I do peat moss but it’s not very damp. Just slightly. Check for mold & stuff a few times. I keep mine colder than normal fridge…. Like 35-36 degrees (basically the colder end of what a refrigerator can do). There’s some stuff u can wash nuts with to disinfect from molds, fungus & junk. I have mixed a dab of powder captan fungicide in there as well. Basically- Just don’t let them get too wet, moldy or warm & u be in great shape.
If u have them- they devastate a pile of trees& plants. Imidacloprid, bifenthrin, malathion, carbaryl, etc - problem solved. I’d personally do imidacloprid with one more of these added.
I've been using permethrin and it's seemed to knock them back good, I'll have to try something different. Always worse on a year with corn verse a year with soybeans in the field.
I've done that with good success.
Pike County Chestnuts usually sells them come Oct. I bought a couple lbs last year and had great success with them. Cheap too, like $6/lb (40ish nuts)
Well, I tried something a little different last fall. Instead of keeping the chestnuts and acorns in a moist bag of peat in the fridge all winter, I almost buried an empty livestock molasses tub in the garden last fall. I drilled a drain hole in the bottom of it, filled it with dirt, scattered nuts on the surface, then covered with more dirt. I covered it with chicken wire that was folded over a couple of times, took an old sidewalk gate from when our yard was fenced and laid that over top weighted down. Left it like that all winter, critters never got into it. I got pretty decent germination this spring, got a bushy tub of trees at the moment. I figure when they go dormant this fall, or first thing next spring, I'll add a bunch of water to make mud, then slowly dig individual tress out to repot. Heck, next spring I might go straight to the field with them. Since they will be dormant, with muddy roots, they shouldn't get shocked too bad during transplanting. I had some in pots that I tried to overwinter and I didn't protect them well enough, they basically freeze dried over the winter. Thus the hope of having them below grade.
www.treeproshelters.com
I got the tallest so deer couldn't eat growth from the top. I'd buy as many as you can justify in the 1st purchase for a bulk price, if you intend on doing this stuff in time where you'll use the additional tubes years ahead - that's a cheaper per tube price and only pay 1 round of shipping. I bought 50, then another 50 later from tree pro. The 1st 50 are doing great, but the 2nd 50 was out of a batch they later recalled. These shattered and fell apart within a few months of being out which was very disappointing, but they did replace them quickly no questions ask. That doesn't replace the time and trees I lost, but I'm hoping they fixed the issue as it is a quality tube typically. I would also get the "tree pro" type vs the "miracle tube", so you can un-zip tie for maintenance later on. If you go this route, when they come in the mail, try rolling the whole stack and duct taping so they are stored unfolded, as close to a tube shape as you can get them. If you leave them folded up, they are a much bigger pain forming the tube and zip tying out in the field. Ideally you would roll the tube and zip individually ahead of planting, but they just take up a lot more room that way so I did the whole stack like I mentioned above. Then as you're using them, the inner ones will slide out as you need them and the duct tape on the outside will hold them all together.
Agreed on everything. I have done both - the TreePro style is a massive pain and ridiculously time consuming if you are doing more than a few, but can open them later to weed etc. Miracle Tubes are 100x more user friendly, and you can still slide them up to weed if need be. I will never use the TreePro style ever again. Miracle Tubes or nothing.
