About J. Wayne Fears

When the first Europeans arrived in the eastern part of the U.S., one of the major trees they found was the American chestnut. It was said that a squirrel could go from Maine to Alabama in treetops of just chestnut. These hardwood trees were giants, averaging five feet in diameter and 100 feet tall. Often the trees would reach up to 16 feet in diameter. The mast of the chestnut tree was a major food source for white-tailed deer, bears, squirrels, wild turkey, elk, and pioneer families living in the forests. It was one of the most valuable trees in U.S. history until 1904, when an Asian fungus – for which the chestnuts had very little resistance – spread throughout the chestnut forests. By 1950, an estimated four billion trees had been killed by the blight; only a few isolated trees survive.

Well-managed Chinese chestnuts grow fast and may produce nuts by their fourth year.

While a lot of effort is being put into bringing back a blight-resistant American chestnut, there is one similar tree that is easily managed and begins to produce nuts that deer love in about its fourth year of growth; it’s the Chinese chestnut (Castenea mollissima).

Planting the Chinese Chestnut

The Chinese chestnut is a fast-growing tree that eventually reaches 30 to 60 feet in height with an equal spread. It produces 2- to 3-inch prickly seed husks that open in early fall, each releasing two or three shiny brown 1-inch nuts. Chinese chestnuts grow throughout much of the U.S. in almost any well-drained non-alkaline soil, but they are at their best in full sun and gravelly soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Chestnuts do not grow well in soil with a pH of 7 or higher.

They can be planted as seeds, bare-root seedlings, or potted plants. Trees should be spaced about 35 to 40 feet apart. It’s a good idea to plant more than one variety of Chinese chestnut. Grown in groups of two or more, Chinese chestnuts cross-pollinate to produce edible nuts.

	A 10- to 15-year-old Chinese chestnut may produce up to 300 pounds of nuts each fall.

Care and Treatment

Most deer managers plant Chinese chestnut using bare-root seedlings to establish their food producing woodlots. It is critical that the planting of the seedlings be done correctly if a good stand of trees is to be expected. I asked Allen Deese, nursery manager of The Wildlife Group tree nursery (www.wildlifegroup.com) and an authority on Chinese chestnuts, to tell us how to plant the bare-root seedlings. Here are his instructions:

• Upon getting your seedlings, if they are bare-root, be sure that the roots are moist and stay that way until you can plant them. If you have to keep them for an extended period of time, add some moist paper towels or strips of wet newspaper around the roots to keep them moist. If you have to keep them for a couple weeks or more before planting, heal them into the ground. Simply dig a small trench or hole, line them out, and cover the roots. Wet the soil, and they should be fine until you are ready to plant.
• Take the trees to field in a box or bucket with water soaking the roots, again being very careful not to allow the roots to become dry. Sunlight and wind can cause them to dry out very quickly.
• Dig a wide hole so you can spread the roots out. Never jam the roots into the hole or twist them up at planting. This will kill the tree or severely stunt its growth.
• Do not add granular fertilizer into the hole at the time of planting. It is OK to add transplanting products such as Thrive, 3-0-3 Bio Nutrition, or Moisture Mizer.
• Fill in the hole with native soil. If you decide to amend the soil, only add about 1/3 foreign soil to the hole at planting. Remember the tree you plant must grow in the soil that you plant it in.
• Always remember that Chestnuts like a well-drained soil.

Once the burr-covered nuts hit the ground and break open, they are a favorite food for deer.

During the first three or four years, Chinese chestnuts grow best when weeds and grass are kept away from the trunks. Fertilize the first year and each spring thereafter by sprinkling 1 pound of 10-10-10 per year of tree age. Use mulch to keep grass and weeds away from the crown of the tree. Young Chinese chestnut trees are very prone to damage by animal pests, such as mice, rabbits, squirrels, and deer. These pests will need to be controlled to reduce tree and nut losses. Tree shelters should be used until trees are large.

Planted at 4- to 5-feet in height, a Chinese chestnut can become 8- to 12-feet tall and produce edible nuts in three or four years. A 10- to 15-year-old well-managed tree should stand 20 to 25 feet tall and produce as much as 150 to 300 pounds of nuts annually. The lifespan of a Chinese chestnut is 50 years or more.

	The Chinese chestnut trees may live 50 or more years and grow to 60 feet in height.

Improved Chinese Chestnuts

While a group of managed Chinese chestnuts can be a good food source for white-tailed deer in the early fall, in many areas of the U.S., the chestnuts fall to the ground too early for much of the hunting season. The Wildlife Group has been working to find a variety of Chinese chestnut that will drop nuts later.

Here is what Deese told me:

“We offer some grafted varieties of Chinese that drop later in the season. We patented several varieties of chestnuts through Auburn University. These particular trees are called AU Buck chestnuts and drop in October or November. Keep in mind, all other chestnuts drop in September to early October. The AU Buck chestnuts are grafted to get the late drop. They can be somewhat finicky for the first year or so, but once established, are awesome.”

To protect young chestnut trees from rodents and deer, a ventilated tree shelter can be used during the first few years.

Deese recommended, “Plant Chinese chestnuts that are known varieties and that produce large amounts of nuts. A larger nut is cool, but volume is what you would be looking for to feed wildlife. For instance, in 10-15 years, Chinese chestnuts will produce between 150 to 300 pounds of chestnuts. Some other highly promoted chestnut trees will only produce around 50-100 pounds, so if you have any doubts about what to plant for pure volume, plant a Chinese chestnut.”

The Wildlife Group offers Chinese chestnut bare-root seedlings at $2 each. AU Buck bare-root seedlings are $5 each and one gallon AU Buck seedlings are $10 each. The grafted AU Bucks are 3 gallon at $30 each and 7 gallon at $50.

Not only do deer love Chinese chestnuts, but you will find them tasty as well. They can be eaten roasted, boiled, or sautéed. They can be incorporated into various recipes, such as stuffing, vegetable dishes, casseroles and desserts. Dried chestnuts can be ground into flour as a substitute for wheat flour or corn meal.