Native American Chestnut Comeback?

[Kerrin Hester]

Same here, did not have any more places to plant the ACCF stock. They grow well for my area, but nothing like the growth you have down there!! My best ACCF tree produced one but a couple years ago....have not been back to check it for a while. Took a little experimenting to figure out where they liked it best on my place.Full sun also helps with flowering and Burs.

Lucille is a straight shooter, no beating around the bush with her!!

Best growth I can get, without a tube, is 3-4’ in a year.

Same here, did not have any more places to plant the ACCF stock. They grow well for my area, but nothing like the growth you have down there!! My best ACCF tree produced one but a couple years ago....have not been back to check it for a while. Took a little experimenting to figure out where they liked it best on my place.

Lucille is a straight shooter, no beating around the bush with her!!

Best growth I can get, without a tube, is 3-4’ in a year.

Looking Good 3 foot growth is good,Chestnuts like acidic well drained soil,I think the rock dusts helps with the trace minerals too,The farm plot is really growing faster than my other lot maybe just ideal conditions.My lot that I own which is next to the woods has a lot of competition from other trees in my orchard,I spread ramial wood chips(back to Eden style) around my own orchard 6 inches thick and kept the mulch 6 inches away from the trunk and added liquid fish fertilizer too help with Nitrogen this fall,will see how much that helps this spring!

 

[letemgrow]

Looking Good 3 foot growth is good,Chestnuts like acidic well drained soil,I think the rock dusts helps with the trace minerals too,The farm plot is really growing faster than my other lot maybe just ideal conditions.My lot that I own which is next to the woods has a lot of competition from other trees in my orchard,I spread ramial wood chips(back to Eden style) around my own orchard 6 inches thick and kept the mulch 6 inches away from the trunk and added liquid fish fertilizer too help with Nitrogen this fall,will see how much that helps this spring!

I just go looking for northern red oaks and plant chestnuts accordingly. They like the same sites on my place (N/E facing slopes with morning sun).

No doubt the added love is making those chestnuts flourish!! Any news back from Lucille on the blight resistance your trees are showing?


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[Kerrin Hester]

I just go looking for northern red oaks and plant chestnuts accordingly. They like the same sites on my place (N/E facing slopes with afternoon sun).

No doubt the added love is making those chestnuts flourish!! Any news back from Lucille on the blight resistance your trees are showing?


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Yes Lucille said"good work and keep me informed Cherrio" Short and sweet.I think she has seen this before with their trees,I believe they have a couple of 60 foot trees somewhere,the trees that I got my nuts from were about 40 feet tall and on a mountain side

 

[shedder]

Hi Guys new member here from Louisville Kentucky.In the fall of 2012 I went to the ACCF

In the early summer of 2017 (second picture) several of them are 15 feet tall with about 3 or 4 about 25 feet tall some grew over 6 feet in a single year.View attachment 10730 View attachment 10731 View attachment 10732 View attachment 10733

My ACCF TREES are lucky to get 6 inches a year.

 

[Kerrin Hester]

My ACCF TREES are lucky to get 6 inches a year.

Could be A lot of things,Are they getting enough Sunshine? Good Luck

 

[cagantpr]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/london/american-chestnut-tree-find-1.4468043

 

[Kerrin Hester]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/london/american-chestnut-tree-find-1.4468043

Great find I love seeing this!In June the female flowers on the burs could be hand pollinated with Male flowers from a pure American Chestnut from another area.

 

[shedder]

Around 2000 American Chestnuts have been found in the wild in Ontario. There is a paper if you want to see it.

 

[IkemanTx]

I have a 5yr old American Chestnut in full sun that is 15+ ft tall. Some Americans I planted this spring in full light are 5.5' tall. Planted one under a closed canopy this spring as a test and it is only 12" tall but it was browsed by a rabbit at some point so that could have something to do with it.
Congrats on your find!
FYI, the GMO trees may or may not be sucsessfull but the ACF B3F3 trees which are proven to be highly blight resistant are being planted all over the country now. Those trees are already producing nuts and in a few years the public will be able to buy seedling trees for private orchards and reforestation.

Ya, but very few of the ACF B3F3 progeny maintain the true timber quality growth form that the American chestnuts were known for. They are a shorter, more branched version of the true American chestnut.

I think we should attack the problem from all angles, so don’t confuse my above statements as disparaging. I just think the GMO version is about the only way to get that original growth form, since it doesn’t contain genetic traits from any other chestnut varieties.

It appears that the company doing the GMO work had a recent set back this year. 80-90% of their seedlings were lost when a cooler malfunctioned and froze overnight.


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[letemgrow]

Ya, but very few of the ACF B3F3 progeny maintain the true timber quality growth form that the American chestnuts were known for. They are a shorter, more branched version of the true American chestnut.

I think we should attack the problem from all angles, so don’t confuse my above statements as disparaging. I just think the GMO version is about the only way to get that original growth form, since it doesn’t contain genetic traits from any other chestnut varieties.

