PLANTING TREES AS FOOD PLOTS FOR DEER HUNTING

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In this video I take you on the farm where we are planting chestnut trees. By implementing a TSI on the farm, we now have an opportunity to add diversity to our food plot program and make the farm stand out to big bucks in the fall months. Chestnuts are irresistible to deer during the limited time they are available.

Опубликовано:

23 мар 2024

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Комментарии : 35

@rfb7117 4 месяца назад

Wes....I basically used this process to plant about 30 bare root apple trees in a row on the edge of a couple of food plots. I used 6' tubes and took the tubes off in the summer to trim any branches within the tube. My goals were to get the trees to grow (6' tall) enough to be above the deer, to protect the trunk from rubbing, and not to have to cage them. After 4-5 yrs it is working GREAT, and last month I removed most of the tubes. The majority of all the trees produced many apples last year. I will protect the tubeless trees with either 4 ' tall 12" of 2x4 metal fencing around the trunk or 3-4 T posts around the trunk to protect from bucks rubbing them. My main reason for doing it in this manner was as a one person operation I did not want to do the difficult and time consuming job of building a cage around each tree. Thanks, Bob

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Bob thanks for sharing your experiences, glad you had great results and are seeing the fruits of your labor! I can’t wait for these trees to start producing, I think it’s really going to add to the farm! Thanks for watching

@steved5023 4 месяца назад

Great video. For budget minded folks, I have good luck buying bare root and planting them in storage containers. Plastic ones work great. I buy trees in spring. Usually a dale near growing season. Then nurse them all summer at my home. After leaves fall ,plant them in their forever home. Then they have all winter to settle in. Then bang. They really take off the next spring. Now I do live and have hunting camps in south ga and north Fl

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Great information Steve! Thanks for sharing what has worked in your neck of the woods! Thanks for watching

@Mark-oq5pf 4 месяца назад

Good video Wes. I'm not familiar with digging a hole without rocks, that looked FUN! Up here in NYs Adirondacks there is more rock than dirt, not fun at all to dig/chisel a hole!

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Mark, that sounds absolutely awful to have to chisel a tree hole out….we do have some rocks in areas but usually it’s not too bad and they are down further than a tree hole. Thanks for watching!

@Realhunts4hunters 4 месяца назад

Ky state nursery sells bare root chineese seedlings in groups of 50 very affordable. I have had great results with them. They have outgrown my supposed Dunstans by double that were planted the year prior. The state nursery also sells many other trees, and ships free to ky residence

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Great information! Thanks for sharing! How old are your chestnut trees? Are they producing chestnuts yet? Thanks for watching

@Realhunts4hunters 4 месяца назад

This would be the third growing season this summer. Some are 8 to 9 ft tall. Haven't produced yet, but wouldn't be surprised if some started to begin producing a couple. Eastern ky, owen county.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Awesome! Hopefully you will get a ton of them this year!

@tripleh8979 4 месяца назад

Great info wes. I have chestnut and hazelnut and crabapple coming in soon. Then the work begins.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Yes sir!!! I planted several yesterday and only 1 tree roots were an absolute disaster on….i was afraid it was going to be a nightmare trying to dig a 30” hole in those woods! Good luck with the trees! Is this your first time planting them? Thanks for watching

@tripleh8979 4 месяца назад

@@DIYfoodplotpro I have planted more than I have energy. I do the potted trees the same as u. Bare root I put in pots for the summer then plant in fall so I can keep them watered.

@royguidry1311 4 месяца назад

Interesting. I always thought you had to water them afterwards.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Roy, i will water them in as well, but we have a whole bunch of rain coming with 24 hours of planting them. With bare roots I would 100% water them in, I don’t feel like it’s as critical with these potted trees, especially this time of the year as we’re not in hot humid conditions and there is plenty of moisture in the soil currently. But I will go back and put just a little water on them just in case the rain doesn’t come. Thanks for watching

@jesse4530 4 месяца назад

I would not dig a hole if I wasn't going to water immediately after. For me where I live the hole is 75% of the work. If you have easy black soil it's not such a big deal to lose a tree and dig again.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Thanks Jesse they were watered the next day after planting. This is definitely not black dirt I’m in. I’ve got a soil loam soil, I believe they will be fine, but time will tell! Thanks for watching

@clarkwheeler8764 4 месяца назад

I've been waiting on the disease resistant Native Chestnut to become available. Apparently all the other hybrid chestnut trees on the market today are mainly Chinese chestnuts which I'm guessing is what you are planting?? If you're planting native trees, please let me know how you got them? Thanks Professor Plot...

