Brian Cady

bruce Fine wrote:also another note on growing chestnuts. DO NOT plant chestnut trees where you would have any livestock except maybe birds. sheep, goats, cattle and horses CANNOT be in area with chestnuts. better check with a vet if your animals would be safe if they tried to eat chestnut.

Bruce, at Badgersett research farm, horses were grazed under 15-20 foot tall chestnut to mow down the weeds and such, with no harm to the horses or trees. Also, sheep grazed under mature chestnuts in Leverett, Massachusetts year-after-year, with no harm done, at the farm of a friend. These are not horse chestnut; they are Castanea species.

Bruce, also, one can kill chestnut weevils in-shell without killing/cooking the nuts by holding the nuts in 120 degree Fahrenheit water for 20 minutes. If one holds them in that 120F water for 40 minutes, it discourages brown rot of the kernel, I understand.

Brian
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Tom Wahl of Red Fern says in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAf1lUrqSq4 that typical pasture mixes of grasses and such compete with his chinese chestnuts too much, so he finds that planting lower-vigor grasses and such that compete through persistence, not vigor, works better, and saves mowing, as they need less mowing to leave a clean, low surface that his PYO pickers can harvest chestnuts off of.

I've been searching out acid-soil-tolerant nitrogen-fixing low- and slow-growing groundcovers to complement chestnuts.

Prospects include:
Ceanothus prostratus Mahala Mat - seed is doubly-dormant from plant; needs both cold- and heat-treatment, reportedly. Reportedly found in high and thus winter-cold, well-watered areas of the coast range of the West coast.

Lupinus brewerii Brewer's Lupin: A low-growing lupin adapted to acid soils.

Lupinus bicolor Miniature Lupin: I have these growing in chestnut seedling's pots, for future grandcover use.

Trifolium brewerii Forest Clover: low-growing and shade tolerant, I believe.

Trifolium repens White Clover cv. 'Microclover': Low-growing, acid-soil tolerance uncertain.

Lotus corniculatus Birdsfoot Trefoil cv. 'Plena'/Pleniflorus'/'Empire' These are prostrate or nearly so.

Medicago lupulina Black Medic cv. 'George' I have not yet found a seed source for this University of Montana-bred release.

What has worked for you?

I've recently read Tagari Publications-published 'The Power of Duck' and the author-published 'The One Duck Revolution'.

Both are by Takao Furuno, and both are about integrating ducks and rice culture, and about expanding this integration to include azolla and loaches (the fish). Dr. Furuno has trialed these approaches extensively.

'The Power of Duck' is fun to read; 'The One Duck Revolution' is a bit more academic.

'The Power of Duck' has detailed instructions with timing and amounts used.

https://tagaripublications.com/product/the-power-of-duck-integrated-rice-and-duck-farming/

https://www.lulu.com/shop/takao-furuno/the-one-duck-revolution/paperback/product-1ynvekyj.html

I'd love to learn what Dr. Furuno thinks of seed ball sowing of rice.

Do others agree that Dr. Takao Furuno is a permaculture artisan?

I've heard one should move bees 'Two feet or two miles'; in other words less than two feet or more than two miles.

On the other hand I moved two hives this spring about 30 feet, then put grass or brush across their entrance for a few days, which worked well.

Also, I recommend https://www.beesource.com/ as a beekeeping forum.

Brian
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Goldenrod, - Isn't that allelopathic? Maybe chestnuts suffer by goldenrod.

Brian
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Should lean rabbit be balanced with chubby woodchuck? I was told woodchuck is delicious by someone I trust.

Note: I  added a new working link to the web archived original page previously linked first below:

Brian Cady wrote:Across the Firth of Clyde from Glasgow, near Dunoon, is Kilmun, where many trees were trialled in little plantations many decades ago, starting in the 1930s. See More Here
There's a report of which did well, with ratings from 1 to 3 of an enormous number of tree species from cold, wet, windy spots around the world:
Report
Some of the results surprised me.
It might guide cool maritime tree plantings, in Koppen climate code ET/Dfc/Cfc climates.
EDIT: that report isn't the one with the 1 to 3 ratings, sorry. I'm still searching...I think this is the one, but the server's down now:  http://www.rsfs.org/images/journal1947-2005/53/530407.pdf
Brian

2nd Note: I found a paper with ratings of trees there: https://reinfforce2.plantedforests.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mason-2018.-What-alternative-tree-species-can-we-grow-in-western-Britain.-85-years-of-evidence-Kimun-Forest-Garden.pdf

Nancy Reading wrote:... I have korean pine and monkey puzzle which are both doing well, as are my hazel trees.

That's exciting, Nancy,

Korean pine seems to suffer here in NorthEast North America, from what I've heard.
I've wondered if it might be grafted onto the NENA native White Pine, which I think is related.

Will you taste and evaluate your individual cultivars of monkey puzzle, Korean pine and hazel?

Brian
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Nancy Reading wrote:Given that this thread was started in late October, I wouldn't worry too much about the yellowing leaves, just looks like autumn to me!

Interesting that the comments say that chestnust prefer acidic soil, as I thought that was one reason my trees (European chestnut) haven't been doing so well. My soil is rather shallow, but generally moist, so I don't think drought is my problem either. I came to the conclusion that chestnuts just don't like Skye.

Hi Nancy,

1. I noticed yellowing leaves on potted chestnuts I'd just bought, mentioned this to a chestnut luminary, and was told "'end-of-season' disease, don't worry". I was seeing chestnuts in full, green leaf nearby, but I accepted this and didn't worry until the next spring, when, after foolishly repotting using alkaline coir instead of acidic spagnum moss, the chestnuts leafed out their second spring with yellow leaves again. Then I worried again, and contacted an extension agent. Agent Sam suggested foliar-feeding with trace minerals, especially iron. That greened them up within weeks.

2. Could your chestnut trees there on Skye perhaps be suffering amidst a bacteria-dominated grassy soil, where a fungi-dominated soil might nourish them? An acquaintance suggested simply piling woodchips around young trees would convert grassy soils to fungal dominance. (But you might avoid piling chips against the young trunk in winter, to leave any trunk-nibbling voles exposed to predation).

Brian
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