The FIRST WILD SEEDED American Chestnut! The Next Phase Begins...

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For the complete history of this project, watch the entire series: The American Chestnut: • The American Chestnut
A baby American chestnut is found on the opposite end of the forest from the only adult tree, the "miracle sisters" chestnut. It was not planted by me!
This is the culmination of 7 years of work.
I am now considering moving to a new forest with a pocketful of chestnuts to begin again...
Best viewed at 4k in a dark room.
NOTE: The on-scene audio was lost due to a technical malfunction.

[@Jared_Albert]

Fingers crossed and best wishes for success bringing the chestut back!

[@jimbruner190]

This is such wonderful news. My dad (born 1910) remembered the death of the chestnut, and he would be overjoyed.

[@sylviapatterson3643]

So did my Grandmother, born 1910 in Alabama. She remembered when livestock was turned loose to free range in Chilton County and not only survived the winters but fattened on chestnuts.

[@garys.8333]

I would love to see baby chestnut trees everywhere even if I never see them mature.

[@geckoman1011]

Just today in fact; I was digging up a drain pipe from my house and discovered a cache of walnuts that the squirrels had stashed. Nearly all had germinated so I took them and planted them in a number of places. Probably about a dozen or so.

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Excellent! They are planting walnuts here too! I can't wait for them to start producing nuts!

[@littlebrookreader949]

Oh, how wonderful.

[@user-xj4jh8ho4x]

I love that! The department of forestry has studied and determined that squirrels plant more trees than any other animal on earth. Pretty neat

[@bluesky6985]

​@therealanechoicchamber A Rife machine will kill the blight

[@insolentstickleback3266]

I am in the mid Willamette Valley Oregon, there is a Chestnut tree near me that was huge when I was 5 years old, I remember my friend Randy and I parking our Schwinn Stingray's under this tree in those long ago childhood summers. I am 58 now, my father passed away in 2018 and I now live where I was raised again. This tree sits at the apex of a 90 degree corner just 20 feet off the road, it has stopped countless cars over the course of its life and is still strong and healthy as an Ox. I stopped to visit this tree a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure what it was so I collected some leaves and fruit to identify it. Now the internet is sending me a landslide of Chestnut content : D Anyway, that isn't a bad thing, I will be collecting a bunch of nuts soon and setting them up in tubs of soil and leaf mulch. I did this two years ago with Big Leaf Maple, and now have about 40 young Maples I am planting on my 3 acres. I hope you see this comment, I am curious how significant this lone tree might be, was it planted by pioneers 150 years ago?

[@therealanechoicchamber]

You are very fortunate. Spread those nuts around! Contact chestnut organizations!

[@insolentstickleback3266]

@@therealanechoicchamber I just came back from the post office, 3 miles into town, I decided to take a rough measurement on the tree, and see if there were nuts to collect. there are actually two trees, both large with dead tops, but thriving from the mid point down. I ran a sting around the larger tree at 4 feet off the ground, tree is infested with ivy but I pulled the string as tight as I could, took it home and measured it. 21 feet in diameter, I picked up 352 very viable looking nuts off the ground in less than 10 minutes. I reckon there is thousands of nuts laying there.

[@therealanechoicchamber]

@@insolentstickleback3266 definitely contact chestnut organizations, and your local university as well. Get them to come examine it asap! Any survivor of that size is extremely significant! Watch my whole series for tips including how to sprout them in your refrigerator. I've got 5 nuts from my tree in the fridge right now... I'm very excited for you. This is fantastic.

[@insolentstickleback3266]

@@therealanechoicchamber I will do this, OSU and Chestnut organizations. If you would like photos or video of these trees, I would be happy to provide you with it.

[@therealanechoicchamber]

@@insolentstickleback3266 yes. Make a little video showing the trees and nuts and share the link here. I will pass it on to the chestnut council of Canada.

[@paulbedichek5177]

Finally!! Takes so long to get a new generation of trees, ones that can survive blight.

[@an-tm3250]

Not to mention the poisons put in the atmosphere, water & soil by the globalists.

[@ericwanderweg8525]

Excellent work. Coincidentally, just last week I found a single new seedling in a surviving chestnut grove I’ve been monitoring for a couple years now. It was in the middle of the sandy trail so I was able to pluck it out, taproot and all, and transplanted at home where I have 3 more I started from seed last year. Great content and good luck with your endeavor. 👍

[@therealanechoicchamber]

That's exciting to hear! I hope it does well for you! I deeply appreciate your kind words. It really helps to keep me motivated.

[@debrapaulino918]

​@@therealanechoicchamber❤

[@upland20]

I am old and will never see the results of your efforts, but I do very much want to Thank You for your efforts and I hope that you will inspire others to do the same. 🙏👍

[@bellakaldera3305]

In my own forest, I have found 4 chestnuts, the biggest is the size of my leg, and they show no signs of blight!

