chestnut trees

[Mack in N.C.]

hello, first day i have been on this forum........i have for years planted white oaks....seedlings and acorn, chestnut oaks, osage oranges,( have about 30 osage oranges in pots if anyone in middle nc wants one you can have one)...... but recently have been growing and planting chestnuts......chinese.............these get bigger than you think though not as big as our american one.......do you like these ann so on........the ones i have planted are not big enough yet but i hhunted around 7 or 8 big ones last week that had all kind of boar sign and deer sign under them though i only saw squirrels......the squirrels were killing them.....mack

[ripmyfly]

Very Cool. I hate the smell of a chestnut when it is in bloom. Actually I hate it more than any smell. But I love eat them. There was some talk of a American Hybrid that had the Chinese resistance to the blight. I have planted over 500 Sawtooth Oak seedlings for wildlife in the last couple of years. Keep up the good work.

[Mack in N.C.]

from what i have read the american chestnut tree may bo on the comeback...at least my son may see a few big ones...the american shestnut foundation? has bred some( ithink with the chinese) and then back crossed them to the american.......if i remember right once the eithg generaton has nuts they will relese these to the public......i think they are on the 7th now and the 8tth will have nuts in just a few years........only a small percent chinese so they should get near 100 ft tall but they will be blight resistant..........cross your fingers......mack

[Land_Owner]

Gerald has a Chinese Chestnut that is fruit bearing on his land in the Western Piedmont of SC.  Those thorny hides are TOUGH but the acorns inside are sweet and the deer stomp the hulls into bits to get to the seeds inside. 

[Cornbelt]

We have several chinese chestnut trees. To start them, seal them up fresh in a ziploc bag and leave them in the refrigerator about a year. To plant, I step on a golfball, replace it with a sprouted nut and cover with grass. Also put tin cans around it with a dusting of sulfur to keep out the critters. Always get some coming up under the trees, too. Some of the ones I've given away bore fruit in 2 yrs. That guy had tposoil 3' deep from other excavation. Most took around 8-10 yrs. Supposed to be good turkey feed, too.

[Land_Owner]

Darn right the turkey and deer will compete for the seeds although I doubt the turkey are as adept at getting to the seeds inside hulls as well as the deer.  Perhaps the turkeys eat the leftovers the deer leave behind.

[Mack in N.C.]

i planted aprox 20 -30 in a seed bed and in a planter....i have to bring the ones in the planter into my utility room on night that get below 25 deg.....they cant get below 25 deg........anyway, i pulled 2 out of the planter the other day and both have roots poking out..........when they sprout i am going to transplant some into pots to be planted next fall and some i am going to put in the ground with soup cans bottom facing up and an X cut into the bottom with the points pryed up to deter squirrels......read that somewhere.......mack