Deer and Chinese Chestnuts

Some companies that sell apple trees and oaks to be planted to attract deer are now selling chinese chestnut trees also and claiming the deer like the chestnuts as well as apples. Does anyone have any experience with this. Do the deer seem to like the chestnuts. Do you think chestnut trees would worthwhile to plant as deer attractant in the future. Thanks

I have several around that granddad planed 50 years ago and have never seen a deer around any of them. The squirrels eat them when they fall off. They are pretty good to eat but seem to get worms in them in only a few hours after they hit the ground here.

Deer love them and they are a very reliable producer-a good crop nearly every year.

I would not plant them close to the house. The husks in the yard make going bare foot or even wearing flip-flop painful. And the bloosoms stink when the tree is in bloom.

I got several small CC here, mine are like a large shrub as opposed to an actual tree. I got them for wildlife benefit....this is the first year they produced. I replanted all the nuts to produce more. My intention is to seed bomb some of my hunting areas.

cant speak for chinese chesnuts but the american chesnut used to be the most common mass crop tree in the US. I'd have to bet deer ate them.

There was a house by the elementary school I went to that had one of those trees in the yard.

Once they got hard and real pokey, we'd have a blast throwing them at each other.

Deer eat chestnuts like crazy. Grandparents would have 17 deer in the yard at once all crowded under two trees

I can NOT keep them away from our 2 trees to save my life

Chestnuts are supposedly the best nut bearing tree for deer. It's said deer will walk past acorns and etc to get to chestnuts. I've seen deer eating chestnuts, and plan on getting some and planting them myself this spring. Along with some other fruit bearing trees

The ground under our chestnuts looks like it's been plowed, from all the deer activity. They love them.

Remember, the blossoms stink. Or, maybe I'm the only one that hates their smell.
It would be one of the first trees I'd plant for deer feed if away from the house. We have two in our yard at our camp that are about 25 feet tall and everything loves the nuts.

If I were wanting to attract
deer I would plant apple , and pear trees and also white oaks !!!

If your gonna plant Chestnut trees you should check out Chestnut Hill Outdoors. Heres the link, hope this helps.

http://www.chestnuthilloutdoors.com/store/pg/9-The-Best-Food-Plot-Tree.aspx

there is 2 at work, the deer visit every night
RR

American chestnuts are sweeter than Chinese. I only about the American ones and they attract deer.

I have 3 chestnut trees and many more apple trees in my yard. The deer go to the chestnut trees first.

ok changing topic...do deer eat buckeyes? had a tree in my yard that I'd never seen before, thing started dropping buckeyes last week...they are related to chestnut arent they?

Around here the American chestnut was the main mast source at the turn of the century. Then the blight wiped them out. There are still a lot of American chestnuts still alive (root systems) they will sprout up and the blight will knock them out. Every now and then we will find a good nut or two. They are not near as big as a Chinese nut. It is a very strong wood and you would've believe how light it is when dried. I try to find the dead sapling and make walking sticks.

I had a friend of mine once mention that chestnut bloom smells just like semen. Have never been able to get that out of my head every late spring when our chestnuts are in bloom. AND NOW NEITHER WILL YOU! HAR HAR!!!!!!

No. I'm not sure anything eats them to be honest.

I think a lot of folks here may be confusing American chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts. While deer will eat chinese chestnuts, they aren't all that attractive, at least when compared to apples, pears, acorns, etc.... Squirrels and chipmunks love them.

The American Chestnut is VERY susceptible to the blight. The American Chestnut Foundation is working on some trees that are blight resistant, but they won't be available to the public for some time to come.

TrapperTrets: Thanks for that link.

I have a spot in my field that would do well for a dozen chestnuts. And lots of deer moving through.

Thanks again.

The blight will kill just about any American Chestnut before it reaches full maturity. Different breeders have been crossing the American with the Chinese for the last 50 years or so to try to get a mostly American Chestnut that can withstand the blight. Some successful ones are about 95% American with the blight resistance of the Chinese all that is left of it. You can find lots of information on some of the Chestnut websites.

What is the difference in exterior shell looks?

They both look like they have a spiny shell.

A lady down the street from me says that about the smell of the blossoms each summer when they bloom. She calls them sperm trees even. I always think she opens herself up for a lot of comments when she says that, but I never say anything.

When investigating a tree I found few years ago .
I believe its determined in the leafs, configuration.
I started my search on the American Chestnut Foundation website.

Think you have an American Chestnut?

Buckeyes are poison and will kill cows if they eat a bunch. They lay on the ground all winter and the squirrels will not touch them or anything else that I can tell. I cut them down all the time but still have a lot.

Thanks for the link Dillrod.

Do you cut any that are big enough for lumber? They make real good boards for coon, fox, otter and such if they are wide enough to use. Take push pins real easy. I am willing to travel to to pick them up if so.

If you want to fool with it there are two by the gate that are easy to get to. The biggest would be a 16 to 18 inch butt.

I have never seen anything eat them. The chestnuts are dropping right now so you should be able to see for your self if deer are eating any.

Not to Highjack This thread,
But the discussion of Buckeyes came up sometime back.
A member on here was introducing the fact that they made flour often from this.
Would enjoy a PM from him.

Now back to topic.

I know of one tree .
It was evident that there were few burs with actual nuts inside laying around..
I believe the deer were sorting them.
Others see this ?

I have heard 1/2 of a buckeye is poisonous and 1/2 is good, only a squirrel knows. May just be an old tale.

I noticed that most people commenting here are in the traditional Chestnut range which is zone 5. I ordered some from Musser Forest a long time ago, and all died but one. That one grew about an inch a year for a few years, and then just died. I was zone 4 and that is what the Chinese chestnut is planted for, as most of the hybrids at 50 dollars a tree are expensive.
I have some black walnuts that grow like weeds in reseeding that my Grandfather had, but they are not deer food, just squirrels. I make that point in I can grow nut trees here, tried Hazelnuts which did grow but the catkins freeze off as they blossom too early for zone 4. I have the same problem with peaches in I can get them to grow like crazy for a few years, and then we get a winter where the soil is dry and it freeze six feet down and that is it for the peach trees.
In all honesty the deer here will not eat acorns, but they are Burr Oak. I have a bag of these huge acorns I collected while in Kansas that I still intend to plant, as wildlife eats them there. The long of this is, if you are in an area which American Chestnuts will grow, then plant them as wildlife loves them. If not, the alternatives are Chinamen or filling in with some apple trees. For that, most rootstock Nurseries have a rootstock out of Russia, which is hardy to 50 below. They produce a big pie apple and deer will eat them, even if the deer prefer the sweeter long season apples like Haralson.
I do envy all of you who are able to grow real chestnuts and all of those other mystery trees. I have wasted a great deal of money in trying to get plants to grow where God never intended.

Mine did not produce too heavy last time. If I didn't pick em up every day, the deer did. I froze them, used some for baking, and the rest will get planted. I have a half of a drum full of American Black Walnuts to plant TOO. if NOONE PLANTED COOL TREES, THERE'D BE LESS OF THEM.

If someone going to Burnt Ridge fur sale wants a few you can have some. I'm not mailing them.