Is Chinese Chestnut deer resistant?
Castanea mollissima
Browsed where deer pressure is high. Protect it.
Not listed by Rutgers NJAES. Rating reflects general horticultural consensus.
About Chinese Chestnut
The chestnut people actually plant, because American chestnut is functionally extinct above ground: blight killed roughly four billion trees in the first half of the twentieth century and the surviving root systems still send up shoots that die before they can bear. Chinese chestnut is blight-resistant and does the job. For anyone planting to hold deer on a property, this is the highest-value nut tree available. It bears in three to five years rather than the twenty-plus a white oak needs, and it drops a heavy crop every year instead of the boom-and-bust cycle oaks run on. Chestnuts also carry far more carbohydrate and far less tannin than acorns, which is why deer strip them first and clean them up completely. It wants full sun and acidic, well-drained ground. It will not tolerate heavy clay or a high water table, and it will not fruit properly in shade. Plant at least two for pollination. Young trees need a tube or cage for the first three or four years. The same deer you are planting for will browse the leader off a sapling and set it back a season.
Soil and care
- Soil pH
- 5 to 6.5
- Drainage
- Well drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Maintenance
- Low
Tolerances and uses
- Attracts birds
Deer-resistant alternatives to Chinese Chestnut
Same plant type, hardy in the same zones, but rated better on the Rutgers scale. If Chinese Chestnut keeps getting eaten, these go in the same spot.
Similar to Chinese Chestnut
Other trees with the same deer rating.
- Alternate-Leaved DogwoodCornus alternifoliaZones 3–7Occasionally damaged
- American PersimmonDiospyros virginianaZones 4–9Occasionally damaged
- AppleMalus sp.Zones 4–9, genus rangeOccasionally damaged
- Atlantic White CedarChamaecyparis thyoidesZones 3–9Occasionally damaged
- Atlas CedarCedrus atlanticaZones 6–9Occasionally damaged
- Bald CypressTaxodium distichumZones 4–9Occasionally damaged
Protecting Chinese Chestnut
Whether this survives comes down to local pressure, so it is worth knowing the options before it gets browsed rather than after.
- Protecting a young treeBrowsing costs a season. A buck rubbing a two-inch stem in October girdles it and kills it outright.
- How tall a deer fence needs to beEight feet, and six is the most common expensive mistake in deer fencing.
- Repellent that actually worksThe egg-based recipe that reproduces the active ingredient in the commercial sprays that win university trials.
- Check it is actually deerDeer tear and leave a ragged stub. A clean 45-degree cut is rabbits, and slug holes get blamed on deer constantly.
Where Chinese Chestnut grows
Hardy across most of these 50 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering.
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- New York
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
- Washington
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Utah
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- District of Columbia
Browse from here
Every list Chinese Chestnut belongs to.
Hardy in these zones
Common questions about Chinese Chestnut
- Is Chinese Chestnut deer resistant?
- Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) is rated Occasionally Severely Damaged on the Rutgers NJAES four-tier scale. Browsed where deer pressure is high. Protect it.
- What hardiness zones does Chinese Chestnut grow in?
- Chinese Chestnut is hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8. Outside that range it will either not survive winter or will struggle with summer heat.
- Does Chinese Chestnut grow in shade?
- No. Chinese Chestnut wants full sun and will grow thin and flop in shade.
- How big does Chinese Chestnut get?
- Mature height is roughly 480–720 in. Growth rate is moderate.