If you manage your own land or a leased property to benefit wildlife, you know that planting food plots and mass-producing trees and shrubs is an investment in better habitat and better wildlife. But do you know the best food plot tree to plant? Realtree Nursery says it’s one that not only produces a rich food source, but is also rich in history.

The American chestnut was the most important food and timber tree species in the Eastern hardwood forest. It was almost completely destroyed by a bark fungus accidentally introduced from the Orient in 1904… We grow Dunstan Chestnuts, which have been grown for 30 years all over the US, in Zones 4-9 from Maine to Michigan and Illinois and south to Florida, without any trees ever dying from the blight. In our field tests, deer readily choose chestnuts over acorns, and there are deer feeding in our orchard every night during harvest season.

Photo by: Realtree Nursery