Bringing back the American chestnut

[@DJ-bh1ju]

I sent a sample of one of my trees to one of the labs listed on the web site that confirmed it was indeed a surviving Chestnut.Tried working with TACF rep in my area last year and he acted like he couldn't care less - flat out told me he wasn't interested. I have an 85 acre farm in Western NY that could be used for planting and research and was willing to let it be used as a research station..... Great to see the rest of your organization is more enthusiastic about the mission than he is...

[@RightAway87]

I live in northeast Massachusetts, and in one of the old cemeteries from the 1600-1700's in my town, towering above the graves of some Revolutionary war veterans is a huge American Chestnut tree that somehow survived the blight. It's an awesome sight, especially among grave stones that are over 300 years old.

[@johnwillis4706]

I planted four American Chest nut trees twenty years ago. They are big beautiful trees and produce a great many nuts every year. I live in Missouri.

[@bamahama707]

Are they AMERICAN, or hybrids with a Chinese species?

[@ricksanchez3176]

@@bamahama707 I think I heard the same "dated info" as OP, but the article I read stated that they were native trees. Sometimes optimism will override reality, even with the most knowledgeable and well intended people, so were they an early cross? I dunno.

[@brett76544]

I planted about 50 nuts before I went into the army (fort lost in the woods) 38 are still going. The tree I got them from was over 4 arm spans around the tree. It got bulldozed under for a friggin well pad. One tree in the contract that was protected was that oneand the area 200 ft from it. The funny part is that cleared area is full of small saplings and the owner got 1 million fo rtaking out that tree.

[@rogerdudra178]

As a Montana trained tree nerd I wish you the best results in you blight fight.

[@mikemccright7418]

My information is dated. But I thought that they were about 120 blight resistant American chestnut trees that were found along time ago. If it’s eight years from seed to nut in locations that have adequate sunlight, has anyone tried just trying to continue to improve the American chestnut to become resistant to the blight? As in every 10 years a new seedling are planted until they don’t succumb to blight?

[@davidreichard3053]

Certainly someone in the know should enlarge on this comment, just in case there are resistant survivors.

[@MrBOOSed]

I had purchased a few seeds from TACF many years ago. The first batch die from blight. And purchased a second batch of seeds after still many years ago. 1 tree is still growing. [!] This tree originally died but respouted from the base so i moved it to a different loction on the property. The new growth pproximately 7 years old now. I seen 1 catkin on it this year. I wounder TAFC is interested in this info. Tree is located in Illinois. 😃

[@Dollapfin]

That’s pretty shitty IMO. Not a resistant or even tolerant tree. These were considered resistant hybrids? I don’t believe we will get 100 foot tall chestnuts from hybridization.

[@richardlee2488]

@@Dollapfin I was involved in milling elm trees in England following the Dutch elm disease. It first hit our English elm as its preference but then moved on to the Wych elms. Most areas were effected. Scotland appeared disease free as the beetle that carried the disease could not stand the climate in winter. Other areas claimed to be disease free but gradually lost their remaining trees over an extended period of years. The roots that remained readily produced young sucker growth which can reach maybe twenty years old and suddenly dies. The beetle is still clearly present as the egg galleries can be seen under the bark once removed. It's a losing battle to reintroduce if they can't get every landowner to comply and grub out every root and stump. You will almost certainly find a similar scenario as you pray for Darwins theory to kick in. Great a new tree subvariant that has appeared to be resistant! What makes you think the pathogens that cause the blight won't do the same. Ever heard of Covid.

