Dunstan Chestnut Question

[jmh5397]

I am on year three now with my Chestnut trees and now I am starting to see a pretty fair amount of saplings growing around the trees. Does anyone know, if I replant these saplings, will they bear any Chestnuts? I wasn't sure since the Dunstan was a hybrid.

 

[aaron batson]

Got over 200 planted and growing - oldest are near six years old...never had a sapling or sprout come off one

 

[ucfireman]

are you sure they are chestnut saplings? A 3 yo tree is young to produce nuts. I guess they could be coming from the roots, if so they will be just like the mother tree and should produce. I assume that clones could pollinate each other but not sure?

 

[NE GA Pappy]

no sprigs or saplings on my trees... about to start their 5th year. We had a fair amount of burrs last year off them at 3 years old.

 

[ucfireman]

I would not have thought they would produce that young, shows what I know.

 

[Crakajak]

Call the nursery to see what they say.

 

[Forest Grump]

Can you post a pic of what you think are seedlings or suckers ? Are the leaves identical?

None of mine ever sucker from the roots; & if yours are not producing burrs with chestnuts in them, it may be a different species seeding into the open space? Are yours forming burrs?

But to answer your question: chestnuts produced by Dunstan X Dunstan are fertile & will grow a tree. It will be another Dunstan, as you are not introducing any new genes, but they are fertile as long as they can cross-pollinate with another chestnut tree (Dunstan, Chinese or American). They will form a burr whether pollinated or not, once old enough; but will only form a viable seed if successfully pollinated. Plant hybrids are not like animals.

 

[jmh5397]

***UPDATE*** Thanks for all of the responses. I contacted Chestnut Hill Tree Farm and was able to get some clarification. I sent them some pics of what I am seeing around my trees. Most of the saplings are suckers as Forest described above. I was told that if I dug down beneath the soil's surface, I would find that these "saplings" are actually growing from (a) the trunk itself or (b) off of one of the larger roots. I did that and it seems that most of mine are growing from the tree trunk and a couple from the roots. The good news is we can actually cut these off and use a root stimulator to grow another tree. I was also told that they (Chestnut Hill) save all of their chestnut crop to replant and sell. My concerns were with it being a hybrid (I was comparing the trees to hybrid corn, wheat, oats, etc) the tree wouldn't bear nuts and it would be 3-5 years into growth before I figured that out. Again, like Forest stated above, the nuts can be replanted and the trees produced from those nuts will also bear fruit. When I get home this evening, I will post a couple of pics of the trees. Thanks again.

 

[Throwback]

Got over 200 planted and growing - oldest are near six years old...never had a sapling or sprout come off one

How are they doing now?

 

[oochee hunter]

I got 5 that are 7 yrs old since planting, the number of catkins this year is incredible. Not sure how that relates to burr production but they look teriffic this year.

 

[aaron batson]

How are they doing now?

Still growing and should have a great crop this fall

 

[glynr329]

Mine are looking good should be a great year. Never had a sapling. Matter of fact tried to plant a few guess squirrel got ever but I planted in the pots.