What to expect with Dunstan's

[j-bird]

Just planted 3 Dunstan chestnuts from Native Nurseries. Trees are about 5 feet tall now. What has been the experience the rest of you have had with these trees? How long will it take to start seeing the trees to produce nuts? Do deer take a while to figure out the nuts? Do I need to protect from rodents and deer browse?

 

[2ndHand]

Hey j-bird, Not sure on how fast Dunstan's will produce nuts, but I would protect the trees from both rodents and deer. I planted 11 eleven today that I grew from seed, 2-3 ft. tall, I put mine in 5 ft. tubes with a 3x3 mat of Lumite type fabric. Good luck with your trees!

 

[j-bird]

I protect my fruit trees - I just wasn't sure if I would have any of the same issues with Chestnuts as with apple trees.

 

[2ndHand]

I protect my fruit trees - I just wasn't sure if I would have any of the same issues with Chestnuts as with apple trees.

My plan is to leave the tube on until the tree trunk has filled the tube or the tube breaks down - not planning on using a concrete wire fence as I do with my apple trees. My oldest Chestnut tree is one year old - so I don't have a lot of experience - but I have enjoyed the journey so far!!

 

[huntall]

I planted i think it was 5 this past spring and hope to see good results .
Our summer was not as hot and dry as most years so i hope that helps them make it.
I have my trees caged. They cost too much for me to not protect.

 

[j-bird]

This may sound dumb, but where would I go to get tubes? I use wire fence and window screen on my fruit trees, but if the tubes will help them grow better than I would prefer to go that route. Gonna get a funny looks trying to tube 3 trees - oh well won't be the first time! I was hoping the fall planting would help with survival - I tend to struggle with fruit trees during the heat of summer when spring planted. If I can get them to survive I will buy more as funds allow - Native Nurseries/Rural king sure are proud of those little buggers.

 

[scott44]

I have the 5' Miracle tubes form these guys http://www.treepro.com/

 

[j-bird]

My trees are roughly 5' tall - no branches - what size tube do I need? If you can't tell I have never tubed trees before - sorry for the dumb questions.

 

[CAS_HNTR]

I am looking into getting some of the Blue-X tubes due to cost.....still haven't decided, but you may want to look into them as well.

 

[j-bird]

Well I wrapped the trunks in 1/4" wire mesh and installed 5' tall exclusion cages around them last night. Hopefully that will do the trick. I'll add some weed barrier and gravel come spring time. Hopefully I'll have some chestnuts in a few years.

With chestnuts not beig common in my area should I expect deer to take some time to figure them out? For those of you that have bearing trees - did it take any time for the deer to take to them?

 

[JackTerp]

Deer have an inbred instinct to eat chestnuts. They won't even hesitate to suck up every one they can find.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Of the 20 chestnuts I ordered from NN only 1 has died. These were 2ft tall seedlings and some grew out of 5ft tubes by this Aug. If you only have 3 trees may just be worth asking around for some old fence of any kind. I have half dozen 2nd leaf dunstans fenced and they are doing great! Seems like they like spreading their branches wide! The more weed mat you put around the bases the better. I topped mine with a light layer of creek gravel which has worked well, mulch attracts weeds IMO