Chestnuts

[OakSeeds]

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This was recently posted on a thread 13 bumps down from here; it explains why I plant from seed and select the largest seeds possible. At 10-15 years, I have no doubt Dunstans will crank out as many or more pounds per acre - the true measure of production - as any Chinese varieties. The best production will virtually always come from well fed/watered trees, absent of competition and in full sun most of the day.

 

[chickenlittle]

The Dunstan seedlings are a good Chinese chestnut to choose if you get them at a decent price. Otherwise, most any Chinese chestnut or hybrid should be productive.

 

[yoderjac]

The Dunstan seedlings are a good Chinese chestnut to choose if you get them at a decent price. Otherwise, most any Chinese chestnut or hybrid should be productive.

Good point. I used Dunstan only because I was growing from seed. They are way over-hyped in the hunting community.

 

[Native Hunter]

Has anyone on this forum personally witnessed chestnuts that drop into November? How long into November, and what is your location? What is the source? Yes, I know the marketing claims are out there, I just want to know if anyone here has witnessed it. I have some run of the mill seedlings that will go to about October 20 in a good year.

 

[yoderjac]

Has anyone on this forum personally witnessed chestnuts that drop into November? How long into November, and what is your location? What is the source? Yes, I know the marketing claims are out there, I just want to know if anyone here has witnessed it. I have some run of the mill seedlings that will go to about October 20 in a good year.

I have not personally witnessed it, but I did have a chat with one of the guys at AU that developed the AU Bucks that were licensed to the Wildlife Group. He says the AU Buck IV does drop in Nov, but of course that was at Auburn. I have no idea if this would change with location.

 

[Native Hunter]

I have not personally witnessed it, but I did have a chat with one of the guys at AU that developed the AU Bucks that were licensed to the Wildlife Group. He says the AU Buck IV does drop in Nov, but of course that was at Auburn. I have no idea if this would change with location.

Yes, here is where I told everyone about those 8 years ago:

Source for varieties of Chinese Chestnut

I'm looking for various types of Chinese Chestnut, other that the garden variety I already have. Burnt Ridge has varieties of European and Japanese, but those will blight in the Midwest. I read somewhere that someone was planting several varieties of Chinese, and I'd like to do that, but need...

habitat-talk.com

And yes, I am aware that they are sold individually now. And, I might add that mine died, and if I remember correctly, yours did too.

 

[yoderjac]

Yes, here is where I told everyone about those 8 years ago:

Source for varieties of Chinese Chestnut

I'm looking for various types of Chinese Chestnut, other that the garden variety I already have. Burnt Ridge has varieties of European and Japanese, but those will blight in the Midwest. I read somewhere that someone was planting several varieties of Chinese, and I'd like to do that, but need...

habitat-talk.com

And yes, I am aware that they are sold individually now. And, I might add that mine died, and if I remember correctly, yours did too.

Yes, that i correct, mine died too. I saw the original article from AU and was chatting with them before they licensed the patent to TWG. Mine thrived while I had it in a rootmaker with good care. It did not last long once I planted it in the field. This is in contrast to the many chestnuts I grew from seed. I wonder if the nut grafting was a factor or is was jus the luck of the draw.

 

[b116757]

I suspect the grafting is the issue. I ordered a AU Buck seedling package last fall planted this spring and very much had the impression that what I ordered WAS NOT grafted trees but seedlings from those AU Buck parent trees so my drop times could very well be all over the place on those seedling trees. If they survive to a ripe old age however I’ll take that any time over grafted that struggle to even live several years. They where most definitely grown in a root pruning system of some kind and I was very impressed with their root systems. I also ordered a 20 tree straight Chinese chestnut package from them at the same time they where good trees but not grown in the root pruning system. Checking their website confirms they are no longer selling the grafted trees do to mortality issues so you are simply getting seedling Chinese Chestnuts from AU Buck trees with a much better than average chance of some late dropping trees being in your mix. Hope that’s the case.

Chestnuts - AU Buck Seedlings

AU Buck Chestnut trees are grown from seed, off of the late dropping grafted varieties. This seed was collected beneath the AU Buck III & IV trees. Available in (10) 1 gallon "rootmaker" pots.

www.wildlifegroup.com

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Has anyone heard or read about breeding efforts for blight resistant American chestnuts? I know that there have been numerous university screening trials for flight resistant progeny or offspring, but I'm assuming that these are just not panning out.

It seems that a couple of the other native chestnuts have also been getting some breeding attention for blight resistance, and they seem to be a little more optimistic. Maybe that's just better marketing?

 

[Teeder]

The American chestnut breeding hasn't worked out well, but what does look promising is the GMO version. They're injecting a wheat gene that makes it resist the blight and are working on getting it approved for release. If you have any interest in this, the chestnut foundation will send you a few straight American nuts to plant for "mother" trees. The plan is to get them established and when the GMO tree gets approved, cross it back to the mother trees. I have a few started and one straight American that's about 35' tall. I hope it lasts long enough to get crossed.

 

[Teeder]

Darling 58 is the name of the gmo tree, if you want to read about it.

