Chestnut Farming & Orchard Management
Chestnuts as a Long-Term Farm Investment
We hear versions of this question constantly: Is this actually worth it? I have 10 acres, or 30, or 50. I’m thinking about chestnuts. But I’m not a farmer. And I don’t want to wait a decade to find out I made a mistake. It’s a fair question. And the honest answer is: yes, it…
Chestnut Tree Pruning: Why It Can’t Wait
Folks usually come to me with the logistical questions first — what variety to plant, what it’ll yield, how soon they’ll harvest. All fair. But the practice that quietly decides more than almost any of those rarely makes the list: pruning. If there’s one thing a visit to a chestnut orchard in Chile drove home…
Why Plant Chestnuts on Your Farm?
Chestnut farming might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re thinking about what to do with a few extra acres. But for a growing number of growers, landowners, and career-changers across the eastern United States, it’s becoming one of the most exciting decisions they’ve ever made. And once you dig into…
Chestnut Farm Succession Planning: Built to Last
If you’ve ever stood in a young chestnut row and wondered who’ll be there when these trees finally bear, you’re already doing succession work. So that’s really what chestnut farm succession planning is. Not paperwork. Not the LLC. Instead, it’s the slow daily work of growing the people who will love this land. The Question…
Grafted, Seedling, or Clonal? A Quieter Way to Choose Your Chestnut Trees
If you’re standing in front of nursery catalogs trying to decide what to plant, you’re not alone. The grafted vs seedling chestnut trees question is the one we hear most often—from first-year growers, folks fifty trees in, and researchers. Underneath, though, is usually a quieter question. Not just “which tree?” but “what kind of orchard—and…
Starting a Chestnut Orchard: Lessons from Nash Nurseries
Starting a chestnut orchard can feel equal parts thrilling and terrifying. I remember that mix the day we planted our first trees. So I loved hearing Jon and Bill Nash of Nash Nurseries describe the same feeling on this week’s episode. Between them, the Nashes carry six generations of nursery wisdom, and Jon’s raising the…
Growing Pains: Scaling Your Chestnut Orchard
We spend years getting the trees into the ground, tending the soil, and waiting for the burs to open. But getting the nuts off the trees is just the starting line for revenue. We calculate yield per acre, project the harvest out a decade, and expect the math to guarantee a return. But the actual…
The 90-Day Flight Plan: A Grower’s Guide to the Drone Approval Process
I had the opportunity to speak at the Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference earlier this year, which is always a joy. But I have to admit that one of the absolute highlights of the day for me was meeting Caleb Canter and finally getting a close-up look at agricultural drone technology. Even though I was…
How Drone Technology Is Transforming Chestnut Orchard Management
If you’ve ever stood at the bottom of a steep chestnut grove with a heavy sprayer on your back, you’ve probably looked up at the canopy and wondered if there was a better way. For years, drone technology in chestnut orchards felt like something reserved for hobbyists or big-budget films, but as I learned from my conversation…
Taller Isn’t Better: Why Our Best Chestnut Seedlings Ship at Four Feet
In chestnut nurseries, tall trees get all the attention. Six‑ and eight‑foot first‑year trees look impressive in the nursery rows. But height alone doesn’t tell you how that tree will perform once it hits real soil. At EBB Farms, the farm lab for United Chestnuts, we’ve taken a different path: we intentionally standardize our shipped…