Winkel Chestnut Farm
Chestnut Orchard 

Chestnuts grow inside a remarkably spiney bur, two or three nuts inside each bur. In mid-October these burs will fall off the tree.

Shortly before or after dropping the bur will split open releasing the nuts.

Note the form of the branch; a main stem with leaves on alternating sides of the stem:

burrs in early September

 

 

farm_1sm.jpg (6650 bytes) Dr. Dennis Fulbright of Michigan State University and Lorin Amsberry of Fowler Nurseries inspect a Colossal Chestnut acquired from Fowler Nurseries.
farm_2sm.jpg (7098 bytes) Aaron Sowers helps set scale to the size of this tree planted as a seedling in 1991.
farm_3sm.jpg (8852 bytes) Here a bur is just beginning to open.   This is typical of behavior near harvest time; late September or early October in our region.
farm_4sm.jpg (12140 bytes) Here we see the varied size of nuts which come out of this orchard, composed mostly of seedling trees of varied genetic background.
farm_5sm.jpg (16605 bytes) The theme of spring and summer is keeping ahead of the competing growth.
CLICK to enlarge, BACK to return Leslie checks out the farm in the winter time.
CLICK to enlarge, BACK to return Our four pests are:
Mice which eat the tree bark at ground level beneath the snow cover.
Rabbits, eat bark above the snow cover.
Deer, browse on the tops of trees in the 3-4 foot range.
And these Yellow  Striped Oakworms which will try to denude the trees in August and September.

 

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