Chestnut Hill Outdoors offers several varieties of pears to help homeowners meet year-round nutritional requirements for wildlife on their land.
The key to attracting and keeping more and healthier wildlife species, especially deer, on your land is to provide the right type and amount of food to meet their nutritional needs year-round. Food plots are one way, but mast gardens are becoming increasingly popular and help fill nutritional gaps left by other applications.
The soft mast is often overlooked but can be an important alternative or complement for other applications such as hard mast food plots or orchards. That’s why Chestnut Hill Outdoors offers several varieties of pears that will cover an extended period of time, particularly when the herbaceous vegetation matures and dies back and the hard mast begins to drop.
Varieties such as the Flordahome pear bear fruit in southern plant hardiness zones (8-10) as early as July and August. The pineapple pear reaches its peak production in August and September in zones 5 through 9. Then Spalding and Kieffer pears take over from September through October in similar zones. Several other varieties may be more suitable for your particular soil, moisture, and climate conditions, and all are listed and described on the Chestnut Hill Outdoors website: www.chestnuthilloutdoors.com
Use the link to enter the zip code where you will be planting.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map Link
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
Pollination is essential for the production of masts. Non-grafted varieties require multiple trees for pollination. Therefore, they and even grafted and self-pollinating varieties will be more productive the more trees you plant. By planting multiple types, you can broaden the window of attractiveness your land has to wildlife.
When it comes to pear orchards to attract deer, the real star is Buck’s Harvest Pear. This variety was discovered on an old farmhouse along the Alapaha River in southern Georgia and northern Florida. They mature in late fall and stay on the tree until Thanksgiving, so while we’re enjoying our Thanksgiving harvest, the males are enjoying a harvest too. Buck’s Harvest pears are disease resistant with a traditional pear shape. The fruit provides excellent food for deer and wildlife and will attract them during hunting season. The success of new trees depends to a large extent on the care received during and after planting.
Buck’s Harvest pear characteristics:
- Height at Maturity: 20′-30′
- Spread: 10′-20′
- Tree Shape: Modified Guide
- USDA Zone: 5-9
- Flowering: February-March
- Fruit fall: October-December
- Soil: Adapted to dry, well-drained or sandy clay or loam. It can handle moist soil if it is only seasonal and well drained.
- Soil pH: 6.0 – 7.0
- Light Requirements: Full sun
- Pollination: Self-fertile, grafted. Each additional tree will increase pollination for better mast production.
- Suggested pollinators: Plant more than one for best performance
Chestnut Hill is the best place to buy your deer feed plot and attractants because they offer a great selection, their plants are bred specifically to attract deer, and they offer customers different sized plants at different growth levels. To ensure that you receive the maximum benefit from their products, they also provide good advice and instructions on proper planting and care. For more information on Chestnut Hill Outdoors products and how to care for them, visit ChestnutHillOutdoors.com or call (855) 386-7826.
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WWW.CHESTNUTHILLOUTDOORS.COM