Fall is right around the corner and it’s time to start planning your Fall Food Plot,whether you have an existing food plot or starting a new one from scratch,it’s a great time to add trees. Tree’s provide browse, cover and food making them a smart long term investment to any property.

Fall planting gives two cooler, damper growing periods – fall and spring – before a new tree faces hot summer conditions. Fall really is a good time to plant because:
Shorter days, less intense sunlight, more rain, and the cooler temperatures of early fall mean less stress (i.e. “transplant shock”) 
Newly planted trees tend to lose less moisture through their leaves in fall than in summer, which lowers water demands.
Bugs and diseases that are in high gear during summer mostly wind down and/or disappear to hibernate as fall progresses.
Planting in the fall gives them a head start on growth the following spring. Root systems will start to grow once the ground thaws, long before the soil can be worked by human hands and any new plants can be put in.

Adding Dunstan Chestnut trees to your food plot can be as simple as clearing a “spot” for your tree or clear- cutting an area.  If you are planning on planting trees this fall, make sure the area is weed free by removing existing weeds or clearing a spot in your food plot so the tree doesn’t have to compete with weeds or annuals for water. Hand weed, use herbicide and or lay some ground cloth down to prevent weeds from choking out your tree.

Water is the single most important factor for tree survival. If the year you plant is like the severe drought experienced by the Midwest several summers ago, if you do not water your trees they will die. The truth is that many trees die from too little or too much water during the first few months after planting. Trees are likely to get too little water in well-drained soil and too much in soil that is poorly drained.

If you plant in the fall, water in at planting, and then 1x/week until they lose their leaves and go dormant with the onset of winter. Resume watering after leaf out in the spring. Make sure water is applied to the original root ball. Adjust water according to soil type, temperature, rainfall, and other irrigation.

It is not necessary to fertilize in the fall and in fact, we do not recommend it. Fertilizing too late in the season can cause trees to grow when they should be shutting down for the winter. This tender new growth, when pushed too late in the season is also more susceptible to winter injury.

During the first couple of years, chestnuts grow best when weeds and grass are kept away from the trunks. Also during their first few years of growth, the trunk should be protected with grow tubes. These are plastic tubes that act as mini-greenhouses that enhance the growth of young trees and give protection from the activities and feeding of deer, rabbits, and mice. They also help protect the tree from spray and drift from herbicide and offer some cold protection in late season frosts.

“Deer and other wildlife seek a variety of food types every day,” said R.D. Wallace from Chestnut Hill Outdoors. “If you’ve ever watched whitetails move through the woods, you know they stop frequently to nibble on leaves and mast. When you concentrate a variety of preferred foods in a relatively small area like a food plot and enhance it with mast-bearing trees like Dunstan Chestnuts, it creates a variety deer can’t resist. The deer are seeking the nutrition that other leafy foods do not provide. They’ll spend more time on your plot, which increases your chances of success.”

Chestnuts are chosen by deer over all other nuts because of their taste and nutrition. They are high in carbohydrates (40%), contain up to 10% high-quality protein. This provides the critical easily usable energy source over all other available foods during the Rut in the fall. Chestnuts have no bitter-tasting tannin – and a deer’s taste buds are 1,000 times as sensitive as humans. Deer prefer White Oak acorns over Red Oaks because they contain less tannin, and this is why deer prefer chestnuts over all acorn. Some Oaks can take decades to produce nuts, while the Dunstan Chestnut starts producing at 3 to 5 years!

The Dunstan Chestnut Tree is a great investment because it is an American x Chinese hybrid bred in the 1950’s by plant breeder Dr. Robert T. Dunstan, that is blight-resistant, produces early and annually. The Dunstan produces a large, sweet, easy to peel nut making it an excellent Orchardist tree for human consumption, as well as an excellent food plot tree.

We will start shipping our one-year-old Dunstan Chestnuts this fall at the end of September. The seedlings are 18 to 36″ tall shipped UPS in their pots to your doorstep. This is the perfect size/age to plant in fall, stick a grow tube on it and watch the growth begin in the Spring.

We are getting ready to ship two-year-old Dunstan Chestnuts in 3-gallon pots to specific Rural King stores. Chestnuts, Persimmons and Pear trees will be shipped to the Co-op feed Dealers this fall. Expected to arrive before or by Labor Day. A list of stores will be posted on our website and emailed to you as soon as it’s been confirmed. 

Please visit our website or call our office and ask about our Deer Candy and Deer Magnet Persimmons, Dr. Deer Pear and Thanksgiving Pear that will also be available for Spring 2018, to extend your harvest.

Visit our website: chestnuthilloutdoors.com or call our office 1-800-669-2067 for more info.