Fall Dunstan Chestnuts in Stores Now

[H20fwler]

I was browsing around the internet last night at work and happened upon the ChestnutHill link again and saw that they have a pretty decent fall shipment of chestnut trees this year.

One of the stores was within fifteen miles of me so I went over this afternoon and picked up some more.
The ones at my local store are 7'-8' tall and look really good, actually better than the ones I bought last spring. They even had some potted fall pear and apple trees in stock.


http://files.constantcontact.com/0c89445a101/9b59efff-abcb-4dcf-a6e6-7272b446235f.pdf

http://files.constantcontact.com/0c89445a101/c129e058-5018-42c0-ba41-723a256e18e7.pdf

Just thought I would pass this info along.

 

[SIL hunter]

Nice heads up, I'll be going thru Benton on Saturday, I will check them out.

 

[H20fwler]

Here are what the ones at my local store look like. I will be getting these in the ground within the next couple weeks.

 

[Native Hunter]

Wow, those look nice.

 

[scott44]

I wish they carried them here in MI, I think there might be a couple stores in the southern part of the state the last time I looked. I wouldn't mind trying a couple.

 

[loshonhora]

what is rural king's price for those?

 

[j-bird]

what is rural king's price for those?

Last I saw RK wanted roughly $30 a tree. I wait and take the last few when they price them to get rid of them.......I paid like $12 ea for mine last year.

 

[yoderjac]

Just one note. When you buy trees grown in conventional containers they can look great above ground, but rooks can be circling and j-hooking in the container. While they my grow fine for a few years in the field, it can cause root constriction as the tree grows limiting the tree. I would suggest checking the roots and pruning any thing that is circling and j-hooking. With this much disturbance of the roots, I would plant them like a bare root tree when dormant. This will slow them down while the roots reestablish, but you will end up with a better tree in the long-run.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Needmorebrush82]

Lowes is selling what they are calling american chestnuts right now. No idea how american they are, just going by what the tag said.

 

[bodie]

i picked up 8 dustan's at the monticello,in store last night along with a couple apple and pear. all of the trees look to be in excellent shape. i'm going to take j-bird's advice and wait a few weeks to see if i can get a clearance price. they have at least 20 more in stock if anyone is remotely close to the lake shafer area in indiana.

 

[H20fwler]

i picked up 8 dustan's at the monticello,in store last night along with a couple apple and pear. all of the trees look to be in excellent shape. i'm going to take j-bird's advice and wait a few weeks to see if i can get a clearance price. they have at least 20 more in stock if anyone is remotely close to the lake shafer area in indiana.

What varieties of apple/pear did you get?
I'm doing the same waiting to see if my local ones drop in price too, I've got four stores with them within an hour of me. I am looking at maybe adding some more fruit trees to the orchard this fall and am very interested in what types they may have.

In this nice cool weather I have been planting trees like a wild man on my days off before hunting season starts, here are fourteen of the Dunstan's I put in the middle of last week.

 

[bodie]

i was able to pick up honey crisp apples and bartlett pear.

 

[H20fwler]

Thanks

 

[Spur]

What varieties of apple/pear did you get?
I'm doing the same waiting to see if my local ones drop in price too, I've got four stores with them within an hour of me. I am looking at maybe adding some more fruit trees to the orchard this fall and am very interested in what types they may have.

In this nice cool weather I have been planting trees like a wild man on my days off before hunting season starts, here are fourteen of the Dunstan's I put in the middle of last week.

They look too close together from the picture. In 10 years they will be growing into each other. I have been growing Dunstans for 7 years now and can get my trees to grow almost as much as The Hill even though they are in Florida after 3 years. How much people pay for those container trees with some of the worst root systems I have ever seen is insane. When you plant them up north they go into shock and don't grow for the first year even with optimal soil conditions.

I sell my Dunstans trees on Craigslist locally for $10 and they are 3.5' tall and will have great roots. i bet if you search Craigslist you can find someone growing them close to you. Scott, I am going through Michigan on the 22nd and coming back through on the 23rd,;if you can meet me near the highway I can deliver some.

 

[yoderjac]

They look too close together from the picture. In 10 years they will be growing into each other. I have been growing Dunstans for 7 years now and can get my trees to grow almost as much as The Hill even though they are in Florida after 3 years. How much people pay for those container trees with some of the worst root systems I have ever seen is insane. When you plant them up north they go into shock and don't grow for the first year even with optimal soil conditions.

I sell my Dunstans trees on Craigslist locally for $10 and they are 3.5' tall and will have great roots. i bet if you search Craigslist you can find someone growing them close to you. Scott, I am going through Michigan on the 22nd and coming back through on the 23rd,;if you can meet me near the highway I can deliver some.

Many folks don't realize that trees grown in regular nursery containers have circling and j-hooking roots. If you plant them as-is, the trees do great and look great at first, but those circling roots eventually cause root constriction which has a significant negative impact on the tree as it get older. They can be dealt with by removing the media and manually pruning any circling or j-hooking roots. However with this root disturbance, you now have the equivalent of a bare root seedling. While this is better for the long-term life of the tree, you end up with a year of sleep, a year of creep, and then finally they leap.

The price that Dunstans command is largely because of the successful marketing and hype. The combination of the price and the root issues of traditional container grown tree is what started me growing my own using a root pruning container system. While it's not for everyone, it has worked well for my application.

When you grow your own and the marginal cost per tree is fairly low, you can use a different spacing strategy. I'm planting mine about 18' apart. This is too close for mature trees. Crowns will interfere and they will rob each other of resources as they get older. However, chestnuts are wind pollinated. Close spacing increases nut production in the early years. My strategy is to increase production in the early years with close spacing. Some trees will die or be poor producers. When crowns begin to interfere with each other, I'll select the best producing trees and cull any interfering with it. With 18' spacing, if I cull every other tree, the spacing at maturity will be about 36' which is pretty good spacing.

I'm planting chestnuts in volume. If I were only planting a few trees for attraction and playing a premium for them, I would space them for maturity at planting time.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[j-bird]

Last time I checked my local retailer that has them they still liked them more than I did (still charging full price) - they will go on sale and then I'll spend just as much.....but buy twice as many!:D

 

[H20fwler]

They look too close together from the picture. In 10 years they will be growing into each other. I have been growing Dunstans for 7 years now and can get my trees to grow almost as much as The Hill even though they are in Florida after 3 years. How much people pay for those container trees with some of the worst root systems I have ever seen is insane. When you plant them up north they go into shock and don't grow for the first year even with optimal soil conditions.

I sell my Dunstans trees on Craigslist locally for $10 and they are 3.5' tall and will have great roots. i bet if you search Craigslist you can find someone growing them close to you. Scott, I am going through Michigan on the 22nd and coming back through on the 23rd,;if you can meet me near the highway I can deliver some.

I planted them 30 feet apart two staggered rows, some of those are 8' tall. When planting I looked the roots over good and didn't see any j-hooking at all.

In a few years I should start getting some nuts and can start to grow my own that should give me more options.

Thanks