Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Chestnut other trees for wildlife

Oh no, the Curse of Oak Island has reached YOUR property.

Good luck on your tree projects this year. My tube trees always seem to leaf out later than the existing trees on our farm. Of course, they are different species.

Our native sand plums already have tiny blossoms that are about to open. The pear trees that are in tubes and sticking out of the tops, do not yet even have buds swelling at all.

My oaks in tubes will leaf out very late.

Looks like I might wind up with maybe about 180 chestnut sprouts, 40 walnut, and about a dozen apple. No pecans.

Well.. another update. The same rabbits that chewed the bark of some expensive trees in my front yard have now decided it is fun to jump up on my 2 gl pots and snip the tops off my trees when they get about four inches tall...

If not for the wife and son, they would be buzzard bait right now...

I’ve had that problem. I put chicken wire around the trees.

I have so many chewing rodents and rabbits at our farm that every tree has to start in a tree tube. I did try some in chicken wire, but the wind beat the heck out of the branches that grew through the wire and sometimes damaged the bark.

If you do not have a deer problem, then you can buy long tubes and cut them down as needed. I purchased 5' tubes and cut a lot in half for some tiny oak seedlings. It is easy to drill holes as needed for your zip ties.

I think you can now purchase 6' tubes. You could probably cut those into four pieces that would be tall enough to deter rabbits.

I use 3/4" PVC tubing for my stakes. Buy the 10' sticks whenever there is a bulk sale at the big box hardware store. They flex a little in the wind, so your growing tree will start to put on some mass at the root collar, instead of growing up spindly.


P.S. I have had multiple trees where the main leader died due to animal chewing, drought, or a very hard freeze. At least 50% of the time, I would get some water sprouts growing out from the base of the trunk, or even from the roots. I now have several 6-8' trees that grew from such humble beginnings.

My advice is to keep nurturing the damaged trees a little, and see if they can bounce back from the stored energy in their root systems.

Aluminum window screen.

Wrap it around the trunk, use scissors to cut it long, staple it to itself. Very easy/cheap and protects against mice and rabbits.

Over the weekend I added two Dunstan Chestnut trees and replaced two that I killed by over-watering.

I've got six more to plant. Two are going in the house yard. I haven't decided where to put the last four.

Half a dozen of the trees in the grove have grown a foot or more out of the grow tube. It's time to pull those
tubes and replace them with wire cages.

Wound up with about 95 chestnuts, 75 walnuts, 5 apple, and no pecan. Decided we didn't want to plant that many soselling some. Probably going to treepro this week to pick up a bunch of 6' tree tubes. Will get picked to use as stakes. Did the wood stake route first time. Some broke off. Some rotted at ground level. Some fell over. Don't want to use t posts or iron pump rods as don't want to try to pull those up in 5 years. Also want them taller. Pvc has worked well on some other trees.

One thing I did learn the hard way. A few years ago, I bought several chestnuts at Rural King. They had some really tall ones so I picked them. Mistake. Had to stake them with 10' pvc pipe and it has been an issue ever since where they didn't want to stay vertical in the wind.

We've sold 15 or so of the chestnuts sprouted this spring. Probably going to plant the rest (about 80 chestnuts, 70 walnuts, and 5 apple) this fall. Nephew has a small excavator with auger attachment. Will likely buy a larger auger for it and use it instead of gas powered auger to save my back, speed it up, and create a larger area of loose dirt for roots.

We visited TreePro and purchased one hundred of the 6' tall tubes and some of that treatment they offer. They gave us a tour of the place and talked with us quite a bit. Not very impressive on the outside; but pretty darn neat.

Some of the initial 61 trees referenced earlier in this thread that were sprouted in Spring 2022 and transplanted fall of 2022 are now about 15 feet tall. Probably around 45 of the initial 61 survived - despite not watering. Much better survival and growth rates for those in the tubes (we didn't have enough). We had a couple of the trees break over when hit by some strong winds so we bought some 10' long 1" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe. Used a drill and 2" diameter 36" long auger to drill holes to hold a few of the pipes. Tore up some roots on at least one tree and getting drill very hot so relented to use some 5/8" five feet long sections of oil pump rods as posts, drove those down, and then slid the PVC pipe over the top. Much better solution. Less risk of damaging roots, better support for pipe, pipe extends higher (full 10' height), and it is MUCH faster (and easier on the drill and me).

Will replace the chestnuts that died. Probably buy some apples, pears, and persimmons to put in strategic spots. Plant the walnuts along creeks / bottoms where can't really farm. Plant the remaining chestnuts and apple trees at edges of woods and semi-clearings within the woods. Will probably fell some trees to open up more space / use the tubes / stakes / and weed matting. Have some ground that was in CRP and went out this year; but not really great farmland. May see if can put it in tree program where I can plant and choose my own trees.

Some of them are branching out right above the 5' tubes. Several aren't branching and I'm a little worried about those spindly 15 feet tall two year old trees. I put the 10' stake beside them and tied them loosely to it with flagging tape (tied loosely so it'll not break over, move in the wind, and hopefully build a strong stem). Should I be worried about how tall some are getting without branching? Any suggestions?

Mature trees appear loaded with chestnuts. Do I do this again this fall for next year? Not certain yet.

I predict they will start branching with their spring growth next year.

I would let all of the branches above the tree tube grow out next year. I would then prune the ones you want off during a dry spell in Jan/Feb of the following year.

