Restoration Research of the American Chestnut

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I would love to see that tree make a comeback. They used to be abundant in my homeland. By the time I was born, they were basically gone, but I heard stories about how big they were.
 
Alaskajohn said:
I would love to see that tree make a comeback. They used to be abundant in my homeland. By the time I was born, they were basically gone, but I heard stories about how big they were.
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my grandmother was born in 1921 and died last year at age of 99.she told me she was still harvesting chestnuts into her teen years from forests. all the forests didnt die at once but in stages. its told some lived till 1950. i have a friend and he harvested dead chestnut snags in late 60's with grandfather and milled into boards and made picture frames from them. one of my original corner trees on land was a chestnut tree.it was still there a few years ago but had fallen and on its side and hollowed out and collapsing in on its self.

i had some young chestnut grow up to about arms diameter and 30ish feet tall...but like in video i seen bubbles appear on its trunk and that was that.

i hope this restoration happens but forests are dying so i have decided to go ahead and start planting the dunstan chestnut and shoot for a goal of 1 tree per acre.my forest had a huge die off(ash) and has lost probably 20% of its canopy in places so i have spots to plant and get it going and maybe see nut production as a old man.
 
elkhound said:
my grandmother was born in 1921 and died last year at age of 99.she told me she was still harvesting chestnuts into her teen years from forests. all the forests didnt die at once but in stages. its told some lived till 1950. i have a friend and he harvested dead chestnut snags in late 60's with grandfather and milled into boards and made picture frames from them. one of my original corner trees on land was a chestnut tree.it was still there a few years ago but had fallen and on its side and hollowed out and collapsing in on its self.

i had some young chestnut grow up to about arms diameter and 30ish feet tall...but like in video i seen bubbles appear on its trunk and that was that.

i hope this restoration happens but forests are dying so i have decided to go ahead and start planting the dunstan chestnut and shoot for a goal of 1 tree per acre.my forest had a huge die off(ash) and has lost probably 20% of its canopy in places so i have spots to plant and get it going and maybe see nut production as a old man.
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An edible chestnut is one I want to plant when we find a new piece of property. I join you in a hope for a comeback.
 
Thanks for the link Elkhound.
There are still logs laying on the ground and stumps from the die off many years ago up in the Smokies. Several structures around that were made from Chestnut. The wood is amazing, very rot resistant and so beautiful.
The state forestry department has been working for years to cross breed various other types with the American Chestnut to get something that will be resitant to the blight. Last I heard that was still on going without a lot of success. Maybe one day. It would be a tremendous coup to get them back.
 
LadyLocust said:
An edible chestnut is one I want to plant when we find a new piece of property. I join you in a hope for a comeback.
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I have 2 Chinese chestnuts in the basement bare root headed out to The Ridge soon.

Trivia

They are hard to clone (but I have done so) and they will not self pollinate. So clones from same tree will nut produce nuts. You need clones from different trees.

Ben
 
Bacpacker said:
Thanks for the link Elkhound.
There are still logs laying on the ground and stumps from the die off many years ago up in the Smokies. Several structures around that were made from Chestnut. The wood is amazing, very rot resistant and so beautiful.
The state forestry department has been working for years to cross breed various other types with the American Chestnut to get something that will be resitant to the blight. Last I heard that was still on going without a lot of success. Maybe one day. It would be a tremendous coup to get them back.
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I wonder if american chestnut of the new variety mentioned in the videos are available for sale. I could find room for a few were Elms died off.

Ben
 



 
 
Neb said:
I have 2 Chinese chestnuts in the basement bare root headed out to The Ridge soon.

Trivia

They are hard to clone (but I have done so) and they will not self pollinate. So clones from same tree will nut produce nuts. You need clones from different trees.

Ben
Click to expand...
I didn't know that. Is that all chestnuts or just the Chinese ch. that you have? Do all chestnuts need 2 trees (like some stone fruit?)

Also, @elkhound thank you for these vids. I will have to watch them in the morning when videos work better - which in reality might not happen until next week. But looking forward to them!
 
several years ago i put out some chinese chestnut i ordered from my state forestry nursery.this past spring i ordered some dunstan chestnut nuts that had sprouted from a guy and started a bucket full of my own seedlings. i had put out some large DC but sadly the locusts put a hurt on them last year along with frosts this year and one didnt recover and not looked at other one out in forest they both were 6ft tall.DC are expensive and 1year old from growers in florida are $30 each. i have about 50cents in ones i started. just yesterday i ordered 25 nuts to put in soil for next years seedlings.

pulled out 2 to give to a friend who lost some trees roots look pretty nice to have only sprouted and grown since april and went dormant this fall.

edit..in last several years steven edholm/skillcult has talked about all the trees dieing off out in his
neck of the woods.mainly looking at tan oak he mentioned getting out ahead of this with nut production for wildlife using chinese chestnut since its so tough.its not the timber tree or nut producer AC or DC or some of the other cultivars are but more available and much more cheaper.some of these cultivars and very expensive.


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In the early 70s a neighbor had a horse chestnut, that’s what we called it. It was old and had started splitting so it was taken down because it was too close to the road. I don’t think I’ve seen any since then.
Good article! And they can grow in Texas according to the article. They do make a mess once the nuts start dropping. Little nutcases hurt bare feet. Lol
 
was tree a true horse chestnut or a buckeye or a real chestnut tree thats edible>

buckeyes are poisonous...all buckeyes in link from va tech tree site below

edit...site wont link my searches so just go here and put in term 'buckeye' and you can see all buckeye trees and then go back and search 'horse chestnut "to see its results. put name in box asking for common name...each individual tree has photos and map of range.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/factsheets.cfm
https://eatforlonger.com/how-poison...rious side effects due to the toxic materials.
 
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Planted 20 trees this fall scatters around the property. They were just 2 foot tall that the wife planted as seed a year ago.
 
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