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Dunstan Chestnut Trees

Chapman said:
I doubt that air layering or rooting cuttings would be successful on a chestnut tree. Certain types of trees can be rooted and air layered but not all. I have rooted lots of fig tree cuttings, a few mulberries and a few Meyer lemon cuttings. I tried air layering a Southern Magnolia with no success but I heard it can be done at a certain time of year.
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Probably right....just have a couple of chestnuts limbs and stems that need pruning anyway...was just curious....also have a couple of crape myrtle with limbs that need pruning.
 
mcbuck58 said:
Seedlings are looking great. They are between 24 and 42 inches tall, not including pot and roots. Trees out in my orchards between 5 and 8 years old have lots of husks. About two weeks ago noticed Japanese beetles coming out. Spray seedlings with Sevin and set up a couple of Japanese beetle traps. Have no big deal with them. This spring I had two different size white grubs coming out of yard. Well I figured the small one was Japanese beetle. Wasn't sure what the larger one was. Well this is the first time that I've had an infestation of Green June beetles. It's a big beetle that's an inch long and half inch wide. It's different from a June bug (which is a beetle). June bug brown to reddish brown comes out at night to eat, mate and lay eggs seen around lights. Green June beetle is green and comes out during daylight (most active during sunny hot part of the day) to feed, mate and lay eggs. Good thing is that Sevin keeps them off the seedlings or if they feed they die. Saw on internet that you mix molasses and water to capture and drown them. Well that did not work at all. Have probably killed 300 to 400 last five days with tennis racket or foot smash when they land on grass to go lay eggs. Guess I'll need to treat lawn this fall to kill them. Guess that's why the moles like my yard. Killed a skunk early one morning about two months ago that was digging holes in my yard.

Seedlings this morning

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Green June beetle

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Japanese beetle

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Ive had a few Japanese beetle but nothing widespread....your seedlings are looking great! Nice!
 
Chapman said:
I doubt that air layering or rooting cuttings would be successful on a chestnut tree. Certain types of trees can be rooted and air layered but not all. I have rooted lots of fig tree cuttings, a few mulberries and a few Meyer lemon cuttings. I tried air layering a Southern Magnolia with no success but I heard it can be done at a certain time of year.
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I tried air layering both chestnut and pecan and failed. Growing from nuts is just a lot easier and near 100% success
 
DoubleRidge said:
Ive had a few Japanese beetle but nothing widespread....your seedlings are looking great! Nice!
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The beetles are interesting here. They do no damage to my chestnuts, pecans or oaks but absolutely love my fruit trees, especially my nectarines & peach trees. Have to spray every few days from late May through June to keep them contained.
 
The Japanese beetles really eat my Dunstan seedlings leaves if I don't spray. The Green June beetles land in the seedlings but see very little damage from them. Watched them eat a little on the leaves but mostly they hang onto the new growth branches until they fly away. They swarm over the grass in the yard then land and go down to thatch and dirt to lay eggs. Mostly individuals doing this. Have seen what looks like four or five crawling on one in the grass. Must be mating. Have a few chewed leaves on my fruits and nuts out in my orchards but not enough damage to justify spraying. Only mow orchards once a year in August, so I assume ground and or vegetation not right for egg laying.
 
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mcbuck58 said:
The Japanese beetles really eat my Dunstan seedlings leaves if I don't spray. The Green June beetles land in the seedlings but see very little damage from them. Watched them eat a little on the leaves but mostly they hang onto the new growth branches until they fly away. They swarm over the grass in the yard then land and go down to thatch and dirt to lay eggs. Mostly individuals doing this. Have seen what looks like four or five crawling on one in the grass. Must be mating. Have a few chewed leaves on my fruits and nuts out in my orchards but not enough damage to justify spraying. Only mow orchards once a year in August, so I assume ground and or vegetation not right for egg
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Do webworms get in your trees? I've had some this year in a pecan tree. Been seeing them in quite a few trees in this area.
 
Chapman said:
Do webworms get in your trees? I've had some this year in a pecan tree. Been seeing them in quite a few trees in this area.
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If you are talking about eastern tent caterpillars we were talking about them on page 5. Had lots of webs on woods edges in small young trees. They were crawling all over the place. Did not have any webs in my chestnuts trees but did have one in a young apple tree. Did find cocoons everywhere after they came out of webs and fed.
 
mcbuck58 said:
If you are talking about eastern tent caterpillars we were talking about them on page 5. Had lots of webs on woods edges in small young trees. They were crawling all over the place. Did not have any webs in my chestnuts trees but did have one in a young apple tree. Did find cocoons everywhere after they came out of webs and fed.
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I think what I'm seeing is called Fall Webworms.
 
mcbuck58 said:
Ok just looked it up. Sorry thought you were talking about something else. Not seen any around here.
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mcbuck58 said:
Ok just looked it up. Sorry thought you were talking about something else. Not seen any around here.
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I just starting to learn about them. We also had Walnut Caterpillars the past 2 years here on pecan trees. Unusual for this area according to the County Agent's gardening emails he sends out.
 
yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu

Walnut caterpillar

Small, newly hatched larvae are light yellow-green in color and about 0.25 inch long. They eat only the leaf material from between the veins (leaf skeletonizers). Middle-sized larvae (0.5 to 1.5 inches long) are dark red with four longitudinal white stripes on each side of the body. They...
yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu
 
Granddaddy said:
Just curious, are the "hybrid chestnut trees" sold & distributed by Walmart online thru CZ Grains the Dunstun variety?
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I would say no. Looked at the ad all it says is Chinese chestnut tree. Sure if it was a Dunstan they would be saying that. Dunstans been around a long time and the name is well known. Chestnut Hill ships their trees directly to Walmarts and Rural Kings. Some stores get both spring and fall shipments. You can go to Chestnut Hill online and get an email notification when the stores you choose have a delivery coming. You can buy bare root Dunstans from Chestnut Hill this fall. I sell Dunstan seedlings in the fall.
 
Finally made it to the property to check on the Dunstan Chestnuts. Looking good but have some weeding, mowing and pruning to do. Also have 3 Chinese Chestnut but they are small and much younger....hoping to plant more Dunstan this fall.
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mcbuck58 said:
Looking good DoubleRidge. How many Dunstans do you have?
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Thanks...appreciate it....you might say I'm just getting started good...only have five Dunstans and three Chinese Chestnut.
Also have several sawtooth oak we started from acorn and hope to transplant those this fall...but the Dunstan Chestnut is what Im hoping to add more of in the future.
 
I was Finally able to bushhog today. To my surprise once I was able to clear out around my chestnut trees found two that had nuts. I have 4 total and two had nuts and two didn't. I'm really surprised they were still alive with the brush that were higher than the trees. Will all dusten chestnut trees produce nuts?
 

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G@TOR said:
I was Finally able to bushhog today. To my surprise once I was able to clear out around my chestnut trees found two that had nuts. I have 4 total and two had nuts and two didn't. I'm really surprised they were still alive with the brush that were higher than the trees. Will all dusten chestnut trees produce nuts?
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Any over about 5 or 6 years should produce nuts.
 

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