cagantpr
Active Member
On my 45 acre hunting property, I was able to identify 18 native American chestnuts last winter. For some reason, they held their dead leaves similar to the white oaks which made them very easy to spot in the woods.
Many of them are small (under 8 feet) but some have grown quite large (up to 45 feet and a 5 inch diameter at 4.5 ft). Only 2 of my trees show signs of blight. I don't believe coincidentally, these 2 trees are both approximately 15 ft tall and are growing from dead stumps. All of the other trees are on their own so I am assuming have grown from seed.
I thought I might be onto some amazing discovery, so this past spring, I sent twig and leaf samples to the ACF-PA branch from my 4 largest and one of my blighted trees. I received an email from them within a couple days that told me 4 of my samples were true American Chestnuts but the fifth one was a Japanese-American cross.
The email didn't say anything further, so I replied asking if the ACF was interested in pollen or catkin or nut samples. In the reply, I was told that the ACF-PA had identified and were monitoring over 200 seven inch caliber, blightless trees in PA.
I have not heard anything from them since. Apparently, my 5 inch caliper trees are commonplace. Either that, or he didn't like my joke about Darwin putting him out of a job.
I thought it was an interesting story. I don't know if anyone else has any similar experience? Here are a couple pictures of two of my largest from last winter. I have marked them with yellow and orange tape. For size reference, there is a pole trimmer extended to 10 feet leaning against them.
![WestTrail Pines sm.jpg WestTrail Pines sm.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/2/2737-42a167f1286906c5de1ee9f11804d4dd.jpg)
Many of them are small (under 8 feet) but some have grown quite large (up to 45 feet and a 5 inch diameter at 4.5 ft). Only 2 of my trees show signs of blight. I don't believe coincidentally, these 2 trees are both approximately 15 ft tall and are growing from dead stumps. All of the other trees are on their own so I am assuming have grown from seed.
I thought I might be onto some amazing discovery, so this past spring, I sent twig and leaf samples to the ACF-PA branch from my 4 largest and one of my blighted trees. I received an email from them within a couple days that told me 4 of my samples were true American Chestnuts but the fifth one was a Japanese-American cross.
The email didn't say anything further, so I replied asking if the ACF was interested in pollen or catkin or nut samples. In the reply, I was told that the ACF-PA had identified and were monitoring over 200 seven inch caliber, blightless trees in PA.
I have not heard anything from them since. Apparently, my 5 inch caliper trees are commonplace. Either that, or he didn't like my joke about Darwin putting him out of a job.
I thought it was an interesting story. I don't know if anyone else has any similar experience? Here are a couple pictures of two of my largest from last winter. I have marked them with yellow and orange tape. For size reference, there is a pole trimmer extended to 10 feet leaning against them.
![WestTrail Center sm.jpg WestTrail Center sm.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/2/2736-fbb2b48076099c69469209dbc5ea2e23.jpg)
![WestTrail Pines sm.jpg WestTrail Pines sm.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/2/2737-42a167f1286906c5de1ee9f11804d4dd.jpg)
![WestTrail Center sm.jpg WestTrail Center sm.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/2/2736-fbb2b48076099c69469209dbc5ea2e23.jpg)
![WestTrail Pines sm.jpg WestTrail Pines sm.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/2/2737-42a167f1286906c5de1ee9f11804d4dd.jpg)
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