winter-spring 2012
We are sold out. Thanks to everyone who called, wrote and supported us in 2011. We look forward with optimism to the 18th growing season of our tree crop experiment. Chestnuts should harvest, all things going well, this September/October.
We now have over 20 years trying to grow chestnuts organically in eastern Kansas and (Boy!) it has been an education. Experts told us that chestnuts would not grow in Kansas! I'd say: the jury is still out. Whichever of our chestnut trees that are alive and prosperous at the end of 40 years will certainly be proven cold hardy and disease resistant. Our best healthy trees may become a climate-adapted source of seeds and scions for the next generation. Meanwhile, we sell our culinary chestnuts around the country and our customers like eating them, so that is good news.
Chestnuts in the New York Times, See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/garden/chestnuts-worthy-of-song-in-your-backyard-in-the-garden.html?_r=1&hpw
So you want to plant chestnut trees? A lot of people want to grow their own chestnut trees and ask us for trees and advice. We don't sell trees, nor seeds (yet) but we like people to plant trees. What can we tell them based on our experience?
First, be realistic. Chestnuts make poor yard trees. Their burrs are a nusiance, sharp and slow decaying. You need plenty of room; you need at least two trees for pollination. Chinese chestnuts are an exotic orchard tree and cannot be planted and forgotten. They cannot compete in a forest, have no timber value and can become reservoirs of weevils and disease. The American Chestnut Foundation is developing blight-resistant races of our native American chestnut species which, when released, will be better suited for timber, woodlot, and wildlife plantings. Visit: http://www.acf.org/.
Second, be responsible. If you want to buy trees by mail, avoid nurseries in states already infected with oriental chestnut gall wasp. See the Pest Alert at http://extension.missouri.edu/p/PA100. Unfortunately, gall wasps have overtaken some of our best sources east of the Mississippi. Also, please manage for chestnut weevils. After your trees begin producing (in 4-10 years), gather up all your chestnuts promptly (we pick daily) so chestnut weevils will not become established and become a source of infection for your own and your neighbors’ trees.
We have had our best luck here in Kansas growing pure Chinese chestnuts, which are blight resistant and somewhat cold hardy. We have excellent soil but a challenging local climate at our orchard. Thus, success has been mixed. Our best chestnuts grow more slowly than our walnuts and pecans, and are a lot more trouble. Seedling trees grow much better than grafted nursery stock. Field grafting is more successful but delayed graft failure is nonetheless a continuing problem. Our best information source for chestnuts has been the Northern Nut Growers Association. Check out http://www.nutgrowing.org/faqchest.htm. and also the NNGA library of annual reports.
But the additional difficulties growing chestnuts account for the relative scarcity of good chestnuts in North America, and scarce things are often all the more highly valued. Few worthwhile endeavors come without challenges. Be prepared to cultivate the virtues of patience and perseverance. That's our advice.
Meanwhile, eat more chestnuts. Support tree crops, the soil-conserving alternative agriculture.
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