beginning plans for the orchards
So, plans for trees. The first tree we're planting is the chestnut. Because chestnut is fantastic for both people and livestock. The MSU website asks several questions for planters, so I'm going to answer them here.
Assess your site:
-- Chestnuts do best in sandy and acidic loams , with a pH between 4.5 and 6.5., which is exactly what we've got.
What are your purposes, goals, objectives and aims?
-- My plans for the chestnut is to use the nuts to feed the people on the homestead as well as feed livestock. Also, chestnut wood is beautiful used in furniture, and as it's tannin-rich and dense, is good for things like fence posts and other outdoor uses. Also, I love chestnut honey.
Set your budget.
-- Planting the trees will take not only the cost of the trees themselves but the cost of traveling up there and the lost of wages while we're up there. Likely, we'll plant other trees, like apple and pear, while we're there, too. Mike can take a couple of paid vacation days, and that will help. I would give us a budget of $1000. 1-yr. container grafted chestnuts cost about $120; we haven't decided how many trees we want, but I'm thinking that we should start out with four and see how it goes -- along with two each of two varieties of apple and two varieties of pear. Maybe cherries and grapes? Still thinking about that -- our constraint is gonna be time, I think.
Edit: However -- this pfd from the American Chestnut Foundation says: "Remember that you will need to plant at least 2 chestnuts to get nut production. Account for some mortality over the years, and plant at least 5. If you just want to plant a few trees, a good amount would be between 10 to 50." So maybe we'll plant 10-12.
Assess your site:
-- Chestnuts do best in sandy and acidic loams , with a pH between 4.5 and 6.5., which is exactly what we've got.
What are your purposes, goals, objectives and aims?
-- My plans for the chestnut is to use the nuts to feed the people on the homestead as well as feed livestock. Also, chestnut wood is beautiful used in furniture, and as it's tannin-rich and dense, is good for things like fence posts and other outdoor uses. Also, I love chestnut honey.
Set your budget.
-- Planting the trees will take not only the cost of the trees themselves but the cost of traveling up there and the lost of wages while we're up there. Likely, we'll plant other trees, like apple and pear, while we're there, too. Mike can take a couple of paid vacation days, and that will help. I would give us a budget of $1000. 1-yr. container grafted chestnuts cost about $120; we haven't decided how many trees we want, but I'm thinking that we should start out with four and see how it goes -- along with two each of two varieties of apple and two varieties of pear. Maybe cherries and grapes? Still thinking about that -- our constraint is gonna be time, I think.
Edit: However -- this pfd from the American Chestnut Foundation says: "Remember that you will need to plant at least 2 chestnuts to get nut production. Account for some mortality over the years, and plant at least 5. If you just want to plant a few trees, a good amount would be between 10 to 50." So maybe we'll plant 10-12.