Chestnuts in colder climates

[cavey]

Im in central Dunn County WI 4b just south of the 4a line, I have a few Chinese Chestnuts growing and producing nuts (a mix of mature and undeveloped nuts) - They are on my higher ground west of Menomonie ... I do see some end branch die off occasionally but the trees continue to put on height. They have seen temps -30 plus and many -10 to -20 days

My dunstan's have not done much of anything most have died off with time.

 

[bornagain62511]

Just watched the video in the link about establishing chestnuts. Very worthwhile watch on a boring Sunday evening. Do yourself a favor, if nothing else FF it to about 1:25 min in and watch the portion on herbicide. Informative and something new to try if not doing it already.


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Thanks for the recommendation on the video. So around the 1:52:00 mark in the video he says that he has had pure Chinese chestnuts survive -37F with no winterkill! I wonder if it makes a difference if it's just one cold night during a winter like that compared to more numerous nights at say -20F to -25F? Seems like repeated nights around -20 to -25F would be harder on them than just a single colder night if that is what he experienced with his trees? Also interesting what he said about roundup. I have often thought about the harmful effects of glyphosate on soil health and he explained that very well. Glad I got to hear that. I've never liked using chemicals and from now on I will be limiting my use of gly even more.

 

[bornagain62511]

Shephard is in Viola, WI which is pretty much the same as the NE tip of Iowa weatherwise. He does have the advantage of being on former ag land so his soil was more fertile to start with compared to some hunting properties that one wants to plop in some food plots or plantings where soils or conditions are more challenging. If things were good enough for crops, it would have been planted at one time or another. In my area the aerial photos from 1938 show similar fields as today. No new great discovered ag spots since then.

Where I'm going with this is if you want to be on the edge of a plant's native range it helps a bunch to have good soil.

Btw I have purchased hybrid hazelnuts from Shephard and they have done better than a different batch from Vermont. Jury is still out on others from upper NY.

Further edit, the big trees in Madison WI are American Chestnut.

American Chestnuts with no blight? I know of a decent sized grove of American Chestnuts close to where I live in SW Wi. They must be at least 60 years old. Usually have a nice crop of nuts most years but sad to see it looks like the blight has been hitting them the past 5 years or so. I have some 3 to 4 year old trees on our farm that I grew from those American chestnuts that I collected from the large trees. They easily withstand our winters. The Dustan chestnuts I planted the last couple years from seed I still have not been able to tell if it was winterkill last winter, or if the extreme drought and late freeze we had last April and May that was so hard on them. This year will be a good test. We had an average winter and getting some rains now so drought shouldn't be a problem in the near future this spring.

 

[bornagain62511]

Im in central Dunn County WI 4b just south of the 4a line, I have a few Chinese Chestnuts growing and producing nuts (a mix of mature and undeveloped nuts) - They are on my higher ground west of Menomonie ... I do see some end branch die off occasionally but the trees continue to put on height. They have seen temps -30 plus and many -10 to -20 days

My dunstan's have not done much of anything most have died off with time.

so it sounds like from your experience and some other's who've posted on here, that Dustan's are even less winter hardy than most other Chinese chestnuts?? I thought they would be more winter hardy because of their genetic background cross with American chestnuts?

 

[b116757]

I don’t think there is really much American genetics in Dustans just a bit for some slick marketing.

 

[rocksnstumps]

As mentioned above the Madison WI American chestnuts are at the UW Arboretum. Sure they are pampered well and small patch of 4 or 5 trees. Probably not enough concentration to attract whatever brings the blight into an area or maybe they do some chemical concoction to keep it away. Know you can treat soil to help prevent Dutch elm disease and believe emerald ash borer so maybe similar for chestnut. Dunno.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Troubles Trees, so do you mean that during the winter of 2020-2021 you had Dustan chestnuts that were several years old and growing in natural settings in -20 to -30 during January of 2021 and they survived well and leafed out normally in spring/summer 2021 with little to no winterkill?
thanks!

For the Dunstans I planted 4 in the fall of 2020, 3 woke up and leafed out normal and 1 had winter die back and pushed out a new shoot from the roots. The Chinese Chestnuts I planted 10 the spring 2018 and none died back but I am down to 7. One I ran over with the mower :/ the other I unknowingly planted in a spot that is wetter in the spring than I realized when I planted it, and the 3rd was an unknown casualty.

 

[cavey]

so it sounds like from your experience and some other's who've posted on here, that Dustan's are even less winter hardy than most other Chinese chestnuts?? I thought they would be more winter hardy because of their genetic background cross with American chestnuts?

