When you think of planting food that will attract deer and other wildlife, you probably think of traditional food plots like clover and brassica. And while food plots are great, most of them are temporary — they have to be replanted every year. On the other hand, planting an orchard of mast-bearing trees can replace or complement your food plots, and you’ll get fruit and nuts (for you and the deer, if you wish) for years to come.
That sounds great — and it really is, once the orchard gets established. The only catch is that fruit trees take some planning and expertise to get started and some ongoing effort, particularly in the first few seasons. You could easily spend hundreds or thousands of dollars planting trees only to discover later, when the trees fail to thrive, that you selected a variety that just isn’t suited to your area or you didn’t follow the proper treatment procedures for that specific variety. To build an orchard that will thrive and attract wildlife, you need hardy, healthy plants in the right variety for your region and the knowledge to handle them correctly.
Fortunately, Chestnut Hill Outdoors is here to help. They’re the leading provider of food-plot trees nationwide, with 30 years of research into providing complete nutrition for attracting deer and wildlife. At the heart of their lineup is the Dunstan Chestnut — Chestnut Hill's flagship and arguably the finest food-plot tree you can plant, since chestnuts have served as a primary food source for deer and wildlife for centuries. They’ve cultivated specific varieties that are most attractive to wildlife, and they’ll help you pick the varieties that will suit your particular needs and your planting zone. And once you’ve got the right trees, their online learning center will give you all the knowledge and instruction you’ll need to plant, establish and maintain your property.
You’ll find a vast variety of peaches, plums, figs, pears and persimmons on the Chestnut Hill website, as well as grapes, apples, berries, bananas, pawpaws and much more. When you shop, you’ll find loads of information on each variety, including the ideal type of soil, appropriate USDA zones, mature height and spread size, and pollination requirements so you’ll know if you need to plant multiple trees and which other trees will complement them in your orchard.
If you live in the Southeast, you face particular challenges when planting fruit trees because so many varieties require a specific number of chill hours each winter in order to produce fruit. Plant the wrong variety and you can spend years tending an orchard that will never fruit! Chestnut Hill has identified fruit tree varieties well-suited to the Southeast climate, selected for their ability to handle warmer temperatures, shorter winter chill periods, and the soil conditions commonly found across Southern states. They’ll help you select the variety that will thrive on your property and supply you with the knowledge on how to plant it and care for it.
Chestnut Hill Outdoors isn’t just a nursery — they’re passionate about the enriching the land that sustains you, and their fruit trees are specifically designed to attract deer. Most trees can be purchased at different sizes and different levels of growth, so you can get started with whatever is right for your property. Each variety comes with instructions for planting, pruning, watering and fertilizing.
Chestnut Hill’s ambition is to lead a movement back to the land and to help every customer grow where they’ve planted. They've carefully selected and cultivated fruit and nut trees that will attract deer — including a lineup of persimmons picked for their pull as “deer candy,” among them one variety actually named “Deer Magnet” — and that will thrive in your region, wherever that is. And just as importantly, they provide the information you need to help your orchard thrive so you can enjoy the benefits for years to come.