[@johnshackelford5610]

They are interested in donations so they can invest it and make lotsa money. They are a 501 3 c corp. I dunno if they posess any tree knowledge but I bet they have an investment advisor on board. Just me. How bout those seeds that died??? Is that what TACF is using to repopulate??? We are in trouble if thats true. I would contact my state agency vto see whats going on !!! Take care

[@jakelong6473]

We own 3 American chestnuts in WV. 2 are full grown and produce beautiful nuts Our trees are reported as 1/16 Japanese to allow them to survive the blight. All our tree interested friends are always super excited when they see them. They are beautiful, but damn do they smell in the spring when they bloom their fuzzy jawns

[@vincenttavani6380]

Yeahhh jawns

[@d.c.marsha9027]

thank you for your work on this effort

[@wknight5595]

Three decades ago there was a lone single 40-50ft tall Chestnut tree growing in the Michigan woods my father would take me honey mushroom hunting in the fall. We would pick up a few chestnuts off the ground along with the honey mushrooms that grew in that woods. Later they started building houses there so that put an end too our good mushroom hunting woods. The woods are long gone now, and idk if the builders ever saved the Chestnut tree or it was cut down. American Chestnuts were so rare and not even native to Michigan, most people wouldn't have even known what it was, and i only knew because of my father. idk how a single American chestnut ended up in the middle of that woods, but it was there, and it's the only American chestnut i've ever seen in my lifetime.

[@deepspire]

The Michigan trees were planted by pioneers.

[@JohnMartin-ze8cf]

I have only been a Chestnut nut for a few years....I live in ne Alabama.....Is it time to buy land to plant this Amazing tree ?

[@ThahnG413]

American chestnut wasn't as dpminant as many think, in most forests it comprised of 20% or much lower, the tree however did comprise large amounts of small areas of terrain typically that were rocky and poor in nutrition

[@normafollet7156]

We had a chestnut tree in our country town of Omeo victoria Australia(a small town in the mountains. )IT was the only chestnut tree living and it was very tall and made a lot of shade. I do hope it is still intact and living. (from 1943and maybe older than that...?

[@blakespower]

is it an american chestnut? is the blight in australia?

[@midniteryder1953]

just watched a video on the 'new' American Chestnut tree. I live in Washington State and on the west side of the Cascades we have wonderful weather for the chestnut tree....winters are not bad and summers are not arid. I believe we need this tree here in Washington. ......with land I will grow them here.....gotta buy land now.

[@privatedata665]

An old fella was telling me he knows where there is a huge fallen chestnut . It was in the same place and fallen when he was 10 years old , he is 80 years old now . And it was still laying there in 2023. He thinks it fell around 1920 .

[@mulemouse]

I've seen the big down trunks in the Blue Ridge, 6-7 feet.

[@jpr1370]

great map of the original range.

[@johnsterner8510]

I think i found something along Yough River Trail in Westmoreland County

[@articmars1]

There is a program in WV and they have been working on hybridizing them to fight the blight. They are almost there. Just 1 step away from reintroducing it to the wild.

[@mulemouse]

I live in central northern Mn. My old place I lived, the neighbor had one, probably Chinese, but it was a great tree.

[@bloodybonescomic]

I planted 2 Dunstan chestnuts this spring. They seem to be doing OK. We had Chinquapin trees here in NW AR. Evidently the American chestnut didn't grow this far west. The chinquapin trees were close relatives to the Ameeican chestnut and were also wiped out (mostly) by the same blight.

[@baneverything5580]

We found a Chinquapin tree in a thicket near one of our gardens. It`s the only one I`ve ever seen in Louisiana.

[@zaepher3176]

I’ve been working as a forest tech and I’ve seen around a dozen American Chestnuts this summers few 7 in diameter but mostly 3 inches or less

[@suzannakoizumi8605]

I live in zone 9. North Florida, north of the St. Johns River. Please, would any American Chestnut thrive here?

[@jasonreed2687]

I live in northern Pennsylvania in Cold Spring Township I have 32 acres here and 4, 000 Acres of State game land and I do believe these are American chestnuts

[@paulsherrod1365]

What about the Elm is it also a concern as well as the Ash. Is this more of a problem than meets the eye ?

[@blakespower]

why don't the arbor day foundation start sending out seedlings to kids in elementary schools, like they did when I was a kid they always gave us some pine tree, I dont know what type of tree it was though

[@timothywolfenden4478]

ACF is fraudulent.....that's why.