I potted out about a 100 Dunstans from nuts thinking the same thing after having a bit of luck with the Chinese chestnuts. I had a few years before that planted some american chestnuts but did little to protect them. The chinese chestnuts have faired the best, I only had a handful of those, wish I had planted more. But, I again also thought the american and or hybrid ones would fair better.

 

[b116757]

American chestnuts had such a large natural rage that I’m sure the northern most and southern most trees where adapted somewhat to their local environments. Same goes for Chinese Chestnuts if Dunstan used a southern verity for both American and Chinese cultivars which is likely as I believe the Dunstan orchard is in Florida I doubt they can survive the northern extreme range. For this exact reason I’ve been trying to locate an extreme north seed source for some SWO acorns for some property I have in zone 3.

 

[bornagain62511]

I don’t think there is really much American genetics in Dustans just a bit for some slick marketing.

I talked to Tom from Red Fern Farm and he said the same thing. He said there's little to no American genetics in Dustan and they are no where near cold hardy enough for Wisconsin winters. To summarized what he said, basically made it sound like Dustan's have been a huge false marketing scheme. He also told me about Badgersett:

Information about Hybrid Chestnuts to Plant or Eat | Badgersett Research

www.badgersett.com

 

[homerj1]

The last I knew Badgersett went belly up and owed a whole bunch of money to a whole bunch of people. Check out their Google reviews sometime.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Yep dont hear much about Badgersett any more, think they are kaput. Web site info has not been updated in like 5 or 6 yrs.

Besides the hybrid chestnuts, they were big into trying to produce hybrid hazelnuts that had a much bigger nut and yield trying to bring a new commercial crop to the upper midwest. Now the ones trying to push that are a collaborative effort with several universities and other growers which some of them have some of the Badgersett genetics but others were doing their own lines of plants and selections.

Btm line is lots of hope and positive talk but the holy grail of getting plants that truly live up to the hype is at a very slow pace on results.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Since we are talking about cold hardy Chestnuts I figure I should mention this place. Z's Nutty Ridge is literally across the valley from my house, I can see his windmill from my land after the leaves drop in the fall and although everything he sells is started in the nursery it is grown to selling size outdoors. I am not familiar with Heartnuts but he threw a couple in on an order I picked up for free, his Hazelnuts are awesome too if anyone is interested. Jeff is a really great guy and is very passionate about his trees, reminds me of Ryan from Blue Hill in many ways. I am in the peculiar predicament of having to cut down more trees to plant more trees, but where I can I fill in areas with his Hazelnuts, I get the neighbor discount :)

According to the average hardiness zone map we are in zone 5 but if you look at the more detailed USDA map there is a finger of zone 4B that dips down almost to PA. that is where we live here in Central NY.

Chestnut trees

Buy Chestnut trees, Grow your own chestnut trees. Chestnuts are superfood.

znutty.com

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Is there any info out there if the emerald ash boer will cause problems with chestnut trees. I think they are in the same family as ash trees.

 

[homerj1]

Ash are Oleaceae, chestnut are Fagaceae

 

[rocksnstumps]

Have seen this advertised in WI outdoor news. Buck Nuttz chestnuts at bucknuttz.com

Site shows they are around Horicon WI. No feedback otherwise since dont know anyone that has dealt with them. Maybe give em a call and see what his story is.

 

[rocksnstumps]

TT above^^^

Trying some z nutty ridge hybrid hazelnuts but only started those last yr. Will have feedback in about 5 yrs lol

 

[Troubles Trees]

Trying some z nutty ridge hybrid hazelnuts

Atta boy! Most of mine have only been in the ground for 2 years so I don't expect nuts for a few more years. Where did you hear about Z's?

 

[rocksnstumps]

Buncha the hybrid hazelnut efforts and contacts can be found at
midwesthazelnuts.org

There are other hybrid efforts further out west but they are doing so for american hazelnut disease resistance while the midwest is needing both cold hardiness and disease improvements over the European varieties. They have actual small trees in places like Oregon but Midwest and upper East Coast is probably going to always be a shrub form.

 

[sam_1421]

I live in southern QC, Canada. I have a young 4 years old American Chestnut on my property, doing well so far but it grows really slowly. It seems to have survived this winter once again. I know a few other people who grow a few of them with more or less success around here.

There are a few notable specimens of a good size in Quebec City, which is pretty far north. They even produce crops.