The Mistakes We Made Starting Our Chestnut Orchard

We’ve learned a lot since we first decided to turn part of our property into a chestnut orchard—and not all of those lessons were learned the easy way. In this video, we’re talking about some of the mistakes we made when starting our chestnut orchard, the problems those mistakes caused, and what we plan to do differently moving forward. When we first started growing chestnut trees, we were trying to figure everything out as we went. Some of our decisions worked. Others… not so much. One mistake was using saplings as stakes to hold up our tree tubes. At the time it seemed like an easy and inexpensive solution, but we eventually realized there were better ways to support and protect young chestnut trees. We also made the mistake of using the wrong type of tree tubes. Tree tubes are an important part of protecting young orchard trees, but not all tubes work equally well for every situation. We learned that lesson through experience. Another mistake was one that was much harder to deal with—not wanting to let go of a tree that wasn't doing well. When you've invested time, money, and effort into planting a tree, it's easy to keep hoping that it will recover. We've had to learn that sometimes a tree simply isn't going to make it, and keeping a struggling tree in the orchard can prevent us from moving forward. And perhaps our biggest mistake was simply not giving the orchard enough of our time. For a while, the chestnut orchard was only getting the attention we could give it around everything else going on in our lives. An orchard needs regular attention, though. Trees need to be checked, grass needs to be mowed, tree tubes and cages need maintenance, and problems are much easier to deal with when you catch them early. That is one thing that is changing for us now. We are living here full time. That means Foggy Ridge Farm is no longer something we can only work on when we have spare time. We can spend more time walking the orchard, checking the chestnut trees, mowing, replacing damaged tree protection, identifying struggling trees, and taking care of problems before they become bigger problems. We still have a lot to learn, but we're taking what we've learned from our mistakes and using it to improve the orchard. This video is another chapter in the journey we've been sharing here at Foggy Ridge Farm. Our first video was about why we chose this land and how this new chapter began. Then we talked about how our land became a chestnut orchard. After that, we got honest about the reality of growing chestnuts and why I had to correct my earlier statement that made chestnuts sound easier to grow than they really are. We also explained why we chose Chinese chestnuts and Chinese hybrids instead of American chestnuts, including the history and risk of chestnut blight. Now we're taking a closer look at the mistakes we've made starting our chestnut orchard—and what we're doing to correct them. We’re not experts who have everything figured out. We're learning through experience and documenting the process as we go. Our goal is to share the real journey of growing Chinese chestnuts, managing a young orchard, improving our land, and building Foggy Ridge Farm one project at a time. There will be plenty more orchard updates, including tree care, orchard maintenance, replacing trees, expanding the orchard, and everything else that comes with trying to build a productive chestnut orchard. Thanks for coming along with us. 🌰 This is Foggy Ridge Farm—Where we learn as we grow. #DevelopingAFarm #FoggyRidgeFarm #ChestnutOrchard #GrowingChestnuts #ChestnutTrees #ChineseChestnuts #Homesteading Subscribe Here -   / @foggyridgefarm1   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazon Affiliates Link: Below are the links to the products we used. These are amazon affiliate links. Please use these links if interested in any of these products. There is no extra charge to you but we earn a little revenue from you using our Amazon Affiliates link. If there is not any Items listed that you are interested in, Just follow the link then do your normal searches/shopping through amazon. Using our link in this way still gives us a little revenue at no cost to you. VooPeak TC02 solar trail camera - https://amzn.to/4grGIjw ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email - foggyridgefarmmo@gmail.com