[@mulemouse]

you are revered, in your providence

[@jasonreed2687]

Would like someone come and tell me if they are

[@positivelastaction3957]

Chestnut pollen is one of the most nutritious foods on the earth. It's also very delicious.

[@joanhuffman2166]

Hooray!

[@blakespower]

there were less forests in the early 1900's most places were farms , but now the forests are returning until some developer buys teh land and ruins it forever

[@joanhuffman2166]

What is the mechanism of resistance in Asian Chestnuts? Do we know?

[@dohcsmr1175]

The ability to break down the acids the the blight produces. The wheat plant has this gene that has been spliced into surviving American Chestnut. It has been very successful in producing blight resistant trees. It must be approved by the Government before it is re introduced. About ten years. It is as harmless as the Tomato, strawberry, corn or other genetically altered plants. This type of back crossing is not working. This type of cross and back breading is not ever going to work. The genetically spliced trees are completely resistant to blight.

[@joanhuffman2166]

@@dohcsmr1175 and in the Asian Chestnut trees?

[@dohcsmr1175]

@@joanhuffman2166 The blight is from Asia and Europe. The Trees from there have evolved with the blight. The blight still can kill them. Unfortunately American chestnut trees have no natural resistance to the fungus because the American trees did not evolve with the fungus. Think of the Blight fungus as Malaria in Humans. People who live in areas with Malaria have a natural resistance to the disease. Malaria can still be fatal even if you have been exposed to it you entire life. If Americans go to an area with Malaria we will die without the proper medication. America eliminated malaria before 1900. We now have no natural immunity to the disease. This is the best explanation I can come up with. Hope this helps.

[@Less1leg2]

Can you plant American Chestnut trees in the Cape Vincent New York region. Or is this too far north for the species? I find the St. Lawrence Valley region fairly decent weather wise due to Great Lakes influences.

[@robertnazarete6415]

Family has some surviving 50% and blighted 50% north of York, Pa on 5 acres. What to do ?

[@williewonka6694]

Maybe collect the nuts for planting. Don't let the squirrels eat them.

[@marklastname7047]

Have American chestnut trees seedlings growing, central maryland acreage.

[@wahibabu-zahra8091]

Does chestnut lives in Michigan??

[@blakespower]

yes I bought some nuts from someone in Michigan off ebay a few years ago, they are not natural to michigan but they were planted there so they were isolated from the blight as the winds tend to travel west to east

[@mulemouse]

I got into biology for this and went with research hypnosis.

[@ASmithee67]

Did the Chestnut operate as a keystone species? With the death of Chestnuts in the early 1900s, did it negatively impacting animals that fed on the nuts, e.g. deer, bear and even passenger pigeon?

[@TheTicktockman321]

That's an interesting question. There is an organization trying to do for the passenger pigeon what is being done for the Amer Chestnut and they feel the loss of the tree was what killed off the bird.

[@swagsterkeeg0913]

Seeing as most of the US was clear cut at one time, it would be hard to estimate an exact cost to wildlife caused by the Chestnut blight.

[@tomgazebobob1503]

Bloody heck,from here it seems Murika is nutty enough.

[@alvindixon7104]

Hi my name is alvin dixon or you can call me Al . any way may I receive just a few pods to try to grow some chestnuts here in Texas ilive just 60 miles south east of dallas I have seen other nut trees doing very well here .

[@tommyhunter1817]

Virtual farm show--STOOOOOPPPIIDDDD

[@joanhuffman2166]

When considering the role of the chestnut tree in the forest it is important to consider how various Indian tribes interacted with the tree. So often we tend to think of precolumbian America as Wild America (like the old TV show), this is of course untrue. Such thinking could mislead us in unexpected ways.

[@chuckkleine2532]

I planted a American Chestnut tree what I thought. 25 years ago. It just died.

[@daerth4423]

Chestnuts were a very valuable tree, and still could be in the future. But it was never as dominant as some people claim.

