50 Years of Chestnuts, in Photos
Year 1-2: Planting + Establishment
Trees are planted as 2 ft “whips,” bare root or potted. Larger trees (5 ft at planting) will grow more slowly, and both options will be roughly the same height at Year 3.
Hay harvested from in between tree rows, Year 1.
Chestnuts are protected from deer with 6 ft Plantra tree tubes, and will reach the top of the tube in 1-2 years.
Hay harvested from in between tree rows, Year 1.
Year 3-7: Growth, into first harvest.
Year 4, Chestnut with Burrs (nuts), Hudson Valley, New York State
Year 7, Eastern Kentucky. Cattle can be rotated through a chestnut planting once the trees are 3” in diameter and can resist mild rubbing.
Year 3, Mason County, Kentucky, First year bearing nuts (pre-commercial harvest)
Year 8-30: Annual Harvests, into thinning
Year 15, Chestnut-Pawpaw polyculture, chestnuts in “full” production.
Year 30, Mature system. Some trees have been thinned (see re-sprout at right).
Year 31-50, System Maturity
Year 50, Chestnut farm mimics a productive forest. Harvests have been consistent for decades.
Year 50, Chestnut trees are large, storing large amounts of biomass. The trees have increased water infiltration, flood mitigation, and biodiversity for a few decades.