Subject: Re: chestnuts-help please

From: [email-masked] (Bernie Vlach)
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 09:13:05 GMT

"Greg Cordes" <[email-masked]> wrote:

>Can anybody help with the following problem?

>My father is growing chestnuts (the eating variety).  The oldest trees are
>seven years old.  Each year he has the problem of the burrs falling from
>the trees before the nuts mature.  Has tried extra water which seemed to
>worsen the problem.  Assumes it is a mineral problem ?  Has had leaves
>analyses which reveals potassium deficiency, but the application of
>potassium has not helped.  Suspect some other mineral deficiency.  Can
>anyone offer any suggestions?

>Thanks in anticipation,
>Sharee Cordes
>Mt. Gambier,  South Australia
I farmed about 100 American chestnut trees several years ago with some
success.  I'm sorry to hear about your problems.  My trees were quite
old when I acquired them.  The oldest were about 70 years but there
were some younger ones that were no older than 20 years.  My orchard
was in the foothills of northern California at an elevation of about
2,000 feet.  The area is arid, but I had a nice creek that flowed year
round which I used for irrigation.  I repaired an old ditch that was
built in the 19th century for gold mining and took water about a mile
upstream and brought it to the orchard.   Irrigation was difficult
because the trees were planted on sloping ground and the best I could
do was flood the general area around the drip line.

In California  chestnuts are graded and sold by size.  The best price
is paid for **jumbo** nuts, and I was able to produce many the size of
golf balls.

One thing I noticed with irrigation, especially with the younger
trees, was that too little water produced a small number of small
nuts.  Too much water produced a lot of small nuts.  Allowing the
trees to stress between deep waterings seemed to achive the best
results.

The larger, older trees didn't seem to suffer from this problem.  I
couldn't give them too much water.  Even if they weren't irrigated at
all they produced large nuts, although a smaller number.  When
irrigated they produced many jumbo nuts.

The American chestnut has a tremendous root system.  Several trees
died of blight and I tried to remove the stumps but never could.   I
never fertilized my trees, and they suffered from no nutrient
deficiencies.  

Your trees are quite young.  The problem may have nothing to do with
nutrient deficiencies but may lie elsewhere.  Have you checked the
fallen burrs to see if they have nuts or nut embryos?  If they contain
very thin, flat blanks you may have a problem with poor pollenation.
It's not uncommon to have some blank burrs that drop early.
Pollenation is not aided by bees or other insects but depends soley on
wind and chance.  Are all of your trees of the same variety?  You
should plant some of a different variety to ensure proper pollenation.

I'll never forget the cold, fall evenings my partner and I  spent
roasting fresh jumbo chestnuts directly in the coals of our campfire,
then peeling off the chared skin and washing down the hot, starchy nut
meat with cold beer.

In 1993 a wild fire swept through my orchard and destroyed all of the
chestnut trees (as well as about 20 acres of English walnut trees.)  I
was able to save the farm house, but I sold the property last year; it
wasn't the same without the chestnut trees.

Good luck to your and your father with your chestnut trees.  I hope
you are able to solve you problem.  The chestnut is a very special
tree that richly rewards those that pursue its cultivation.
- Bernie Vlach
West Sacramento, California