Chestnut Trees

[Mike Nolan]

One of my chestnut trees, the tallest of course, has been dropping most of its leaves already. I'm hoping it's just heat stress, it doesn't look like Chestnut Blight. This tree has sunlight nearly all day as it is pretty much out in the open. It looked pretty good until late July, when the really hot weather hit. I did water it several times, so it is possible I overwatered it.

I did plant two more small chestnut trees earlier this year, one of which got chopped off with a spin trimmer but has since grown back more twigs and leaves, so apparently the root system had taken hold enough to tolerate that decapitation.

My arborist retired last year, so I need to find a new one to see if there's something wrong with the chestnut tree and possibly do some trimming on other trees. We've had some really strong winds lately (gusts of 91 MPH reported at the airport, which is 10 miles NW of here), but unlike many of our neighbors we didn't lose anything but some large twigs, no major branch damage. I think aggressive trimming was a factor in that.

We buy these trees from the Nebraska State Arboretum, they're hybridized American Chestnuts, which are supposed to be more resistant to Chestnut Blight. They've got another tree sale coming up next month, I need to get an arborist out and see if the big one is salvageable. If not, I may pull it out and replace it this fall or next spring.

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[BakerAunt]

Mike--I read your post to my husband and showed him the picture. His verdict is the same as yours: it does not look good.

[Mike Nolan]

Had a new arborist out today, looking closely at the big chestnut, it is putting out some new leaves, so it appears it may have been heat stress and probably not enough water. So it may be OK. I need to set it up on a regular watering schedule again. (We don't have in-ground sprinklers.)

It's always fun to see if arborists can identify our big oak. (It was big when we built the house 28 years ago.) We've been told it is a chinkapin, a burr oak, a white oak and a swamp oak and now a white swamp oak. It definitely isn't a burr oak.

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