What's eating my allegheny chinkapin?

Allegheny Chinkapin shares most pest pressures with American Chestnut — weevils invade the small nuts, caterpillars defoliate trees, and squirrels pillage the crop. Because the nuts are very small, weevil damage is proportionally more devastating. Prompt nut collection and trunk barriers for squirrels are the key defenses.

Larvae hollow out the small single-seeded nuts; infested nuts shrivel or drop prematurely; can ruin an entire crop on a small tree Harvest nuts as soon as burrs open; freeze nuts at 0°F (-18°C) for 5–7 days to kill weevil larvae; kaolin clay applied at nut set reduces adult feeding

Late-summer silk nests enclose branch tips; caterpillars consume foliage within the web, weakening shoot growth Prune out and destroy webs before caterpillars disperse; Btk spray on exposed young caterpillars; tolerable on established trees but damaging to saplings

Strip burrs before maturity and cache or consume nearly all nuts on small shrubby trees Install trunk baffles; harvest immediately at first natural drop; exclusion netting over individual small trees is practical given the shrubby habit