Be sure to plant your trees within a few days of receiving them. If immediate planting isn’t possible, follow our guidelines to keep them healthy until you can.

Inspect the bags for moisture. You will see that the trees are dormant and you may see some bud swelling. At this point their needs are little except keeping them moist, cool and in the shade to keep them dormant. Avoid sun on the roots, hot conditions, deep freeze and ensure the roots do not dry out. Use damp wood shavings as needed to help keep the roots moist. If the wood shavings and roots appear dry, add water to the bag. If it is a couple of weeks before they will be in their final home, you will need to “heal” them in.

Healing in means that you will temporarily plant the trees in your garden or a suitable location where you can dig the soil to proper depth and place all the trees in the hole and back fill. Water the newly planted trees. If you have different trees they will be bagged separately and they should also have separate holes. We don’t recommend potting your trees - healing them in is much better.

Digging your hole properly is essential to tree health and growth. Make sure you have the right soil for your tree.

The hole needs to be as deep as the roots are and twice as wide. Break up the removed soil and discard all grass and weeds. Amend the soil with compost and mix well as you will need to replace the soil that was removed, and the compost will feed the roots. If the soil is dry, add a gallon of water to the hole and let it drain. When planting the tree, remove the packaging at the last minute as the fine roots dry quickly and keep the roots out of the sun as sun is very damaging to the roots.

Spread the roots out within the hole. While holding the tree at proper height, backfill the removed soil and adjust the roots so they are spread out equally throughout the soil. If you just back fill the soil, the roots will all be clumped together at the bottom of the hole hindering the tree's ability to absorb food and water. Back fill the soil a couple inches at a time and adjust the roots and gently compact the soil with your hands. It is important to eliminate any air pockets.

The proper height is the point at which the tree comes out of the ground before we dug it up. You will see that this is the point on the tree where the color of the bark changes. In the example photo below, you can see the soil line. If you lay a stick across the hole and hold the tree and stick at the same time with one hand you can keep the tree at the correct height as the hole is backfilled and the soil is tamped down to eliminate any air holes. Water the tree well.

If the soil is heavy clay, dig the hole twice as deep as the roots. Amend the heavy clay soil you removed, with 25% sand and 25% compost and mix well until uniform. If possible you should dig a trench leading out of the hole downhill to allow the excess water to drain. Heavy clay holds water for a long time; during freezing temperatures, the soil around the tree will heave more than the surrounding soil and could lift the tree up and out of the ground exposing roots and ultimately killing the tree. Spring is the best time to plant in clay soil as it gives time for the roots to anchor the tree so it cannot be lifted by the freeze and thaw of winter conditions. As you have more soil than the size of the hole, the soil will be mounded and the tree will be on a mound a few inches higher than the native soil, so keep track of the native soil line the tree needs. After planting the tree, water well!

The buds, bark and roots of young trees are tasty for moles, voles, mice, rabbits and deer. We strongly recommend using a roll of 24” wide ¼” hardware cloth you can get at the local hardware store or online retailer to create a simple cage. We do not recommend using tree tubes during the growing months. Cut the hardware cloth a foot taller than the planted tree height. Form a circle along the 24” width of the hardware cloth. It will form a round cage about 8” wide. Close the cage with string, wire, or nylon zip ties about every foot. Secure with two stakes that are taller than the cage.

Pound the two stakes 4 inches away from the tree on opposite sides. You want the stakes to be about the height of the cage or a bit higher, to give the cage strength against browsing by deer or rabbits. Carefully slide the cage over the stakes(if the stakes are thin) and gently rotate the cage back and forth to sink the cage an inch or so into the soil. Tie the cage to the stakes with string, wire, or nylon zip ties at a minimum of two places for each stake. You now have rodent protection.

If you have purchased trees that are already 8” or more inches wide then you will have to adjust the hardware cloth size to accommodate the width of the tree.

Chestnuts like well-drained soil and are not tolerant of soils that remain wet for months at a time. Chestnuts also need acidic soil. The soil pH should be 5.5 to 6.5; the trees won’t thrive if the pH is outside this range.  If the tree is chlorotic(yellow) it is a good sign that the soil is near neutral (7.0pH) and the pH needs to be adjusted. Keep in mind we can adjust the pH of the top layer of the soil, but we cannot change the soil down deep where the roots will spread over the coming years. If the topsoil pH needs to be lowered, you can either add elemental sulfur or aluminum sulfate.  Follow the manufacturer’s directions for the product used.

Once planted, mulch with pine needles or maple leaves to naturally lower pH over time. After planting, we strongly suggest adding a few inches of mulch around the tree and pulling the mulch away from the trunk.  The mulch will help keep the weeds down, moderate the soil temperature, and lessen the need for water.  However, check moisture often during establishment and water as needed.

Ideally, space your chestnuts 25 to 30 feet apart. Orchard-setting seedling trees are often double planted at 10 feet apart in rows and twenty feet apart between rows and culling out the less productive trees over time.