You’ve inspired me Eric. I’ve noticed some Chestnuts on the ground in downtown Hartford near the big arch. I’ll have to take some pics.
Heads up Eric. IIRC you don’t do FB but there’s some fresh cut American Chestnut logs for sale on marketplace. That’s what they’re listed as anyway Just posted
More good news at the farm. My brother found another chestnut near the recent discovery, meaning cross pollination is going on. Granddad’s planting paid of. The best time to plant was twenty years ago. The second best time is today.
Bushnell Park? Those are horse chestnuts, but pretty trees regardless The nuts are supposedly inedible (poisonous) I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in the city.
Last week a friend contacted me, she has an American chestnut in the yard of a rental house she owns in south central UP. I thought maybe she didn't know what she was talking about until she told me it was the focus of a study by NMU (which I have yet to confirm) and she used it as the basis for a biology paper she did about 10 years ago. Apparently this is the oldest AC in the UP, planted somewhere between 1890 and 1930. I did find some info on AC trees that MI Tech has planted both on the campus and at their forestry school south of Houghton. https://www.keweenawuu.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Chestnut-brochure-final-castanea_flyer-1.pdf This particular tree is 10' 6" in circumference (40" dbh) and appears pretty healthy. The gal told me she totes away 12-15 contractor sized garbage bags a year of nut husks. Too bad the squirrels manage to make off with most of the nuts but she did give me a few to stratify and get growing.
Thanks for sharing! Very impressive tree. I know there are many isolated trees planted years ago outside the native range, that so far have escaped the blight. Also in Michigan in particular, I’ve read that there is a naturally occurring virus in the environment there that weakens the blight fungus, allowing many trees to recover.
That's interesting, about the virus. I'll ask Holly when I see her later this week. That tree has lived through the worst a winter could throw at it yet it still lives. It's a tough ol' bugger. After experiencing the spines on the nut clusters, it's beyond me why someone would plant them in the yard.
PSA: The time to harvest chestnut burs is quickly approaching (late September). As in previous years, I’ll have plenty of wild-type chestnuts to share if anyone wants to grow their own from seed. The nuts are free, but the recipient pays for shipping. Inbox me if interested.
that would be an interesting tree to grow. I have a feeling they wouldn't survive here although Canada Growing Zones have changed this year. I think we are in 8a
I plant them outside in early spring around late March. For the winter I store them in containers full of moist potting soil in a cold (but not freezing) room, where they go through a cold stratification process.
You got me curious so I did some quick research. Apparently I can't even legally ship them to the west coast at all because there's a quarantine due to the chestnut blight. So far the fungus has not reached the west coast... yet. There are many documented American chestnuts on the west coast, that were either planted years ago by settlers from the east, or the offspring of such trees. As to your particular area, I do remember seeing a while back on the iNaturalist app that there are chestnuts growing around Vancouver (the city) so maybe they'd do okay on the east side of the island? I'm not too sure though. The natural range of them extends as far north as central Maine, which gets pretty cold.
The native range historically went up the Champlain valley close to Canada so they probably were around sporadically, at one point anyway. I know they've been planted in southern Quebec too, in zone 4.
I don't think it would be the cold as we don't get that cold here but the continual dampness throughout the winter. Almost 100 inches of rain a year. Their yearly rainfall is half of ours. Vancouver is, believe it or not, more protected from the downpours we get and because of the city environment is warmer. Vancouverites would disagree. I think the soil here would be too acid because of the evergreens. You need quite a bit of lime for any garden. I didn't know about the quarantine - I just thought you wouldn't be able to ship across the border anyway.
