Wildlife-Attracting Chinese Chestnuts

摘要

An Auburn University research project that began more than 75 years ago has yielded six new Chinese chestnut varieties and two dwarf cultivars that have been selectively bred to drop an abundance of high-quality nuts in succession from late August through November, providing a continuous high-energy food source for wildlife throughout the fall. When the new cultivated varieties hit the market this fall, they will come as package deals. Four of them —AU Buck I, AU Buck II, A U Buck III, and A U BuckIV— produce large crops of medium- to large-sized nuts and will be marketed together as the Chinese chestnut deer package. The other four — Gobbler I, Gobbler II, and the two dwarfs (or seguins): AU Premier and AU Encore — bear smaller chestnuts thatare ideal for wild turkey and together will comprise the "turkey package."