Investing in wildlife habitat

[BIG BONE]

I'm always searching for new ideas on land management and came across this. Its the Dunstan Chestnut tree. Wandering if any of yall land managers have planted any or had experience with this tree or thoughts on it. Its looks like a fast growing tree that produces alot of chestnuts. The chestnuts are not near as bitter as some oaks like the ones im always hearing about on here like the sawtooth oak and white oak. Lets hear yalls 2 cents

Here is a good website
Realtreenursery.com

[BIG BONE]

INVEST IN BETTER HABITAT

Food Plot Trees are the best long term method to manage your land for game:
- Improves the habitat and increases the carrying capacity of your land.
- Deer and game follow the food - food plots are a magnet.
- Deer and game learn to find food in same place each year.
- Nut and fruit mast crops provide excellent nutrition for your game.
- Trees will bear crops for 50-100 years or more, with no replanting.
- Multiple fruit and nut mast crops provide food over a longer season.
- Prevents the spread of Cronic Wasting Disease that may occur from the use of baits and feed stations (and is not allowed by some states).

Planting Food Plot Trees:
- Can be accomplished at relatively low cost per acre.
- Has no annual expense for tilling the soil, machinery for cultivation and planting, or hauling machinery to the property.
- Can be planted in more sites than annual food plots because of adaptability to different slopes, soil types, and locations.

Invest in the Future:
- Planting trees for game and wildlife is an excellent way to rebuild the native forest after it has been logged.
- Planting chestnut trees brings back the heritage of America's original native hardwood forests.
- Your children, their children and many generations of wildlife will reap the benefits of your replanting the forests.

THE MOST IMPORTANT TREE IN AMERICAN HISTORY

The American chestnut was the most important food and timber tree species in the Eastern hardwood forest. It was almost completely destroyed by a bark fungus accidentally introduced from the Orient in 1904. Within 40 years, over 30 million acres of chestnut trees were killed from Maine to Georgia and west to the Mississippi. This tragedy was the largest ecological disasters in American history.

The chestnut was an amazingly useful tree: its plentiful nuts were eaten by people and wildlife, its beautiful, rot-resistant lumber was used for everything from furniture to fence posts, and its tannin used in the tanning industry. The loss of the chestnut, at the time of the Great Depression, had a devastating effect on the people and wildlife of the Appalachian mountains. The economic loss from the chestnut's demise amounted to untold millions of dollars.

THE ORIGINAL FOOD PLOT TREE

The American Chestnut was the primary food source tree for wildlife - deer, bear, turkey, squirrel, hogs - and produced literally a TON of mast or more per acre! Chestnuts were the favored food in the fall for game, because the sweet tasting nuts were high in protein, carbohydrate and had no bitter tasting tannins like acorns.

Chestnuts are favored by deer over all other nuts because of their taste and nutrition. They are high in carbohydrates (40%), contain 10% high quality protein and no bitter-tasting tannin.

Chestnut-fed pork is the sweetest pork there is. In Spain, hogs are raised on chestnuts because of the excellent flavored meat it produces. Estremaduran pork is an international delicacy. Venison from chestnut fed deer tastes like corn-fed venison, without the gamey taste of deer that feed on bitter-tasting acorns.

THE BEST CHESTNUT TREE

We grow the Dunstan Chestnut, bred by noted plant breeder Dr. Robert Dunstan, because of its disease resistance and heavy annual crops of very large, sweet nuts. Dunstan Chestnuts have been grown for 30 years all over the US, in Zones 4-9 from Maine to Michigan and Illinois and south to Florida, without any trees ever dying from the blight (see Testimonials). In our field tests, deer readily choose chestnuts over acorns, and there are deer feeding in our orchard every night during harvest season.

Dunstan Chestnuts grow faster and bear sooner (in only 2-4 years) than oaks, have wide soil adaptability, have regular annual bearing (no skipped years like all oak species) and excellent production - 2,000+ lbs/acre or more.

[JayKen86]

Watching this. Im interested as well.

[BIG BONE]

Im still waiting

[TransPecos]

I don't think they will grow in Texas.

[BIG BONE]

I don't think they will grow in Texas.

It says on the website they will in texas but i might be planting some in Oklahoma.

[Outback77]

Watching for sure

[BrianL]

What is cost per tree and can you buy seedlings?????

[BrianL]

Found cost on website. If you are only planting a few trees, those would be great, but if you are wanting to plant a lot, I think it would be cost prohibitive compared to sawtooth seedlings at .25-$0.45/each. Just my .02

[BIG BONE]

Found cost on website. If you are only planting a few trees, those would be great, but if you are wanting to plant a lot, I think it would be cost prohibitive compared to sawtooth seedlings at .25-$0.45/each. Just my .02

id like to plant around 100 trees
but willing to spend the extra dough if they are really nice trees
i wish i knew someone that has planted them in ok, tx and see what they thought of them. if over rated then i would definetely buy sawtooth and whiteoak

[unclefish]

Go to the QDMA forums. They have a ton of info on them over there.
I'm going to plant some soon.

[BrianL]

id like to plant around 100 trees
but willing to spend the extra dough if they are really nice trees
i wish i knew someone that has planted them in ok, tx and see what they thought of them. if over rated then i would definetely buy sawtooth and whiteoak

I ordered trees this year, and have 600 sawtooth, and 400 sweat pecan. If you only want 100 trees you are welcome to come get 100 of these at what I have in them, which should be about $0.35-0.45/each.

[BIG BONE]

I ordered trees this year, and have 600 sawtooth, and 400 sweat pecan. If you only want 100 trees you are welcome to come get 100 of these at what I have in them, which should be about $0.35-0.45/each.

Thats a very nice gesture, let me see what i can findout about this tree and if it doesn't work out ill send u a pm. Thx Brian

[unclefish]

FYI there is a guy on Ebay that sells organic dunstan chestnuts. I just bought him out (9lbs) for this round but he gets more in constantly. I'm gonna plant these in rootmaker trays and grow them.

[BIG BONE]

FYI there is a guy on Ebay that sells organic dunstan chestnuts. I just bought him out (9lbs) for this round but he gets more in constantly. I'm gonna plant these in rootmaker trays and grow them.

Cool
Keep me updated on how they grow up
Thx for heads up