When I was a young boy our front yard had three beautiful nut-bearing chestnut trees in our Portland, Oregon front yard. In fact one of our best harvests occurred after the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. The typhoon force wind brought down all the green prickers. Sadly we moved out in 1964. I returned in 1986 and the same feller who bought our home still lived there. His chestnuts were doin great. But by 1993 they had died.
1984 my grandmother still had two American Chestnut trees that my grandfather found on a hunting expedition in Northeast Georgia. He had planted them in the 60s. Unfortunately blight got them in the late 1980s.
this utube video got me thinking..one question how is the issue with the american elm tree. the have been many towns here in new england. i have to restudy my trees. at my camp in vermont i cut a tree that was dead in the 1980s and.had it cut up for lumber and it might have been elm. i will revisit the facts. in berlin connecticut i think i bumbled on to a possible gold mine of trees of importance. at berlin congregational church there were trees that were planted a ways back in time rumor was that they were called founders trees. and i am not certain of the time line. but i know enough to be dangerous and do not know it all. on the church grounds on worthington ridge is a living chestnut tree that attracted a flock of wild turkeys that i joke as being souls of church members that have passed. i have even joked with the pastor that the wild turkeys are bird brains that have replace the church members that have left to find god in a more open and affirming religious institution. the only words the turkeys know is gobble gobble. just my observation. the church is in the historic district with the old church and some old building along the road. back to the church property i have seen on the property line an old holly type tree. the large trees that have lined the ridge have died off and been cut down uncertain of the species. there are ash trees that have been impacted by the ash borer and some of the trees died and have been converted to firewood. it looks that there may be some very old trees that survived the building of the houses of the parents of the baby boomers. now to explore. my interest in history and trees.
They are true Americans they are doing pretty good so far. But this heat we are having this year I don’t know if they are going to make it. I am sorry I didn’t reply sooner
Ricky Taylor, you are down in post oak country from my recollection so not the same eastern oak ranges in the pictures on the utube presentation. might not be easy to judge whether the blight has hit such young trees as you are describing, consider the subtle difference from the outside in the video before the cut into the bark on the 6-8” dbh chestnut. There some good forest folks down your way,although the names have changes since I left… A&M had good forest management folks but even guys I went to school with seem to be retiring lately…. USDA down in Temple is a possible option…
In the early sixties the avenues of Bayonne NJ were lined with chestnut trees. Every morning the old Polish women would sweep up the chestnuts from the sidewalks like autumn leaves.
This was an excellent video. I appreciate your work. I grew up after they were gone but really am interested in your efforts to bring it back. Keep moving forward, this is important to bring back. I think you will find after some success many people wanting to help spread the tree back to its original habitat
Moral of the story: Stop introducing non-native plants to different continents. Heck, even the Mexican Petunia is still invasive in the U.S. so it's not restricted to just continents.
I live in a forest that is suitable for the American Chestnut with running water and hills. Who could I talk to about attempting re-introduction? Thanks!
In the area I grew up there had been a huge forest industry growing what we call sweet or Spanish chestnut. The trade died off significantly from the 1960s but some still exists. It was mostly coppice and much has either died off or grown to big for the old crafts. We occasionally had oversize logs come to our sawmill but our real market was oak. Sweet chestnut has a beautiful grain and is highly popular in the Mediterranean countries as flooring. It also has very little sapwood compared to oak but has high tannin content which like oak heartwood makes it extremely durable for outside use even with no treatments even in contact with the ground. It's a shame you can not import from Europe as its plentiful but the reason you are losing your trees is from the failings of past plant movement and control. It's happening the world over. Elm Ash Beech Oak Larch Pine Sycamore Sweet chestnut they are all under threat. Be aware that plant movement may be illegal where you live or travel to. It can also be illegal to move soils and minerals as well as seeds.
I'm wondering if the Darling-58 chestnut tree genome has been edited in such a way to address root rot, too. I already do know that it has been edited to address blight.
Why not try to take some trees to areas west of the Mississippi to plant where the blight has not spread - like into the Ozarks or the Rockies where it can be established as breeding and seeding stock - a small stand of adult trees can provide millions of nuts that can be planted all over the original habitat areas
Wonder if the American Chestnut might be transplanted to the western mountain regions free of the blight. Maybe someone at Monsanto could come up with a practical wide spread fungu killer for the Chestnuts home fields, instead of finding faster ways to kill dandelions, which are an edible and really nutrious plant.
I planted an american chestnut in 2005 it seems to be dying slowly but also paw paw trees have grown up all around it, I planted it on the side of a road so I cant really clear the brush, it produced a few burrs the past few years but I can never fine the nuts when they are on the ground just the burrs since its the only chestnut no cross fertilization can happen I guess, do they just not produce seeds? I dont know will have to get a tree pruner since its about 25 feet tall just above the pawpaws and I notice about 5 burrs this year
It is fun waching a squirrel interack with a chesnut wich is as big as its head my cat and I would sit in the window and watching them try to hide them
I have a few that have sprung up on my farm over the last 40 years. One got up to 14” diameter and produced chestnuts for a few years. It is dying now.
