer]

Wayne,

Did you finish the greenhouse? I enjoyed the thread on the old forum but haven't seen any updates

bill

Yes it was completed in July 2016. I came thru the first winter just fine. As with all projects, I learned some valuable lessons. Right now it is full of mostly Chinese Chestnut seedlings. Most are from this Jan in rootmaker but some are in their 2nd year. I have some nice 2nd year seedlings I am grooming for my farm.

Thank the Lord for shade cloth. It is brutally hot here but with the 55% shade cloth, I water twice a day and all seedlings are doing well.

To summarize, gravel floor, 2 feet up on the sides I have a weld wire frame to keep out rabbits, squirrels. I used hoops out of electrical PVC that have a 10 year life expectancy. I used a white cover over the winter with propane heaters and electrical heat that had a 24 hour 30 minute timer.

The gravel floor helps with heat in the winter but holds heat in the summer. If greenhouse is ever converted to something else, I would remove some gravel and pour a concrete floor. I am 64 years old and that is type of change could be 8 or so years down the road.

One change in the future that I might make is to install an automated sprinkle system that would water when I am elsewhere. Right now I am not in that position.

The avatar photo I have shows the front end of the greenhouse behind me and the chestnut seedling.

Wayne

 

[JohnL48]

First time I got up to my cabin since planting my trees upstate in spring. All are doing great. My clover field however is all grass. Being busy is both great and sucks at the same time

 

[H20fwler]

Wayne, I was doing some spraying yesterday and spotted a few foot tall chestnut trees from direct seeding some of your stratified chestnuts this spring. I was very happy to see them, at least some have survived and are thriving. The ones I started back in the winter indoors are really growing well, those are screened and caged. Took some pics but haven't figured out how to post them up yet since photobucket changed.

 

[wbpdeer]

H20fwler,

Just think how the deer and turkeys will love those chestnuts down the road. Congrats on your direct seeding success. I am very good at growing in containers and very bad at direct seeding.

I get my photos loaded onto my personal computer and then upload a file from there. I have never used photobucket. There are many ways to get it done - I have always used a laptop - it is what I know.

Congrats on your chestnuts and the wildlife will be the winners.

Wayne