Native American Chestnut Comeback?

[cagantpr]

The more I thought about it, I'd have to look at it like this...how many acres of oaks do you have and how many acres of American chestnuts do you have? Would be worth it to me to keep everything cut out around those trees.

Maybe someday but its going to be hard for me to pull the trigger. These are tall, straight, oaks (not anything like I thought an oak tree looked like when I grew up in the midwest). If I was going to open up any substantial sunlight, I would need to cut back a 100 foot radius.

That reminded me of something interesting that the ACF-PA guy told me. He said that their focus is on developing a tree for lumbering. Thus they were only really after the tall, clear characteristics of the AC. With that in mind, my #1 tree is a great sample. While competing with the similarly shaped oaks, it doesn't have a branch until at least 30 feet. And now it has its upper scaffolds above the crowd.

 

[cagantpr]

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.
.

With this information, I guess mine are older than 15 years since they started under full canopy. I have to believe there will be nuts whenever the growing conditions cooperate. I would love to mail a box of nuts to wbpdeer this fall.

 

[possum]

Your trees will not likely produce many nuts. They do well growing under closed canopy but they need direct sunlight to flower.
I'm sure you'll have some, just don't expect the forest floor to be covered like you would see under a Chinese chestnut out in full light.
Also since the American Chestnuts are so much more desirable than the other mast trees around, squirrels could clean them out before they fall. They will suffer the pain of chewing through those burs to get those tastey nuts.

 

[Brushpile]

The ozarks are very rare but I have found some. All I found have blight and are regrowth from a stump. I also haven't found any that produce yet. They all have burs but no nuts inside the burs.
I tbudded some Ozark to Chinese stock so I'll see what happens. Been growing rootstock for the purpose of grating the ozarks onto them in the future.


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[/QUOTE]
Do you live in the Ozarks?

 

[letemgrow]

Last Winter Observations
I spent more time this past winter looking around trying to identify more AC trees. I found dozens more that I must have overlooked. These trees are all seedlings under the canopy anywhere from 20 inches to 6 feet. None of these are growing from stumps and most are located 100's of yards from my biggest trees.

That has to be exciting!! Wonder if the parent trees are yours, or if there are others producing yet to be found?




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[ncstewart]

Do you live in the Ozarks?[/QUOTE]

I live in NW Arkansas


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[Brushpile]

Do you live in the Ozarks?

I live in NW Arkansas


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I'm in SW Missouri. My scions are from trees that are blight free.

 

[Benja]

Here are some trees from a gentleman that had them in IN...he was on the QDMA forum with him and cannot remember his handle name or anything on there. Real name is Larry, but he was selling pure American Chestnuts on some he had in his yard.

If anybody was hoping to procure American Chestnut seeds this season, it looks like IndianaSam44 has been busy selling American Chestnut seeds on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/usr/indianasam44?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
This is the first time I've purchased from him and I placed an order this morning.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

If anybody was hoping to procure American Chestnut seeds this season, it looks like IndianaSam44 has been busy selling American Chestnut seeds on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/usr/indianasam44?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
This is the first time I've purchased from him and I placed an order this morning.

I have several trees growing from his trees. I may need a few more from him now that I can't get ACCF chestnuts.

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[Kerrin Hester]

Hi Guys new member here from Louisville Kentucky.In the fall of 2012 I went to the ACCF in Virginia to help harvest some of Their pure American Chestnuts and came home with a 5 gallon bucket full of burs.I stratified the nuts and planted them inside in February 2013(first picture),in May I planted 40 seedlings at a friend of mine's farm on a tobacco patch that had not been used for 20 years.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.In May 2013 I also planted 5 more seedlings at a 3 acre lot I own which 2 acres is forest,in the summer of 2017 I had 10 burs on one tree (third picture).Several of the trees from the farm flowered in 2017 and I hand pollinated some of those to my other lot which had 1 tree with small female burs.In early October of 2017 I ended up with 3 viable nuts that I am stratifying in the fridge for spring planting(4th Picture).Will let you know if they sprout,Should have a lot of nuts in 2018 I hope.Four trees in the farm plot got the blight in 2017 which weakened all 4 of them and the 4 of them got Ambrosia beetle which killed one of them,the other 3 are recovering from both the blight and ambrosia beetle.The one that the stem was killed I cut down and several stump sprouts emerged which I cut back except for the tallest one which is now 5 feet tall because of a 5 year old root system.These ACCF trees are showing Blight Resistance and I have been organically fertilizing them and remineralizing the soil with various rock dusts and foliar spraying with biota max biological bacterial to strengthen them to fight disease and insects,I believe all of this has helped them survive and I hope they continue to survive.

 

[wbpdeer]

Kerrin Hester - Welcome to this forum.

From your first post is clear you have the fire in the gut and a great deal of knowledge to share with us. I have no doubt you will fit in great with the folks on this forum.

I am due south of you on I 65 in Portland, TN which is the first exit in Tennessee. I am 30 miles south of Bowling Green.

I love whitetail deer and began a projects in early 2015 - One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project. I collect and ship Chinese Chestnuts to habitat growers. I have shipped around 18,600 nuts in 2014, 2015 and 2016. I took this fall off because I am training two labs to retrieve shed antlers.

