Chapman
Well-Known Member
Do you ever sell trees through the mail ? Those are some excellent trees.
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Dunstan Chestnut Trees
- Thread starter DoubleRidge
- Start date
Thanks. I do not mail trees. You have to pick them up at my house. Start sale October 1st. They will be gone in 3 or 4 weeks. One guy is getting 50. Had calls people wanting 2 to 10. Probably got 100 asked for already.
Replied to your post above
Chapman
Well-Known Member
Good thing that you can sell them all from your house. I grow fig trees from cuttings and sell locally and ship some.
PM sent!
Hookem
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2016
- Messages
- 52
I have always wondered the same thing. Planting in the Fall has always made more sense to me.
Planting in the fall is always best. Plant in the spring you better plan on watering. I like to plant around November 1st. These chestnuts are either dormant or about to go dormant. When I plant mine I water in real heavy. No fertilizer. Put down a 40"x40" weed mat. Put in a Plantra 5' tree tube with support stake. Don't do anything else until next March when I pull the tube and clean out old leaves and knock all the buds off except two or three. I have like 300 trees in four orchards and never taken any water to any tree. Even though tree is dormant the roots continue to grow ( here in south central KY) and that gives the tree a jump start to be ready for it's first summer.
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Just saw your posts. Love your passion for Dunstan. I have 17 growing in TN and 4 in FL. Most were purchased at Walmart and the nursery in Alachua, FL. I wish you would explain how you process the seeds to grow. I tried coldifying 67 nuts per YouTube instructions and only got 2 to come up. I did something wrong. Can you kelp me?
Yes I can. Go back in this thread to post #92, page #5 and start reading. You should have all your questions answered about the way I cold stratify. Have had great success and been doing it this way with Dunstans for eight years. Last stratification process I put 360 seeds (nuts) in the fridge. Did not have one seed get moldy. Had 328 seeds send out a radical and grow into a tree out of 360 seeds put in. Thats a real good percentage. If you have any other questions just ask.
Ed Cude
Well-Known Member
Were you located at I need 2 please will pu
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Ed....I think your trying to reach mcbuck58 who will have chestnut trees for sale in late October...mcbuck58 has the process figured out...another option, if your location is not convenient to pick up, is to watch walmart for dunstan chestnut shipments...read back through this entire thread for more information.
Thank you so much. I want to try your methods this fall. Please forgive me for a couple of questions that I'm probably overthinking but… (1) you said you put your seeds in potting soil mid-October. I think the majority of my chestnuts fall early to mid-September here in SE TN. Would you say I should plant them within two weeks of dropping? Don't chestnuts have a small window of two weeks or so without refrigeration before they start going bad? (2j When you unearth your seeds in March, have they sprouted above the soil? And do you remove the nut at that time and before planting in the individual pots? Hope you don't think I'm too dumb for asking.
1. Just put the seeds in an open baggie or container or paper bag and put them into your crisper until you place them in the moist soil to start the stratification period. Or go straight to stratifying but they only need about three months.
Little confused on next question. "Would you say I should plant them within two weeks of dropping." Seeds have to be cold stratified first before planting. By planting if you mean placing in cold stratification, I have kept seeds in the crisper for a month or more before starting cold stratification.
2. Never seen a tree start growing during stratification. What happens is the seed cracks open and sends out a radical. The radical always points down. The radical has to grow down and turn into roots before the top of the radical branches off with two stems and forms the tree trunk growing upward.
When the seeds come out of stratification you carefully push the radical down into the soil in the pot and press the seed down just a little bit. Look at my pictures and you will still see the very top of the radical. My trees spend March growing in my family room in front of the sliding glass door to get the sun. During first week of April I move my trees outside and that's when I remove the seed (nut) so it doesn't attract any critters.
When I first started this I would open the containers in mid January and dig through the soil and take out seeds that had cracked and sent out a radical. I would do this every two weeks. Big waste of time and a pain in the ass. Now I start them all mid October to 1st November and keep them all in until end of February. That's why you see some radicals are longer than others. Some radicals even hit the bottom of the container and started turning. When I place them into the 8" pots they always grow to the bottom of the pot and even out the bottom into the water before they even start growing a tree. Also when I pull the seeds out of stratification some seeds (very few) have not cracked and produced a radical. Place those seeds in pots and most will dry up, crack and send out a radical.
Hope this helps.
I've got a buddy that has 3 that are around 15 years old, the chestnuts are delicious, kinda mildly sweet, real good flavor to them.
I like to eat them raw. Roasted chestnuts (in the oven) are real good also. Ok Iglow you know the Christmas time song!
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose……..
It absolutely helps and makes sense. I do see how my wording was confusing. I plan to follow your instructions step by step in a few months. Also, I think I saw where you grew other fruit trees like crabapples. I would like more information, if you have the time.
I'm not starting fruit trees now, but have in the past. I've had good success with mossy oak's, nativ nurseries. I have their American persimmons, deer pear, Mexican plum and Wild crabapples. Buy and plant bare root trees in the fall also using weed mat and 5' Plantra tubes.
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Chapman
Well-Known Member
I stratified some persimmon seeds in a ziplock with moist potting soil. Is the potting soil not needed ? They sprouted well after I planted them.
Persimmons need moist stratification. So you will need soil or damp paper towels. They need 2 to 3 months of stratification. They just start growing a root but have to come out of the stratification period and warm up to start growing. A chestnut will send out a radical and grow down into the soil. Persimmon seed needs to be planted for best results. I've done persimmon and purple passion flower seeds with paper towels. I soaked the seeds in water for 24 hours before planting. I also planted just half an inch deep.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I stratified some persimmon seeds in moist peat moss and I had no issues. 17 of them picture in air prune box. But I'll be switching to potting soil because using peat moss I did have issues with white mold on the chestnuts I stratified.
