Deer Orchard™ Starter Pack | Zone 6

Not only do deer love Chinese chestnuts, but you will find them tasty as well. They can be eaten roasted, boiled, or sautéed. A prickly 2–3½" seed husk encloses 1-4 nuts and will yield a ripened nut crop from mid to late September all the way through October.

This stately deciduous Asian oak with long, jagged-edged glossy leaves produces decent crops of acorns at an earlier age than many of our native species, and often they will drop earlier in the fall as well. Acorn production only become heavier and more reliable with age. It is so prolific that there is some concern of this non-native species naturalizing, so best not planted in close proximity to ecologically sensitive sites. It requires well-drained growing conditions that tend to be acidic to neutral, and not recommended for alkaline soil or poorly-drained sites.

A very special selection that will be of great interest for wildlife food plots due to its later-than-typical fruiting. Discovered and trialed by Dr. James Kroll (aka “Dr. Deer”) from Stephen F. Austin State University it is invaluable for providing late fall fruit when little else is available. Large clusters of small fruit characterize this selection. Self-fertile but increased fruit set is likely with the presence of another pear cultivar nearby, and can be combined with our other earlier-fruiting selections to have a long season of fruit availability.

As can be expected from a tree naturally occurring in central and west Texas and into Mexico, this small tree is exceptionally tolerant of extreme heat, low humidity, drought and poor soil conditions. In southeast Texas it also occurs in more humid sandy ridges overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Appearing nothing like the American Persimmon, this species produces silver dollar sized fruits that are jet black inside and out yet are surprisingly delicious even for humans. It starts out as a dense, multi-stemmed shrub with small olive-green leaves, and with size the smooth, exfoliating bark begins to take on attractive silver, grey and white tones. When planted outside of its native range, it will prosper best in hot, exposed, well-drained sites…perfect for sites that would be difficult for most other trees. Being dioecious, male and female individuals are required for fruit production so several of our unsexed plants sited near each other will increase the odds that both sexes are present.

A wide-ranging tree that is adaptable to a diverse array of habitats, from the baking hot, dry limestone “Hill Country” of central Texas to moist floodplain margins in central Florida, while also enduring the cold winters in the northern extent of its range from Iowa to southern New England. Over time it will produce shoots from the roots, forming a colony of trunks that provide valuable cover for wildlife. The orange fruit which can range up to the size of a small plum, begin ripening in fall and are often retained on the tree after leaf drop well into December in southern latitudes. Note that this species has separate male and female plants, so to ensure fruit production multiple plants of our unsexed saplings should be sited near each other to increase the chances that both sexes will be present.