Fall is a great time to plant mast trees, especially if your goal is to create “living food plots” for deer. Whether it’s hard mast like acorns or chestnuts, or soft mast like apples or pears, trees planted now can turn a so-so hunting property into a perennial powerhouse.
And now you don’t have to run around your state to find quality tree stock. Chestnut Hill Outdoors is shipping trees direct — just in time to get them in the ground and settled before winter sets in.
The Planting Process
In the fall, Chestnut Hill ships containerized trees. When you receive your trees, they will still have leaves on them and will be actively growing. As temperatures cool down heading into the winter months, the leaves on your trees will naturally start to brown and fall off. This is a normal process as the trees go into dormancy for the winter months. However, it’s important to protect the roots of your trees from freezing temperatures because the root system will continue to grow and thrive while the trees are dormant.
When you receive your trees, CHO recommends that you plant them as soon as possible. Once the trees are in the ground, that should provide adequate protection from the cold temperatures if planted with enough time to get established before the cold arrives. For extra protection after planting, you can rake organic leaf material toward the base of the trees. This will act as a natural insulator, as well as retain moisture. They also recommend the use of grow tubes, as they have a mild greenhouse effect.
If you are not able to plant your trees before the ground freezes, you will need to protect your trees’ root systems from the freezing temperatures. The best way to do this is to bring your containerized trees into an area that you know will not freeze. If you do not have a greenhouse on your property, you can put the trees in a garage, a basement, or somewhere indoors. If left outside in the container, the roots will freeze and your trees will face heavy damage and possibly not survive.
Go to chestnuthilloutdoors.com to order trees directly from their website.
