First year Chestnut tree report

[VTwoodchuck]

Last year I decided to plant some Dustan Chestnut trees in the landing that I cleared last year. I had removed all the stumps and planted some rye to keep the ferns out. My Chestnut Hill trees arrived in early April but, I kept them dormant until May.


I planted them like any tree with a mix of the natural soil, bone meal and peat moss.

 

[VTwoodchuck]

The trees were year old sprigs. They arrived in good shape but I felt that when the tied the trees together that the tie wrap was too tight and two saplings had dead buds above the tie-wrap. For the most part they had good buds.

 

[VTwoodchuck]

I started them in the tan grow tubes and now have added the fence to protect them from feeding deer.
They are about 25 feet apart with a nice southern exposure.

Now on August first I have two outstanding trees, two good solid trees and two that may not make it.
I suspect that I will add six more next year.

 

[longbow]

How long before you can expect Chestnuts? Why did you get rid of the Chestnut trees that where there? Good luck with them!

 

[Browseline]

Looks like you have a nice spot for them.

I planted 4 Dunstan chestnut trees last Sept 25th in my field. I got the trees from NH Mountains. They all made it through the winter and have grown about 50%. I took this picture this evening of one. They are all about the same.

 

[VTwoodchuck]

Looks like you have a nice spot for them.

I planted 4 Dunstan chestnut trees last Sept 25th in my field. I got the trees from NH Mountains. They all made it through the winter and have grown about 50%. I took this picture this evening of one. They are all about the same.

Those look great. This has been a great year for growing anything. Wintering is my next concern.

Longbow:
I guess my wording was clumsy. I cleared the landing of Hemlocks. I kept the maples(we sugar) and a few rogue apple trees. Nuts in 5-6 years.....hopefully

 

[longbow]

That's quicker than I thought , good luck!

 

[mbVT]

Nice work Chuck- very cool! Thanks for sharing the experience.

 

[kevin in nh]

Nice work Chuck- very cool! Thanks for sharing the experience.

X2....interesting and no auguring or name calling....refreshing and I hope all your hard work pays off

 

[HuntZ]

That's nice. Any new updates about the chestnut tree?

 

[NoDeerHere]

Looks like you have a nice spot for them.

I planted 4 Dunstan chestnut trees last Sept 25th in my field. I got the trees from NH Mountains. They all made it through the winter and have grown about 50%. I took this picture this evening of one. They are all about the same.

Any updates? How are they doing?

 

[NH Mountains]

These were the first chestnuts from trees I’ve grown from seed. The 8 burs produced 21 pollinated nuts.

 

[NH Mountains]

I harvested them on October 12. I got them before the squirrels could. I put them in a paper bag for a few days before pulling them out.

 

[Browseline]

Any updates? How are they doing?

They are all doing well. The first 3 or 4 years the stem gained on diameter size and the last couple years they have been gaining height. This picture is from the summer of 2019. They are about 6 ft tall or more now. They were about a foot tall with a pencil size stem when NH Mountains brought them up to me.

 

[NH Mountains]

Browse,

If they don’t have any winter dieback from an early spring followed by a late frost, they should really put on some growth this year. I had one two years ago your size and it produced 7 burs and 18 nuts this year.

 

[NoDeerHere]

I harvested them on October 12. I got them before the squirrels could. I put them in a paper bag for a few days before pulling them out.

They look like a big beach nut pod. Thanks for posting.

 

[NH Mountains]

They look like a big beach nut pod. Thanks for posting.

They are almost the size of a tennis ball. The spikes are extremely sharp. You’d be hard fetched to pick one up barehanded. Inside each bur are the nuts. Usually 3. Not all of the burs get pollinated though. They may be all duds or 1-3 nuts. I had one tree that had 100+ catkins but, only one bur formed from them this year. It should be loaded next year.

 

[NH Mountains]

The site isn’t letting me load my photos very well but, here’s a couple burs on the tree

 

[NH Mountains]

I had to crop this one but it’s close to 20’ tall. It has a lot of the American chestnut traits in it. It has not produced catkins yet.

 

[NH Mountains]

Here’s what Browse should be looking for on his trees late next June. The catkins produce the pollen and the bur that gets pollinated to form the bur and eventual nuts.