Thanks FishinRod!

Bought a 12" diameter 4' long auger bit that goes on hydraulic attachment on mini excavator. Going to use it to drill bunch of holes to transplant chestnuts. Not sure I'm up for doing that again with the gas auger with even more trees.

Existing more mature trees seem loaded with nuts and have picked up a bunch. Will go to island on lake tomorrow and check those. If raccoons haven't gotten them yet, I anticipate picking up at least a couple gallon of nuts. Will probably direct seed some in woods areas and bury some to transplant too. Son will probably sell some small potted ones again next year.

Updates:

Many of the chestnuts from nuts I harvested in 2021 and transplanted in November 2022 now are producing nuts. Some of those trees are probably about 20' tall. Some still aren't out of the 5' tubes; but most are big and doing very, very well - especially since they've basically been neglected except for the Tree Pro tubes.

Those chestnuts from nuts harvested in 2023 and transplanted in 2024 using the small excavator with 12" diameter 4' auger and 6' tree pro tubes are doing well too. At least one of them is now above the 6' tube and some others are close.

I wound up harvesting 500+ nuts from some of the older trees we have - especially those on the island last fall. Initially trip to gather resulted in by far the most. Although there were many more (probably at least twice as many on the trees), subsequent trips were mostly useless as raccoons seem to have found them and never left much. Although I layered the nuts in sand in buckets like previously, I never got around to burying the buckets in a big dirt pile. And... I never had a single chestnut in the buckets sprout either. Not sure why; but apparently really need to bury them. I need to watch more videos or learn more before this fall.

I did keep seeds from a bunch of apple trees (we have some apple trees we've planted) in the same buckets. Many of those did sprout and grow. In fact, had much better luck getting the apple seeds to sprout in the buckets that way than before. Hmmm... I now have about 35 little apple trees I need to transplant this fall. Will probably plant those in the same area as planted the chestnuts last fall. Will probably buy some 5' tubes for those.

Lessons learned...

I'm firmly convinced that the tubes work very well and are definitely worth the money. The wood stakes didn't work well for us. They are too short, they rot, and they break off. We've gone with a 10' section of inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe. You can bury it when planting the tree and still have it extending above enough to provide good support for your trees. What seems to work even better? Driving down about a six feet section of oil field pump rod (basically equivalent to 5/8" smooth rebar) a couple feet into the compacted soil, then sliding the 10' PVC pipe over top of it.

Apparently, you really do need to bury buckets in dirt for overwintering if you want the seeds to sprout.

Also, I had several little walnut trees left in pots last fall that I never got around to planting in dirt. Every single one of those died.

Pics ? That is good growth on the trees.

I don't have an image hosting site; but I can take some pics and email them to you if you like.

Yes. I've been impressed how well most of the trees have done. They were transplanted into pretty poor clay soil where crops aren't really worth raising due to that poor soil and small acreage. On top of that, we haven't watered, fertilized, or anything to boost them except for replacing the stakes (many of the wooden stakes had broken off or fallen over allowing the tube to bend) and cleaning out the tubes (dead leaves fall in and accumulate). I've about decided the tubes should be opened up and cleaned out each spring.

My first impression of those Tree Pro tree tubes wasn't great; but now I'm a big advocate for them. I think they work much better than those you might find at Menards, Lowes, and Home Depot. With as many deer as we have and as little time I have to do maintenance, I don't think it would even be worthwhile for me to plant a tree without the tubes at this point.

Fishnrod: I've thought about this saying quite a bit since you posted it. Lot of wisdom in it

"The best things to add to your habitat are the things you are MISSING on your property!"

It has been REALLY dry around here for several weeks. Afraid I'm going to lose some trees.

I’ve soaked nuts and planted pecan trees. Only 2 actually made it. Been about 30 years and both are good trees. They are both at my rent house. The ones I’ve soaked and planted on my rural property and home haven’t worked out. Think I’ll try again this year if we get a good crop.

100 Sawtooths - 6 years old

52 pears - 6 years old

150 or so sawtooths - 2 years old.

40 Dunstan chestnut - a year old.


It is an enjoyable process.

What kind of pears did you plant?

I haven't transplanted those little apple trees yet.

I have a bunch of chestnuts i still haven't put in buckets and buried yet either.

Seems like time is always short. Gotta get them done though...

I know several people that intensively manage their property for wildlife. They say that if you are planting fruit trees for wildlife, that pear trees are MUCH hardier than apple trees.

I planted "wild" pear tree cultivars at my place that are adapted to our climate zone. I threw in a few trees that produce tasty pears for humans from a cultivar that is grafted onto a hardy native rootstock.

Some pear varieties are so hardy, that they can actually become an invasive tree species.


Morse Tree Nursery

This nursery is next door to you (in Indiana). I have had good success with their trees.

I also find their website to be excellent. They give lots of habitat advice, and are very good at labeling important selection factors. (For example, which trees are self-pollinating.)

I forgot to add one other item.

If you are planting fruit trees (or any mast trees) for wildlife, it is possible to plant several varieties of trees such that they will drop their fruit across a fairly broad range of dates.

For example, people have planted pear, apple, and crabapple varieties such that there is food available on the ground for MONTHS.

I have read a bit about newer strains of blight resistant chestnut. I read mostly about one strain/type. Are there other strains to research? I would be planting mostly for variety and to benefit deer and am close to Grand Rapids, MI so would have to tolerate moderate winters.