Chestnut Orchard Rows

This is the first field where the 200 chestnut seedlings were planted a week ago. The seedlings are about 18 inches tall and planted 20 feet apart. This photo was taken yesterday. The next planting is in the fall, when we plant 300 grafted trees. We are ordering the Qing variety for the chestnut quality and resistance to blight. We will plant a few of the trees in this field, but the majority will be planted on the adjacent field, shown toward the top of the photo to the left.

Tree Progress

Since we planted the chestnut trees last weekend, it has rained more than 6 inches in 8 days, and more is on the way. I was concerned about how this would affect our new seedlings. When we checked on the trees yesterday, more than 90% are already putting out their leaves. I'm very pleased with this progress and had no idea that we would see change so quickly.

Our next step is to work on the grassy areas between the rows and to plan for careful weed control and deer prevention.

Hobby Farms Magazine

A quick shout out to Hobby Farms Magazine. We first read about chestnuts in an article published at the end of last year. So thank-you for your timely information about small farming operations. If you are interested in reading this article, here's the link.

Hobby Farms Magazine has been the best source of information about small farms. While the farm is currently not our primary source of income, we hope to change that in the coming years. The articles that we've read in Hobby Farms over the past few years have really been timely. We look forward to learning about new crops in the coming years. Thank-you Hobby Farms Magazine!

Chestnut Planting

We are officially farming! Last week we received 200 chestnut seedlings for planting. The seedlings are 1-year plants, and were about 2-3 feet tall with a small root ball.

We first marked off rows that were 30 feet apart. Then we plowed 12-16 inches in each row for planting. On Saturday, we began by marking off tree locations with flags that were 20 feet apart. The soil was so soft that we were able to plant trees by hand. We estimated that 3 people were able to plant 40-45 trees per hour. So it made for quick work. In a few years we will remove every other tree, making rows with trees that are ultimately 40 feet apart. They are planted closer together at first to insure good pollination.

On Saturday and Sunday there has been significant rainfall here in Virginia (at least 2 inches in the last 2 days), so we'll be watching the trees closely to determine the effect.

In order to determine the best type of tree for our soil and climate, we are planting seedling trees now and then grafted trees in the fall and multiple varieties. We'll let you know how they compare next year. The types of seedlings planted at this time were primarily the Qing and Peach variety of chestnut, with multiple varieties used as pollinators. These seem to offer good quality fruit, which will take a few years for us to determine.

If there is anyone out there that has recommendations for chestnut tree growers, let us know what successes you have found.

And the 2008 Project of the Year is....

Chestnuts! That's right. I have just placed an order for our first batch of bare-root chestnut seedlings. We have spent the last few months researching new crops and are feeling confident that this could be our future. Since we're on the 20-year plan to retirement, we have a little time to experiment. We'll be planting trees in the spring and in the fall, doing soil testing, and different planting methods. I'll post some photos as soon as we get started, which should be within the next 2 weeks, depending on the weather. So for anyone out there that knows anything about chestnuts or growing nuts in general, our ears are open.

April Showers

It's been raining for the last few weeks. We really need the rain to increase the water tables. As a gardener who starts shopping the seed catalogs in January, I'm really anxious for the weather to clear so that I can get some plants in the ground. But we're thankful for the rain. As soon as the weather clears, I'll be posting info and photos about our next project.