One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project

[Rottie87]

I planted 25 of the seedlings I started this winter in early spring and am amazed at how well they are doing. Most of them in the 3 to 4 foot range but there are 5 or 6 that are about to come out the top of a 5 foot tube already. Crazy how fast these trees are growing! (They are dunstans)

 

[wbpdeer]

Those seedlings look just fine. Planted a little closer than I like to see them planted.

Your deer are going to love you and your chestnuts soon enough.

 

[Rottie87]

Those seedlings look just fine. Planted a little closer than I like to see them planted.

Your deer are going to love you and your chestnuts soon enough.

Yea I planted them a lil closer than recommended being as this was my first time and completely expected to have some losses...and of course looks like all of them are growing good so if I have to thin them out in a few years than so be it

 

[TreeDaddy]

Yea I planted them a lil closer than recommended being as this was my first time and completely expected to have some losses...and of course looks like all of them are growing good so if I have to thin them out in a few years than so be it

I do the same thing as I expect some seedling mortality in my arid region with harsh summers

bill

 

[wbpdeer]

Yea I planted them a lil closer than recommended being as this was my first time and completely expected to have some losses...and of course looks like all of them are growing good so if I have to thin them out in a few years than so be it

Rottie87

Your trees are doing great. Your trees looked like you have far more experience than the average first timer. That shows you have made good choices and given them great care.

I would just allow them to remove close and not thin any good trees.

Congrats to you.

Wayne

 

[Rottie87]

Rottie87

Your trees are doing great. Your trees looked like you have far more experience than the average first timer. That shows you have made good choices and given them great care.

I would just allow them to remove close and not thin any good trees.

Congrats to you.

Wayne

Wayne
There is a lot of good information on this thread that I've read more than once..so at least some of the credit goes to you and the others on this thread.

 

[Rottie87]

7 foot and growing strong. In less than a year... holly crap!

 

[wbpdeer]

Rottie87

It is always fun to see how large the leaves are on a healthy chinese chestnut. You have a great one in that photo.

Congrats on your success.

 

[Brushpile]

Those seedlings look just fine. Planted a little closer than I like to see them planted.

Your deer are going to love you and your chestnuts soon enough.

It hurt me to cut down big 8-9 year old Chestnuts yesterday, because they were planted too close; but they didn't look too close when I planted them.

 

[wbpdeer]

So Brush - how many Chinese Chestnut did you cut down and how many are still standing?

My point is if you have 8 trees standing they will feed a pile of deer when they bear viable chestnuts. As you taught me, releasing 8 trees by removing those that are crowding them will make those 8 more productive.

I am one of the few people on this forum to have had the pleasure to be on the Brushpile. It was once pasture and now it is an amazing piece of land with all kinds of great trees. All because a retired Marine knew he liked Brush 'cause deer like Brush.

Wayne

 

[Brushpile]

So Brush - how many Chinese Chestnut did you cut down and how many are still standing?

My point is if you have 8 trees standing they will feed a pile of deer when they bear viable chestnuts. As you taught me, releasing 8 trees by removing those that are crowding them will make those 8 more productive.

I am one of the few people on this forum to have had the pleasure to be on the Brushpile. It was once pasture and now it is an amazing piece of land with all kinds of great trees. All because a retired Marine knew he liked Brush 'cause deer like Brush.

Wayne

Like many others I planted too close to cover attrition and attrition didn't happen. Now I want open crowns, so trees I watered during 8 years of drought are now being thinned. I also have to decide between Chestnuts and things like Swamp Chestnut Oak, Bur Oak, and other acorn producing trees.

Wish you would visit again Wayne, I know where the big sheds should be.

 

[wbpdeer]

My Perry and Scotty would like to hunt for some of your big sheds. Might have to think about late Feb. or a time in March.

How many dogs do you have and how many pups do you have (or litters on the way).

Wayne

 

[cutman]

Has anyone figured out a way to stop a chestnut from stump sprouting? I’ve got a dunstan that constantly puts up new shoots from the ground. They grow back as soon as I cut them. Can I spray the fresh cuts with anything? There is a main trunk that looks healthy...I don’t know why this tree keeps doing this other than to torment me. I’m tempted to dig it up and plant a whole new tree.

 

[TreeFan]

You could try wrapping the bottom of the trunk with tree wrap and that should help. The tree may sprout but there will be no room to grow or sun.

 

[THE LLC]

I planted 25 of the seedlings I started this winter in early spring and am amazed at how well they are doing. Most of them in the 3 to 4 foot range but there are 5 or 6 that are about to come out the top of a 5 foot tube already. Crazy how fast these trees are growing! (They are dunstans)View attachment 16439

Be sure to stake the crap out of them, because they WILL blow over in a wind and then the deer will defoliate them and kill the tree. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[THE LLC]

Picture of one of my chestnuts from Wayne from yesterday (it's the same tree as in post #911 above). This is the fifth one of the 20 this has happened to and I have three more that look like they are well on their way. These chestnuts have blight or something. They grow to about this height (around 8 or 9 feet) then start getting yellowish tint leaves and the ends of the new growth curl up into the typical "shepherds hook" of fire blight in apple trees. Then they die back to the ground and sprout back from the roots. I got three that died last year that root sprouted this spring and are back to about four feet tall now. One other died completely. When they die, it is sudden.

 

[wbpdeer]

LLC

I am just trying to figure out what has happened to your trees. Is it the hot months when they die back? If you take your knife and scrape the bark at chest height is there green underneath the bark?

Do you see any damage to the bark anywhere - blight usually shows up on the bark - at least that is what I think. I have not dealt with the blight - only having read about it.

I am wanting to rule out heat and lack of water as to what is occurring to your trees. A 2 gallon bucket with one 1/8 inch diameter hole drilled about 3/4 inches above the bottom of bucket will help combat the lack of water/moisture. A lid on the bucket with a good rock on top will help keep trash out of the bucket and allow the water to soak into the soil. Some people like to dig a small circular trench around the seedling to help hold the moisture next to the seedling.

Chinese Chestnut are blight resistant - not blight proof. I have been blessed to not deal with it. I have lost a few trees out 52 planted on the farm. Deer have rubbed two, one just died and a rabbit chewed thru one stem. I have been lucky - I don't baby the ones on the farm but baby the 5 in my backyard.

Lowes sells a 2 gallon bucket for around $1.60 in my area.

Wayne

 

[THE LLC]

It's not lack of water. I actually have crimson clover that came up from re-seeding back in May and has survived all summer. I didn't look closely at the bark. I know I lost one several years ago that had the blight lesions all over the base, though the ones on either side never were affected. Will take some closer pictures this weekend.

 

[THE LLC]

Wayne, here are some pictures from yesterday. This is one that will soon be dead.

 

[THE LLC]

This is the injuries that appear on the stem prior to them dying.