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Clark, I’m not aware that there is a straight American chestnut that is blight resistant….i hope there is one coming out but I’ve not heard anything about it. These are dunstans chestnuts.

@user-fb2dx5nh1c Месяц назад

Wes - where do you get the Grow Tubes- ?

@DIYfoodplotpro Месяц назад

I bought them from tree pro, I actually ordered 2 different kinds….one is a solid piece already molded together, these are easier to install much more sturdy, but when the tree gets large it’s going to be difficult to get these off the trees, I’m assuming I’ll have to cut them off. The other kinds were not already built but had holes pre drilled and zip ties provided to make the tube. These will be much easier when the tree gets larger as all you will have to do is cut the zip ties. Thank for watching

@scotthedges6806 4 месяца назад

I bought 40 Dunstan seeds on eBay this last fall. I cold-stratified them in the fridge, and I planted the sprouted seeds last week in containers. The shells have cracked, and I'm expecting stems in another week or so. I'll let them grow for a year and then plant them per this video.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Scott that’s the same as these, they were started a year ago and moved into the 5 gallon bucket containers and I’m Planting them at 1 year old. I’m Hopeful in 3-4 years I can see some chestnuts! Thanks for watching and good luck with your trees!

@rj3494 4 месяца назад

I did this several years ago. Was able to get the seeds from Chestnut Ridge of Pike County. Used grow lights to get them started after stratification. Have over 100 trees planted. Had several produce nuts in year two. Most will produce in 3 to 5 years, especially those that get full sunlight.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Nice! Are they producing good now? How’s the deer usage when they are dropping?

@rj3494 4 месяца назад

@DIYfoodplotpro Last year there was a late frost that significantly reduced the amount of chestnuts. It took the deer a couple of years to figure them out but once they start dropping they are all over them now.

@sandych33ks1 4 месяца назад

If you don't cage them the deer will destroy them. The grow tubes are a double edge sword. The tree grows tall and no real lower branches.. I have over 40 chestnut trees and I only use the grow tubes to protect the lower part of the tree up to 2 or 3 feet. The cages are necessary or the bucks will destroy them even after the grow tubes are off. The cages will protect them until they are atleast 10 years old then you can think about removing them depending on the tree growth.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Thanks for sharing your experiences, super helpful! I was planning on protecting with the tubes until they came out of the top, at that point I’m going to use fence post to build cages and go around them to protect them. How old are your trees? Thanks for watching

@sandych33ks1 4 месяца назад

@@DIYfoodplotpro I add more every year. I have trees up to 10 years old. My soil is not perfect for the trees. I have a clay to shale soil. Now 10 miles away my friend the same age trees but acidic shitty soil and the trees growth is twice what mine is. My trees are getting full sun all day in a giant field and his trees don't. Yet because of the optimal shitty ph soil the chestnut tree growth is twice as fast or better than my trees the same age. The bucks still eat all the leaves hanging over the fenced in trees. The murder up any branches hanging over as well. So make the cages plenty big enough for growth besides protection.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Yeah it’s amazing how different plants/trees require so much different growing conditions. Are your trees bearing nuts yet?

@sandych33ks1 4 месяца назад

@@DIYfoodplotpro Yes but not all 40 trees yet. Last year we had a late frost after the leaves had bud put. It killed all the leaves. They did come back with a vengeance but no nuts because of that. It's been a mild winter here but we just got 2 feet of snow. Hopefully I will have my best year yet. Best of luck. Triple 19 fertilizer works fine for them as well in the spring.

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Good luck! Hopefully you can have tons of them for the deer this fall!

@trcorbin 4 месяца назад

Our property is pretty wet. We cleared a few places to let the sun in and the only thing that comes back is Hobblebush Viburnum. The deer don't seem to eat it and its a paint to get rid of. Any suggestions?

@DIYfoodplotpro 4 месяца назад

Wet soil is probably the biggest obstacle any landowner faces. Low fertility soil can be amended to make more fertile, sandy soils can be amended to aid in water holding capacity, but short of doing some major projects, it’s very difficult to improve the drainage when there aren’t underlying factors such as compaction, or controlling run off up stream. Building up raised areas can really help trees and plants in wetter soils, but then again that’s a major project. There are certain species of trees/plants that do well in bottom soils. Persimmons, swamp oaks, red osier dogwood will do reasonably well in those conditions.