A friend of the family has asked me to come cut down their chestnut tree. Tired of raking nuts I guess. I'm always willing to drop,someone's tree and abscond with the wood but this one makes me nervous. Is it even legal to be cutting chestnuts? It just seems wrong. For now I'm going to assume it's a foreign nut tree, not a rare American CN that survived the blight. Haven't seen the tree and I won't see it till I'm standing there with a saw. I've been searching the web all night trying to find out more about the subject. I'm not finding anything related to laws on living trees. Just how much long effort has been put into reviving the American Chestnut for which I am grateful. I owe these people a favor and want to even up the score. I sure as heck don't want to cut down one of the few remaining AC trees in the state though. All I know so far is the tree is supposedly two stories high. Not very big which leads me to hope it's not an American Chestnut as they are supposed to grow fast and tall. Looking for help on this subject. Expierience, thoughts, opinions. Anyone know a good online photo ID site. It would help me sleep at night knowing what I'm about to sink a saw into. Help!
Are the friends able to snap a pic of any remaining leaves or is too late for that? Pics of of a few nuts/ husks, bark might help- can they take pics and email to you, then on to the forum for ID help, at least? Let's get this thing figured out!
That's part of the problem Eric. Though they are nice people they're also some of the most stubborn people I've ever met. Once they have it in their mind to get rid of it I don't think they'd care a whit if it's rare or not. Extreme tunnel vision. They'll drop it with a pruning saw if they have too. If I find out it is an AC that's what they'll have to do. It will cause a rift in the friendship though. My moms friends, she really doesn't need the extra stress of that right now. I'm sorta stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.
I think my sister brought home some nuts. I saw a bag of nuts anyway. I'll see today if they're still around or the deer ate them.
If its a nut producing AC, that would be a rare site indeed. I'm guessing they meant Horsechestnut. The nuts have spikey husks that easily separate in half, revealing a smooth nut with a white bottom. We used to love to play with them when I was a kid, but I could see why you'd want to get rid of it.
Thanks Jack, if I tell them the nuts are worth 3-5 bucks a lb that tree may become a shrine instead of firewood.
Go to the "American Chestnut Foundation" website, I was a member for years. There's a ton of info there. If it an American and not a Horse Chestnut, try to save some nuts for planting on your own land or any local woods to save diversity of the species. If the tree is is of any size, 30 feet+/- it may have some degree of blight resistance. Good luck!
Did just that NH. From a quick look Id say it's a European chestnut. The nuts looked rather large. Much like the kind one might buy roasted at a street vendor. I never realized the AC had such small nuts. I'm already planning on scrounging some nuts no matter what it is. Hey, why not. I've got places to plant them. Seems it's not just as simple as planting though. I saw some info on raising the trees. I'll have to go back and read more in depth.
My Dad has a bunch of Chinese Chestnuts on his property. I remember growing up there was one big tree that eventually fell apart (got big and over time collapsed) but he not has 4-5 medium sized nut bearing trees and the squirrels are constantly planting more.
"Chestnut burning in an open fire" Just don't quite sound right. Be nice if you &/or they find someone to take the nuts & save the tree.
Sad to have such stubborn folks. But realize if you don't cut it and take the wood, it will get cut anyway so get the saw running!
Chestnut has beautiful grain and takes stain well, maybe it can be salvaged for milling, if it's straight. Not a lot of it around. I have two picture frames made of old chestnut from a barn torn down in Kentucky. Gorgeous wood.
There is practically zero chance that someone you know has a live, thriving American Chestnut tree in their yard. it is almost certainly one of the introduced chestnuts that get larger nuts, don't die of the blight, and tend to grow low and wide like an apple tree. I have seen lots of American Chestnut trees, but all of them are resprouts from the base of the previous tree that died, or they are small seedlings. Once an American Chestnut gets large enough to have ridged, rough bark, the fungus gets in and kills it. The trunks have smooth bark until the tree is about five or six inches in diameter, then it becomes rough. Also, Horsechestnut is a different tree from chestnuts. The husk around the Horsechestnuts is smooth with a few thick thorns, rather than covered in spikes like a porcupine, as is the husk of a chestnut (American, Chinese, or European all have similar husks)
You may be interested in this then. The mantle on my fireplace is one of the last chestnut telephone poles to be taken out of service in Ct. Please excuse my temporary heat shield.