 

[Troubles Trees]

"The Burr" is the Newsletter that the the ACF puts out for information about the Darling 58, looks like they have another type called DarWin Chestnut. The last newsletter stated the approval date will be summer of 2023 if memory serves. I will check my email and confirm that. I became a member of the ACF just to get some mother trees planted... F'N squirrels or something lifted every tube I had staked and buried and stole the nuts before the trees were more than a couple inches tall. I also had a member on here send me Pecans that were planted in the same spot that got also robbed from the tubes.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Here is the newest newsletter I got from the ACF. August 2023 is the expected approval date for the Darling 58.

https://acf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/The-Bur-Spring-2022.pdf

 

[TreeDaddy]

"The Burr" is the Newsletter that the the ACF puts out for information about the Darling 58, looks like they have another type called DarWin Chestnut. The last newsletter stated the approval date will be summer of 2023 if memory serves. I will check my email and confirm that. I became a member of the ACF just to get some mother trees planted... F'N squirrels or something lifted every tube I had staked and buried and stole the nuts before the trees were more than a couple inches tall. I also had a member on here send me Pecans that were planted in the same spot that got also robbed from the tubes.

I have to smile

i had 100 sawtooth acorns suffer same fate

This and inconsistent rains in texas summers made me abandon direct seeding acorns

Unless i use drip irrigation, all plantings are from containers a minimum of 3 gal

bill

 

[Troubles Trees]

I have to smile

i had 100 sawtooth acorns suffer same fate

Hahaaa I am not as upset today as I was the day of the discovery :) I have direct seeded a bunch of Oaks, in fact I did the same year I lost the Chestnuts and Pecans but different area and the Oaks were untouched. If the little buggers would just realize the bounty they will have in the years to come if they just leave my stuff alone lol

 

[yoderjac]

I suspect the grafting is the issue. I ordered a AU Buck seedling package last fall planted this spring and very much had the impression that what I ordered WAS NOT grafted trees but seedlings from those AU Buck parent trees so my drop times could very well be all over the place on those seedling trees. If they survive to a ripe old age however I’ll take that any time over grafted that struggle to even live several years. They where most definitely grown in a root pruning system of some kind and I was very impressed with their root systems. I also ordered a 20 tree straight Chinese chestnut package from them at the same time they where good trees but not grown in the root pruning system. Checking their website confirms they are no longer selling the grafted trees do to mortality issues so you are simply getting seedling Chinese Chestnuts from AU Buck trees with a much better than average chance of some late dropping trees being in your mix. Hope that’s the case.

Chestnuts - AU Buck Seedlings

AU Buck Chestnut trees are grown from seed, off of the late dropping grafted varieties. This seed was collected beneath the AU Buck III & IV trees. Available in (10) 1 gallon "rootmaker" pots.

www.wildlifegroup.com

Yes, I think you did a smart thing ordering the seedlings. It seems that, for the characteristics we generally care about, chestnuts are truer to seed than say apples. I messed around with nut grafting chestnuts for years and had no real success. While I suspect there may be some variation in drop time, I suspect it will be quite similar for those first generation trees. I actually tried to get some AU Buck IV nuts back when I was growing them. They would not sell me the nuts. I think they were having high failure rates with nut grafting and needed all the nuts. It is good to see they are now selling seedlings as well. I read your link to the web site. I notice they say the "AU Bucks are in and exclusive area". I presume this means that since a chestnut can not pollinate itself (or clone), the seedlings you are getting are actually hybrids between AU Buck III and AU Buck IV. I also presume the package that says you get 4 AU Buck III and 4 AU Buck IV is actually referring to the mother tree. Presuming their "Exclusive Area" statement is true I would expect these to be de facto hybrids and the direction of the cross would have little effect.

As far as drop time, as I recall, I think the AU Buck III were originally advertised to drop in mid-to-late Oct and the AU Buck IV were advertised to drop in mid-to-late Nov. Presuming these actually III x IV and IV x III hybrids, I would expect drop times to be in this range (at least in Auburn). I have no idea how much chestnut drop time is modulated by region and local conditions.

For those unfamiliar with chestnuts, "Exclusive Area" refers to the fact that chestnuts are wind populated rather than insect pollinated and trees a couple hundred yards or so away from each other are effectively sexually isolated. I used the phrase "de facto hybrids" because typical hybrids are created by bagging flowers to ensure they are not pollinated externally and then collecting pollen from the male tree and pollinating the flower by hand to ensure both parent are known.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[chickenlittle]

My main concern about late chestnuts is getting a hard frost before the nuts fill out. I’m just looking for my Chinese chestnut seedling orchard to get me into mid October at my parents farm in PA. If a tree or two drops into late October, I’ll be thrilled. The parent trees located 75 miles north start dropping in early October. I could see a tree making it to November but I’m planning for early archery attraction.

 

[yoderjac]

My main concern about late chestnuts is getting a hard frost before the nuts fill out. I’m just looking for my Chinese chestnut seedling orchard to get me into mid October at my parents farm in PA. If a tree or two drops into late October, I’ll be thrilled. The parent trees located 75 miles north start dropping in early October. I could see a tree making it to November but I’m planning for early archery attraction.

My objectives in planting the Dunstan were the same, early archery season attraction. Even if deer prefer chestnuts over white oaks, in years when we have both, it will be many years before I get enough volume from Dunstans and even then, it won't compete with our native oaks in volume.