New to Chestnuts
- Thread starter Goldentriangle
- Start date
Goldentriangle
A good 3 year old buck
Quick update on the trees I started this post with. The owner tells me these trees are approximately 9-10 years old. He says they are Dunstans purchased from his friend who owns a local chestnut orchard. (Chestnut ridge of pike county il). The trees are just beginning to drop and man are they loaded. The owner does eat them and give some to friends. Even though he told me I could fill a bucket, I could only bring myself to take a gallon ziplock bag. I got about 140 nuts. Most of the burs open up and drop the nuts, or the whole but would fall and shatter the nuts all over the ground.
The tree that had the most burs had smaller Chestnuts that were a little bigger than a quarter. There would be anywhere from 2-5 nuts a bur. The second tree had less burs but the nuts were huge. Most were bigger than a half dollar and there would be 1 big nut or 2 slightly smaller nuts per bur.
Just thought I would follow up on my original post. Also the landowner gave me a handful of butternuts from his butternut tree. I know nothing about these..... Do they have any wildlife value?
Thanks
Scott
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The tree that had the most burs had smaller Chestnuts that were a little bigger than a quarter. There would be anywhere from 2-5 nuts a bur. The second tree had less burs but the nuts were huge. Most were bigger than a half dollar and there would be 1 big nut or 2 slightly smaller nuts per bur.
Just thought I would follow up on my original post. Also the landowner gave me a handful of butternuts from his butternut tree. I know nothing about these..... Do they have any wildlife value?
Thanks
Scott
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Scott,
Sounds like you found a great source. One of the characteristics of Dunstans is that most of the nuts fall from the burrs making them more easily available to deer. You should check to see if his trees are grafted. I'm guessing not. Presuming they are seed grown, there will be a bit of variety in characteristics. That would account for the difference in the size and volume of nuts from each tree.
Chinese chestnuts and hybrids have great wildlife value. They are a great carb source. Dunstan was originally a hybrid with back crossing between Chinese and American. It was blight reactant. Dunstan (last name of the guy who came up with the cross patent) also became a trade name for Chestnut Hill. So, most of the trees sold today as Dunstan are seed grown. Unlike some trees, chestnuts are fairly "true to seed" which means they will have characteristics similar to the tree from which the nuts came. Chestnut Hill has done a great job of marketing Dunstan chestnuts to the hunting community. They sell for a premium over other Chinese and hybrid chestnuts.
Many of us are growing them from nuts. The biggest issue with growing chestnuts trees from nuts is the potential for mold because of the high carb content. The best collection method is to take the straight from the bur after they begin to open but before the nuts fall from the bur. This minimizes possible exposure to mold spores. The next best method is to pick them from the ground immediately. The longer they sit on the ground, the greater the chances of exposure to mold spores.
Looks like you found a great source. Many folks here who grow them from nuts buy the nuts from Chestnut Ridge of Pike County.
Thanks,
Jack
Sounds like you found a great source. One of the characteristics of Dunstans is that most of the nuts fall from the burrs making them more easily available to deer. You should check to see if his trees are grafted. I'm guessing not. Presuming they are seed grown, there will be a bit of variety in characteristics. That would account for the difference in the size and volume of nuts from each tree.
Chinese chestnuts and hybrids have great wildlife value. They are a great carb source. Dunstan was originally a hybrid with back crossing between Chinese and American. It was blight reactant. Dunstan (last name of the guy who came up with the cross patent) also became a trade name for Chestnut Hill. So, most of the trees sold today as Dunstan are seed grown. Unlike some trees, chestnuts are fairly "true to seed" which means they will have characteristics similar to the tree from which the nuts came. Chestnut Hill has done a great job of marketing Dunstan chestnuts to the hunting community. They sell for a premium over other Chinese and hybrid chestnuts.
Many of us are growing them from nuts. The biggest issue with growing chestnuts trees from nuts is the potential for mold because of the high carb content. The best collection method is to take the straight from the bur after they begin to open but before the nuts fall from the bur. This minimizes possible exposure to mold spores. The next best method is to pick them from the ground immediately. The longer they sit on the ground, the greater the chances of exposure to mold spores.
Looks like you found a great source. Many folks here who grow them from nuts buy the nuts from Chestnut Ridge of Pike County.
Thanks,
Jack
wbpdeer
5 year old buck +
Quick update on the trees I started this post with. The owner tells me these trees are approximately 9-10 years old. He says they are Dunstans purchased from his friend who owns a local chestnut orchard. (Chestnut ridge of pike county il). The trees are just beginning to drop and man are they loaded. The owner does eat them and give some to friends. Even though he told me I could fill a bucket, I could only bring myself to take a gallon ziplock bag. I got about 140 nuts. Most of the burs open up and drop the nuts, or the whole but would fall and shatter the nuts all over the ground.
The tree that had the most burs had smaller Chestnuts that were a little bigger than a quarter. There would be anywhere from 2-5 nuts a bur. The second tree had less burs but the nuts were huge. Most were bigger than a half dollar and there would be 1 big nut or 2 slightly smaller nuts per bur.
Just thought I would follow up on my original post. Also the landowner gave me a handful of butternuts from his butternut tree. I know nothing about these..... Do they have any wildlife value?
Thanks
Scott
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Second paragraph and second sentence - 2 to 5 nuts in a bur. I think that is a typo - I have never seen a burr that had more than 3 chestnuts.
You got 140 nuts - you did good. You can grow a bunch of trees with 140 to work with.
Goldentriangle
A good 3 year old buck
Thanks for the heads up on the shipment Wayne! You are correct, I must've fat fingered the 5. Between what I have collected and the nuts you are sending me, I will be trying multiple methods. I plan on direct seeding in both the fall and spring, and I will be growing a bunch in both rootmakers and recycled tree and plant pots I have saved. I really hope to have a bunch of producing trees on multiple farms in the future.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
wbpdeer
5 year old buck +
Hey it is exciting to see what you will accomplish. Chestnuts have a wide germination schedule and they are vigorous growers once they get started.
You neighborhood trees - the color and size of the chestnuts vary some. Is that correct? I pick under 46 different trees and they are like students in schools. They have their differences. Nature needs that diversity. This afternoon my oldest two grandkids counted out 52 chestnuts - they counted a bag that is coming to you. We made sure to get chestnuts from different locations in each bag.
They also cherry picked for me - we do our best to keep the very best chestnuts out of 1,000s for our fridge. I will have shipped over 7,000 chestnuts by tomorrow night.
Yes it is exciting to see the path you are headed down!!!!
