Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Chestnut planting time

Got the first twenty of this years crop in today. I always forget how long it takes... Thinking "that's not many, be done in no time..." To do it right you get about three to four an hour in. Got bit up by deer flies, sweaty, sticky, bloody and muddy, then took the first dip in the new pond and a short nap on the dock. What a welcome addition THAT is to the process!

I planted 5 on my farm in KS. Mine are in grow tubes so the the deer do not eat them.

I am on the fringe of where Chestnuts will grow well, so we will see how they do.

The last I heard, chestnuts were in big trouble. That was 20 yr or more ago. What's the story today?

Chinese chestnut trees brought here in 1904 carried a blight that decimated the American chestnut, 3-5 billion trees died depending on the report you read.

The ACF is pretty close to having a genetically modified American Chestnut which can withstand the blight. Supposedly all the American characteristics remain. They are offering seeds to members of the ACF, hopefully released to the general public in the next few years. Keep bouncing around if I want to wait for the blight resistant or go ahead and buy Dunstan Chestnuts now.

Hollywood, which chestnut did you plant?

I have some Dunstan and will be adding a few more. But the majority I've planted are Chinese. The past couple winters I've germinated the nuts and grown them out from January til now when they look like the little guy in the pic. My main goal is mast for wildlife. The Chinese offer that with no blight issue and I can afford it. The little tree you see cost me about .80 . I plan to eventually have about 600. I can't swing that many without growing them myself.

All this talk about Chestnuts so I planted a couple to give them a try. I planted Sweet Chestnut, Castanea sativa, this week. Anybody have experience with them?

Bill, that is a European variety.
Do you have a grafted tree or grown right from the nut?

I planted bareroot trees that are not grafts. Planted 2 for cross pollination. Wife was ordering a bunch of ornamental grasses from Burgess so I added them to the order.

I've seen some pretty lofty claims about production... Mostly from places selling the trees. The info I believe claims trees grown from the nut typically take about twenty years to bear. Grafted trees begin much sooner, most chestnut orchards go that route.

Dang! Made a mistake. Just pulled out the catalog. Species is Castanea Mollissima. Claim in the catalog is it's the only chestnut blight resistant, fastest growing and often bears when trees are only 3 to 4 feet tall. Final height of 40 feet.

The 5 Chestnuts that I planted are Dunstan.

They were bare root, and I planted them in 5' grow tubes.
So far all 5 are doing pretty well. They are leafed out and growing up through the tubes. Not sure if they will grow enough to clear the top of the tubes this year, but we will see.

Mine were 100% non blight resistant American Chestnuts. Only one left after various disasters and it is doing well. I have several Chinese/American crosses, and two are doing rather well, but have almost beech-shaped leaves. It will be interesting to see how they mature.

I have one full-fledged Chinese Chestnut, and that thing bears a ton of nuts. It came with the house, and I am not sure what is fertilizing the nuts as I have not located a nearby tree yet. The AC in Ontario County Park have all succumbed to the blight now, so I don't think it is them. These is likely a loner somewhere nearby I don't know about.

I was hoping for a lot more trees, but they really struggle in my soil type.

I planted some of this seasons seedlings in the heavy clay I have on the lower part of my property. Didn't have a lot of hope for them, but gave it a try. They are doing better so far than the ones up top in what I thought had the better soil for them. Too early to tell yet, but so far, so good.