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Dunstan Chestnut Trees

No, I no longer have any land myself, but I enjoyed reading about them. During the past few years, I've been trying to convince a nephew to plant several Dunstans on family ground to improve the habitat for deer. I typically click on the "like" button as a way of marking which posts I have read and which I haven't.
 
utvolsfan77 said:
No, I no longer have any land myself, but I enjoyed reading about them. During the past few years, I've been trying to convince a nephew to plant several Dunstans on family ground to improve the habitat for deer. I typically click on the "like" button as a way of marking which posts I have read and which I haven't.
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Okay I was just being curious. Work on that nephew cause I've been working with Dunstans for almost 10 years and it's a great tree. Chime in any time. Good luck if your deer hunting.
 
mcbuck58 said:
Okay I was just being curious. Work on that nephew cause I've been working with Dunstans for almost 10 years and it's a great tree. Chime in any time. Good luck if your deer hunting.
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Absolutely a great tree. Got over 900 in the fridge to stratify and grow for next season. This was off of 4 trees that are 7 years old.

I plan to plant about 40-50 of them. But hopefully sell what takes
 
Trays of nuts for stratification and eating. Over 700 in the trays. Buckets for deer and planting in woods now. Just an experiment but not expecting much.

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mcbuck58...I finally made it back to check the three trees mention in previous post and several of the burrs were still hanging on. The ones that were starting to open I touched and they came off easy. Some had what appears to be one nice chestnut with two tiny, underdeveloped chestnuts on each side? Some only had three tiny nuts?. Checked 8 or 10 and got 5 normally size. This tree was planted 3 years ago and our area has been red on the drought map. Would you say the drought conditions are the reason for the tiny chestnuts? Or the age of the tree? I left the tiny ones for the critters and the 5 pictured are going in the fridge. Thanks for always answering questions.
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DoubleRidge said:
mcbuck58...I finally made it back to check the three trees mention in previous post and several of the burrs were still hanging on. The ones that were starting to open I touched and they came off easy. Some had what appears to be one nice chestnut with two tiny, underdeveloped chestnuts on each side? Some only had three tiny nuts?. Checked 8 or 10 and got 5 normally size. This tree was planted 3 years ago and our area has been red on the drought map. Would you say the drought conditions are the reason for the tiny chestnuts? Or the age of the tree? I left the tiny ones for the critters and the 5 pictured are going in the fridge. Thanks for always answering questions.View attachment 248385
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Yes I would say drought is the reason. I've opened many husk during the growing season. What I found is the husk are real wet on the inside and the nuts really bulk up right at the end. The nuts increase in size so much that, that is what stretches the husk to start cracking open. If moisture is low the husk loses its ability to stretch. Once they have just a tiny crack that is really hard to see the inside moisture dries up and the hilum connection breaks free between the nut and the husk. The hilum is like the individual nut umbilical cord to the husk, branch, cambium layer and finally roots. Zoom in on the picture nut is brown hilum scar is tan.
 
DoubleRidge said:
mcbuck58...I finally made it back to check the three trees mention in previous post and several of the burrs were still hanging on. The ones that were starting to open I touched and they came off easy. Some had what appears to be one nice chestnut with two tiny, underdeveloped chestnuts on each side? Some only had three tiny nuts?. Checked 8 or 10 and got 5 normally size. This tree was planted 3 years ago and our area has been red on the drought map. Would you say the drought conditions are the reason for the tiny chestnuts? Or the age of the tree? I left the tiny ones for the critters and the 5 pictured are going in the fridge. Thanks for always answering questions.View attachment 248385
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You said tree was planted 3 years ago. But how old was the tree when you planted it? Dunstan can start producing at 3 to 5 years old. Not not going to have a large crop on a young tree. Remember chestnut male and female parts are only on new growth not last years growth. Up in this thread somewhere I posted two pictures of 2 year old trees that one produced 2 husk and one produced 6 husk. That was a few years ago and only time I've seen that happen.
 
mcbuck58 said:
Yes I would say drought is the reason. I've opened many husk during the growing season. What I found is the husk are real wet on the inside and the nuts really bulk up right at the end. The nuts increase in size so much that, that is what stretches the husk to start cracking open. If moisture is low the husk loses its ability to stretch. Once they have just a tiny crack that is really hard to see the inside moisture dries up and the hilum connection breaks free between the nut and the husk. The hilum is like the individual nut umbilical cord to the husk, branch, cambium layer and finally roots. Zoom in on the picture nut is brown hilum scar is tan.
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Thanks again for all the information! Appreciate it!
 
mcbuck58 said:
You said tree was planted 3 years ago. But how old was the tree when you planted it? Dunstan can start producing at 3 to 5 years old. Not not going to have a large crop on a young tree. Remember chestnut male and female parts are only on new growth not last years growth. Up in this thread somewhere I posted two pictures of 2 year old trees that one produced 2 husk and one produced 6 husk. That was a few years ago and only time I've seen that happen.
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Chestnut Hill trees purchased through walmart in 3 gallon pot....planted 3 year ago.....is what I should have said....bought three...all are alive and well....have two more to plant this fall....hoping to add many more in the future.
 

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