That time of year again!

[Jordan Selsor]

Did you guys start growing yet? Lets see your grow operations! Me an a buddy teamed up an got 90 chestnuts and a handful of burrs, apple, pears and ghost pepper under the grow lights! Thats a new grow light we are trying out. Its got some wacky color to it.. 6 of the chestnuts started sprouting in the fridge so I figured they should be good an stratified. I know the apple an pears could turn out to be God knows what but still growing them for fun! The chestnuts are from chestnut ridge out of pike county IL and a handfull of chinese from THunter (Tommy). TKS Tommy.. This is a good cure for the post deer season blues! We were like little kids getting set up


Got a new planting tool that should make for quick planting this spring and fall:) Watch out that bull dog will getcha!!!!

 

[Rally1148]

Is that an LED? If so I'll be super interested in your results with it.


I've got a bunch of white, SWO and a few burrs started in October that I've grown all winter. I'm also starting ninebark and speckled alder from seed. I've got RO doggies, alder, and what I believe to be American HB Cranberry cuttings started here. I used 4 rope lights, and it seems to work well. I've set them on my glassed in porch under a card table with insulating packaging (kind of that 1/10 inch foam sheet stuff) hanging down to make a baby greenhouse. It stays ~50 in there.

As for the oaks, I've used T5's with mylar hang around the edges.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Yes its an LED. Nice little hot box man! Those oaks look good!

 

[Rally1148]

I've found that I'm able to adjust the temperature better with them. I can flip up the ends if it's too hot, or put them all down if too cold.

My hard mast will be limited next year to hazels an DCO's, as next year I'll be focusing a lot more on shrubs of all sorts to get rid A/O and replace it with natives. I'll likely not be starting this early and for the shrubs I'll likely switch from RM18's to conetainers because root pruning isn't as important and they can handle a bit more water. It'll also cut down on the cost of mixes and allow me to get more plants per foot. For these oaks, I plan on going into DIY smartpots made from geotextile pond underlay. For the shrubs (this year the ninebark, alder and doggies) I'll put them into 4 inch in ground rootmaker bags. I'm planting in areas that are pretty sandy, and I'm about 2 hours away from the property which will eliminate watering a lot of the time, so I'm really going to focus on minimizing transplant shock, and planting with established roots. I'm also caging (to some extent) everything I plant for at least the first year to make sure there isn't additional stress.

I started a few other oaks a day or two ago, and I'll be really interested in seeing if there is a difference in summer growth between the two.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

You guys are gonna get investigated for growing something else...lol. Nice set ups....if I had more room I'd probably be doing the same thing.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

You guys are gonna get investigated for growing something else...lol. Nice set ups....if I had more room I'd probably be doing the same thing.

I tell him that every yr! Lol

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Ok so I had a good amount of chestnuts from chestnut ridge that didn't germinate. Put them back in the fridge for another wk. pulled them back out an put under the lights in rootmakers. It's now been 10 days an still no germination?! What now??!!!

 

[Rally1148]

I've got no experience with Chestnuts and their stratification. If I remember correctly, bigeight is the chestnut guru.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I answered Jordan's question elsewhere but I will answer it here as well. I did learn my method from Big 8. It appears that chestnuts need moisture within the bag in order for cold stratification to occur. If you bring your chestnuts to room temperature and they dont germinate in 2-3 days put them back in the fridge for another week. It seems that chestnuts love to grow, so if they arent something is preventing it. Seems more times than not they arent cold stratified enough.

 

[scott44]

Mine's really simple as far as the lighting, south facing window in the kitchen and some clear visqueen around the shelves. While I was at Farm and Home I found this little greenhouse for $30 and it holds 8 Rootmakers.







The wife saw some of my NWSG so I also started some for the yard BIg Blue, Indian and Switch a lot easier starting it like this lol.

 

[Rally1148]

Mine's really simple as far as the lighting, south facing window in the kitchen and some clear visqueen around the shelves. While I was at Farm and Home I found this little greenhouse for $30 and it holds 8 Rootmakers.







The wife saw some of my NWSG so I also started some for the yard BIg Blue, Indian and Switch a lot easrier starting it like this lol.

I've always thought about starting some plugs of wildflowers for my native prairie. I was thinking about doing a general forb NWSG mix, and then put in certain stuff that are goodies for deer as plugs.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I answered Jordan's question elsewhere but I will answer it here as well. I did learn my method from Big 8. It appears that chestnuts need moisture within the bag in order for cold stratification to occur. If you bring your chestnuts to room temperature and they dont germinate in 2-3 days put them back in the fridge for another week. It seems that chestnuts love to grow, so if they arent something is preventing it. Seems more times than not they arent cold stratified enough.

Tks TC
We put nuts back in the fridge a few days ago. Ones that sprouted are growing like crazy!