Walmart Dunstan Trees - Expectations
- Thread starter mattpatt
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mattpatt
Well-Known Member
Yes! Those were the good old days. I’ve lost count at the number of discount Walmart trees I’ve planted over the years. Most end up surviving too.
Matt
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Fishman
Active Member
I have planted about 25 Chestnut Hill trees that consisted of 3 and 7 gallon chestnuts, Dr Deer and Thanksgiving pears, mulberries, crabapples, and persimmons. They have done okay, but I have lost a few. The first chestnuts were planted in 2017. Three of the four survived, but only one has produced any chestnuts. The chestnuts on this tree have started opening in mid October and have hung on the tree to early November. Hopefully the others, once they start producing, will have similar drop times. Three of the four mulberries are dead. The warm February in 2023 caused them to leaf out and they were hit hard by a 25 degree freeze in March 2023 and it killed them. The persimmons from the receipt above looked good all summer in my driveway in 2019 with one even producing a persimmon. I planted them out in November 2019 with big plans to use them as scion donors for seedling persimmons I was growing. COVID hit in 2020 and I never made it over to my property to water them and they died. It wasn't even a drought year. All my seedling persimmons have done fine and I don't think I have lost any. All seven pears have done well, but have not produced much fruit since planting in 2019. Late freezes are going to be a problem with these early flowering pears. The crabapples were planted in 2021 and look good, but haven't grown as much as expected. I believe all trees were bought at clearance prices that ranged from $4.50 to $19. No way I would pay $55 for a 7 gallon chestnut or $45 for a 3 gallon mulberry. Decent trees, but not that nice.
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Get your chestnuts from guys on here or just buy Chinese from your local wildlife agency. After 20 years, there’s no difference. Wasted money on dunstans when you can get a Chinese for 2 bucks.
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mattpatt
Well-Known Member
Yes! Unless you can get these on clearance don’t buy into the hype. Dunstan is just a chestnut with mostly Chinese genetics. Nothing special.
I will say that the Walmart trees do give you about a three year head start if you can find them for the right price. One of mine if blooming this year and it’s been in the ground for exactly one year.
Matt
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yoderjac
Well-Known Member
I completely agree on Dunstan when buying trees. Most of mine are Dunstan. For the new guys, there is nothing wrong with Dunstan trees but the price as they have been hyped to the hunting community. I grew all my trees from nuts, so there was no added premium for me to grow my own. One thing to keep in mind is that chestnuts don't pollinate themselves. You need a genetically different tree nearby as they are wind pollinated. Two chestnuts 100 yards apart are essentially sexually isolated.
"Dunstan" is really used for two things. It was a patent name for the original tree. The only way to get the patented Dunstan is to get a grafted tree from the original. "Dunstan" is also used as a trade name of Chestnut Hill. Most trees sold as Dunstan are actually progeny of the patented "Dunstan". In my case, I got nuts from the grafted trees. Since they can't be pollinated by another grafted tree with the same genetics, they only have 50% of the original "Dunstan" genetics.
Most of the specific attributes that are advertised are attributes of the patented "Dunstan". While chestnuts are more "true to seed" than say apples, the characteristics of the tradename Dunstan trees or trees grown from Dunstan nuts, will have a variety of characteristics that may differ from the original patented "Dunstan".
In my view, it is a bit of bait and switch using the same name for both. I'd say that when it comes to chestnuts for wildlife, any tree will do!
9x56MS
Active Member
This is year 7 here in central NY. They started producing chestnuts in year 5 and last year 6 I got about a gallon bucket out of my 2 trees. I am very happy with them the trees I planted on my hunting property will be 5 this year so hoping for enough to get the deer interested anyway.
mattpatt
Well-Known Member
Easy access to buying them, their size, their age. One of the two I purchased on clearance last year is loaded with burrs this year. I’ll probably end up picking them off due to its size. Both of them are producing catkins. For a wildlife tree they are hard to beat @ $15 a pop.