[@johnmaxwell1750]

It was locally dominant in some areas. In Pennsylvania, for example, on "Chestnut Ridge" just east of Uniontown, Latrobe, and Blairsville. Accounts of stagecoach travelers of the National Road near Uniontown describe floweing Chestnuts on the ridge as a sea of white.

[@briandbeaudin9166]

I do not believe what you say is credible. What is your evidence for such a claim?

[@johnmaxwell1750]

@@briandbeaudin9166 - Is your question directed to me or to David Thomas?

[@TheTicktockman321]

The value and or dominance of the tree was established by every document that studied the matter for generations as well as every eyewitness account that exists on the subject. It was a dominant tree species in its habitat. It comprised 20-25 percent of all the trees in the Appalachian Mts. at the time of theblight. That much is not debatable.

[@baneverything5580]

There are pictures in the Smoky Mountains of American Chestnut trees dominating the hillsides and mountains and they blanketed entire states. Their trunks were massive and the nuts would roll down hills into piles several feet deep. People and animals survived off them.

[@josephbrandt6778]

It'll be hundreds of years before it ever e en comes close to reality....

[@levilam522]

At least two big 4 foot diamiter chestnut trees in effort county Virginia producing nuts every year.... Dickerson mill rd,

[@blakespower]

so are you saying it has natural blight resistance?

[@w3vjp568]

Effort county, Virginia? No such county exists.

[@sting1111]

They don’t offer seeds.

[@jasonreed2687]

I have american chestnut

[@alan30189]

Shouldn’t we get rid of all the Chinese chestnut trees, which brought this disease over with them? Do all Chinese chestnut trees have this disease and just resisted it? If so, they should all be cut down and burned. It definitely seems that the blight doesn’t do as well in killing trees in colder climates. I don’t think those trees are superior in any way. The blight just thrives in warmer climates and is more effective. Other questions: Does this blight survive in our soils for years after the Chestnuts trees are gone? Does the blight affect other trees? Is there a way to kill the blight in the soil, where a chestnut tree once lived and died from it? How does the blight spread?

[@frances3424]

Yes it affects other trees, the ash included. They just have more resistance but the ash is in danger from some kind of beetle now. The blight is airborne and some of the trees can survive in orchards per say but not in the forests as they used to. I remember the chestnut trees around here in Appalachia, so sad they are gone.

[@CSWRB]

It’s also in other types of trees.

[@JleeA314]

I have a 70 foot beauty!

[@drmasroberts]

Why not make a GMO? Just transfer the resistance genes from the Asian chestnut instead of the whole Asian chestnut genome? Then it would be a real American Chestnut instead of an Asian chestnut that just looks like an American.

[@ourv9603]

Wouldn't it be easier to restore the American Chestnut tree outside of the area where the virus kills them? Like out west? !

[@TheTicktockman321]

This whole tragedy was created by introducing something into an ecosystem that it wasn't native to.

[@charlesmrader]

@@TheTicktockman321 The something that was introduced was the fungus. The American chestnut had been here for millennia.

[@TheTicktockman321]

My point is that how do we know that introducing the tree into non-native regions wouldn't have a similar negative impact. We still don't know how this fungus works after more than 100 years. We certainly don't know if the American chestnut carries some other fungus or parasite that is inconsequential to it but deadly to the redwood for instance.

[@frances3424]

They can't survive there.

[@CSWRB]

There were chestnut trees planted out west by settlers, going on up to areas in Washington state, but they were still affected by the blight.

[@jonmce1]

Eye colour is controlled by 8 genes not one.

[@mulemouse]

You don't need ums or purdy's, when you speak t6o be more effective

[@metaphysicalgraffiti]

Spelling is also important.

[@alemejigukassa8681]

Jesus loves you ❤ 💖

[@charlesmrader]

This is just buying time. Take a genetically engineered small tree, engineered to be sterile. Graft it to a surviving root. As the graft takes, it will grow large enough to provide energy to the root, which is purely American chestnut. This will stave off extinction. Eventually some technology will come along that is a combination of effective and acceptable.