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.