Without looking it up, all I know for sure is they’re not self-pollinating. They need another chestnut nearby, be it American, European, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
Well, I'm meeting up with a man who's on the board of directors for the Connecticut chapter of TACF. We've got 5 sizeable trees to visit in one area, so this should be fun.
The meetup was good, and we got to scout all 5 large chestnuts in the area. When we got to this one, the guy from TACF used profanity and called it a “monster” at which point I knew I had found something special
So,.... It was confirmed that it was American chestnut? Will anything be done with your findings other than feeling good that you located them?
The man agreed it looked like an American, of course the only way to be 100% sure is to send leaf samples to a lab for analysis though. It’s got the right bark, right leaves, and correct timber form. I’m convinced they’re all the real deal. So what he did was add them to the foundation’s database, which means that they’ll be monitored at least a couple times a year. Most importantly, every fall they’ll send volunteers out to harvest burs and hopefully collect viable seed. It’s my understanding some wild seed is used in the breeding program, and some is sold to members of the foundation who want wild/pure American Chestnut to grow (no guarantee of blight resistance however). With the size of the trees I found, I feel like they’ve got some good genetics and are well worth the trouble in planting seed from, carrying the lineage forward.
Close to my work, right down the same road where we worked the locust score in January. I found it by following an old overgrown logging trail.
Cool. Wanna see it someday. I still think you should carve your initials in it. Just not with a chain saw! Any more BL blowovers in the area?
I wasn’t able to meet with the foundation today but they sent me pictures of what they harvested from one roadside location I found. Those are buZZsaw BRAD ’s buddies (Asplundh) lending a hand with their bucket truck. There were two chestnuts in close proximity in this location, and they harvested fertile nuts from both of them. I’m supposed to meet up with them tomorrow to harvest more from the very first location I found back in June, one town over from me.
This afternoon was a lot of fun. Word of caution: even expensive Kevlar gloves are susceptible to being punctured by chestnut burs. We harvested from 4 different trees, so it was a decent haul.
I was talking about TACF with my mother this week and after explaining the gist of it, she flat out concluded it was Tinder for trees
Fun day today. I collected a bunch of burs full of viable seed, and cut a couple dead chestnut poles. Not too much there for woodworking, but enough to mess around with. I think I’ll start by carving a spoon.
Do the seeds need some cold storage before they can germinate? I hope they can be grown to seedlings and be planted somewhere.