I have never seen an American Chestnut in the wild. I hope the ACF is successful in their restoration efforts. I look forward to following your thread and hope your trees bear nuts and thrive.

Once again, welcome to our forum. Glad you found us.

Wayne

 

[Kerrin Hester]

Kerrin Hester - Welcome to this forum.

From your first post is clear you have the fire in the gut and a great deal of knowledge to share with us. I have no doubt you will fit in great with the folks on this forum.

I am due south of you on I 65 in Portland, TN which is the first exit in Tennessee. I am 30 miles south of Bowling Green.

I love whitetail deer and began a projects in early 2015 - One Thousand Chestnut Trees - a Whitetail Deer Project. I collect and ship Chinese Chestnuts to habitat growers. I have shipped around 18,600 nuts in 2014, 2015 and 2016. I took this fall off because I am training two labs to retrieve shed antlers.

I have never seen an American Chestnut in the wild. I hope the ACF is successful in their restoration efforts. I look forward to following your thread and hope your trees bear nuts and thrive.

Once again, welcome to our forum. Glad you found us.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne.I am an amateur but I have done a lot of research and I also volunteered with the Louisville chapter of the Kentucky TACF for a couple of years until I got to busy at work.While I was a volunteer we had a field trip to Fort Knox and found a couple of American Chestnuts growing on an old Tank range. picture below.I am on the left the guy on the right is a Kentucky state forester

 

[wbpdeer]

Will you be bagging any of your burs to prevent them being pollenated by a source you don't want?

I have read about that process and find it interesting. We have a man on here from the Houston TX area that has volunteered with the ACF efforts. His handle is GraceNmercy.

Your research has paid off - your contributions will help most of us.

Wayne

 

[letemgrow]

I like the ACCF mission also Kerrin. The growth of pure American trees can be phenomenal! Keep up the good work and hope to see your accomplishments in their yearly newsletter I get with the donation.

You ever need a place to u load some of that seed-stock on those trees....let me know as all I plant also are ACCF. Have some Concordia oak acorns I was saving for myself in the fridge, but would swap those for some more ACCF stock for a 20 acre purchase I made recently.


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[letemgrow]

Any pics of the resistance they are showing now? Helps keep others interested in pure stock seeing results like that. Most feel the pure American is a lost cause and have went other directions...


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[Kerrin Hester]

Will you be bagging any of your burs to prevent them being pollenated by a source you don't want?

I have read about that process and find it interesting. We have a man on here from the Houston TX area that has volunteered with the ACF efforts. His handle is GraceNmercy.

Your research has paid off - your contributions will help most of us.

Wayne

Wayne I have not done any bagging,but the nearest chestnut trees most likely Chinese are at least a 1/4 mile away and the Chinese trees usually flower about 2 weeks earlier than Americans do,very little overlapping,But That is a thought.

 

[Kerrin Hester]

I like the ACCF mission also Kerrin. The growth of pure American trees can be phenomenal! Keep up the good work and hope to see your accomplishments in their yearly newsletter I get with the donation.

You ever need a place to u load some of that seed-stock on those trees....let me know as all I plant also are ACCF. Have some Concordia oak acorns I was saving for myself in the fridge, but would swap those for some more ACCF stock for a 20 acre purchase I made recently.


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I have not donated or received any seeds in 2 years because I have enough trees,I wanted to plant at least 2 of my own home grown seeds at my own lot.Lucille at the Accf is Great to work with and very stern in the way She wants you to grow them.

I like the ACCF mission also Kerrin. The growth of pure American trees can be phenomenal! Keep up the good work and hope to see your accomplishments in their yearly newsletter I get with the donation.

You ever need a place to u load some of that seed-stock on those trees....let me know as all I plant also are ACCF. Have some Concordia oak acorns I was saving for myself in the fridge, but would swap those for some more ACCF stock for a 20 acre purchase I made recently.
If I have nuts next year which I think I will have a lot I will share some,I will need enough to roast over an open fire at Christmas time.


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[Kerrin Hester]

Any pics of the resistance they are showing now? Helps keep others interested in pure stock seeing results like that. Most feel the pure American is a lost cause and have went other directions...


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Here is one picture that shows Blight damage and no active blight fungus which would be reddish spores,looks to be healing over,I hope so.I have more trees in the farm orchard than I expected to have after 5 years they are growing together like a forest,But I am not going to thin them out.Will wait and see.
Chinese Chestnut grows like an apple tree in an orchard,American Chestnut is a forest Tree,and even in the open will grow Huge with lots of burs at least historically(bottom picture)

 

[letemgrow]

I have not donated or received any seeds in 2 years because I have enough trees,I wanted to plant at least 2 of my own home grown seeds at my own lot.Lucille at the Accf is Great to work with and very stern in the way She wants you to grow them.

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.

 

[Kerrin Hester]

I will share nuts with you guys if I have a good harvest in 2018,which I think I will,but I thought that this year as the farm orchard trees flowered last year too.Right now reviving the American Chestnut tree is my main goal and "roasting over an open fire" as a food source is my fun goal.