It appears that the company doing the GMO work had a recent set back this year. 80-90% of their seedlings were lost when a cooler malfunctioned and froze overnight.


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Kind of pointless sounds like, unless they then cross the ones with American growth and keep back crossing them to get the same growth form consistently.


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[Kerrin Hester]

I think We should look at it from all angles too,My 2 orchards are pure Americans and that is all I will have.I am a little skeptical of the GMO and I really do not want any hybrids no matter how little Chinese traits are in them.I have worked in orchards with these trees but they are not for me.I think like the ACCF does that there are some blight resistant genes in some American Chestnut trees and am pursuing this route myself by giving them every opportunity possible.

 

[letemgrow]

I think We should look at it from all angles too,My 2 orchards are pure Americans and that is all I will have.I am a little skeptical of the GMO and I really do not want any hybrids no matter how little Chinese traits are in them.I have worked in orchards with these trees but they are not for me.I think like the ACCF does that there are some blight resistant genes in some American Chestnut trees and am pursuing this route myself by giving them every opportunity possible.

Ditto here, no way anything but 100% pure is going on my place. Patience is a virtue and I think they gave up to quickly going with other routes.

No one knows the long term effects with crosses.....

What some seem to overlook about the pure ones being a lost cause...how does the ACCF get seeds every single year to distribute if that is indeed the case?


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[Kerrin Hester]

Exactly,I had 3 seeds this year and hope to have dozens next year

 

[cagantpr]

I plan to fertilize my natives this year to see if I can stimulate some fruiting. Like I have said above, I believe I am still suffering from the effects of a gypsy moth infestation from a few years ago. My chestnuts, oaks, and apples were all 100% defoliated at one point that summer. This past season, I still didn't have any chestnuts and all of my acorns dropped early, tiny, and were not viable. On the other hand, I fertilized my 65 apple trees (8th leaf) and had a bumper crop.

 

[IkemanTx]

Kind of pointless sounds like, unless they then cross the ones with American growth and keep back crossing them to get the same growth form consistently.


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They are intending to do both that, and producing a pure American chestnut strain resistant to the blight to re-forest all over the original range. In fact, I can’t remember where on their website I saw it... but they specifically mention working with the ACF B3F3 and the GMO to observe blight resistance percentages in their hybrid offsprings.

They are looking for multiple genes, that fight blight in different ways, to include so there is a broader coverage and greater chance of blight resistance making it several generations down the line. They are doing MASSIVE amounts of research and trials to ensure the genes make no health change to bee colonies, creatures that feed on the leaves/bark/wood, and animals that eat the nuts. I am typically cynical of GMO use in general, but after diving into some of their documents, testing parameters, and goals of the program, I am very impressed with their dedication to produce a VERY safe genetic strain that is as purely American Chestnut as possible.



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[IkemanTx]

Don’t get me wrong guys. I am not saying the GMO version is THE answer. Just that it is a very promising project that could fill a gap that breeding wouldn’t be able to.

I would love to get some pure American seeds to plant and be involved with the guys working towards a non GMO, pure American genetic strain. I am a good bit outside of the natural range (northeast Texas) and don’t have any known chestnuts, of any variety, within 1 to 2 miles. It might be a decent protection against the blight to get them to but production age.


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[Kerrin Hester]

If I have a lot of nuts next October I will send you guys some,I think I will out of 45 trees that are going into their 6th growing season this spring,planted in May 2013.

 

[possum]

Ya, but very few of the ACF B3F3 progeny maintain the true timber quality growth form that the American chestnuts were known for. They are a shorter, more branched version of the true American chestnut.

I think we should attack the problem from all angles, so don’t confuse my above statements as disparaging. I just think the GMO version is about the only way to get that original growth form, since it doesn’t contain genetic traits from any other chestnut varieties.

It appears that the company doing the GMO work had a recent set back this year. 80-90% of their seedlings were lost when a cooler malfunctioned and froze overnight.


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[possum]

Where do you get that info from? 15/16 American/Chinese hybrid will show basically all American characteristics.
They are mainly planted in orchard settings now which will cause any tree to grow horizontal branches. If they are planted with tighter spacing they would grow tall and straight.

 

[possum]

Ditto here, no way anything but 100% pure is going on my place. Patience is a virtue and I think they gave up to quickly going with other routes.

No one knows the long term effects with crosses.....

What some seem to overlook about the pure ones being a lost cause...how does the ACCF get seeds every single year to distribute if that is indeed the case?


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“Most” pure American Chestnuts will die back before seeding out. But a small percentage of them will produce nuts, but only for a few short years before they eventually die back too. That is how TACF continues to distribute pure American Chestnut seeds.
But for most people, investing time, energy and money into a tree that will be lucky to survive 15 years and produce nuts for only several years is not worth the trouble.
Soon the American Chestnut hybrids will hopefully be reliable enough that commercial growers and the timber industry will see an economic benefit to planting them. Then you will see the mass reforestation take place.