[@tidecoys]

So I have a friend that has a Huge American chestnut tree in her yard. Are the chestnuts from this tree going to be blight resistant?

[@michaelangelo7511]

Unfortunately the blight may not show up till another ten years.

[@beth8775]

​@@tidecoysIf it has reached maturity to bear, there is a real chance if resistance.

[@tidecoys]

When I say huge, I mean huge. It’s definitely resistant, but would the chestnuts it produces have the same genes or be blight resistant?

[@talgreenberg3405]

I think unless this is one of the new GMO trees you are wasting your time. These will live for awhile and grow but eventually the blight will kill them once they reach a certain size.

[@goleafsgo1793]

Well done! It's a very encouraging bit of news to hear that somewhere this wonderful tree is finding a way to re-establish itself with your help. Good job!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Thanks to everyone for encouraging comments. They're very important and helpful for overcoming the negative energy from the hostile comments!

[@Forevertrue]

My Grandfather told me his father told him that 1 in 5 trees in the Kentucky woods was a chestnut when he was a boy. My grandfather was born on 1906 and he said by the time he was a teen ager there were none left on his family farm. Thank the import of the Chinese Chestnut and the famous Chinese blight.

[@danbev8542]

Your grandfather was right! American Chestnut made up about 25% of the forest in the entire Eastern half of the US. The blight was devastating, but in the early days, they didn’t know that about 10% of a population will be naturally immune to a contagion. Instead, they cut down all the trees. Today, there are a very few sick trees that escaped the axes. I HOPE they have finally bred a mostly American Chestnut with immunity! Our Oaks and Hickory’s need their old companions back!

[@jimdent351]

We should thank them for all sorts of blights bestowed upon us.

[@valije]

@@jimdent351 Should Europe thank USA for the Phylloxera that almost killed the continent's vineyards too?

[@tville7043]

Great work. In Georgia here there's a few projects started. I need to find more information about getting a couple started as my area had some Chestnut trees and a couple of them were monster sized. Sweet Gum trees and wild Cherry have since replaced the bare areas left by the dead Chestnut trees. The area they were in seems to low and damp but the trees grew for years there and it has filled back in with thriving trees. ?? Being damp helped the trees all these years cause you couldn't get in to harvest anything. Your work is greatly appreciated and absolutely needed. We also have deer and a cage would be needed for several years. Young trees don't have a chance without one. Deer love freshly planted trees. Thanks. NW ga.

[@homesteadaquarius]

This is AWESOME! I am so proud of you and your work! Could we again see the day that these incredible trees are prominent once again in our forests? Wow!

[@michaeldaltonsr8954]

I want to try to express the depth of emotion I feel... As a child( mid-'50's) listening to my kin-folk bemoan the "passing" of the American Chestnut, as they used much-coveted salvage rails to build a "snake-fence", then 70 years later to be part of the re-planting of the wild American Chestnut, takes my breath away. I understand how much hard work, and plain luck, was involved in restoration!! And, glad I was able to witness it!! Thanks to ALL involved!!

[@marvinmartin4692]

At the rate we’re loosing trees we will never be able to keep up. We’re loosing ash trees, oaks, butternut, elms,and maple! I’d love to plant a chestnut though!

[@thomasmarley3646]

Although there wasn’t much light reaching it, there was enough for it to start growing… often it’s better for trees to grow slowly in the shade than for then to shoot up quickly in the sun.

[@jessterbal]

Great Job!!! I was under the impression that the American Chestnut was on the way to extinction due to it being unable to each maturity. Thanks for all your work!!!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Thanks! For more background, please watch the entire Playlist of which this is but an episode...

[@howardpratt1946]

In a world where everything is out of wack its nice to know this great tree can possibly make a comeback. I still remember how amazing the one was at my grandfather's

[@DevonianDave]

The new chestnut tree is awesome! I have an American Chestnut I planted that is well over 10 feet tall and close to producing nuts, so hopefully I will have some baby trees in the next couple of years. This year my American Elm produced viable seed and I have three babies in pots to grow for a few years before I plant them out.

[@Less1leg2]

great stuff. Yes, every effort should be made to accommodate the return of the American Chestnut Tree. Every nut deserves extra care, especially if that Nut is virus resistant without intervention methods. The purity of the tree making its own natural virus resistency should be applauded and protected. Much like how we protect with extreme measures our wildlife in rivers, lakes, and streams. We should designate if found virus resistant American Chestnut trees. This species deserves an added protection and recognition of significance. heck, if found these trees will be around for hundreds of years. But first we have to give them their first 50 years without some dufus harming them.

[@Naturalcrusader]

Just picked up a bunch of seeds to plant, hoping they will grow big and fast!

[@jonnybritnorth7966]

i planted a grove of 13 here in NC 2 years ago. they too have cages around them to keep them safe from the deer

[@makita883]

I’m so glad to see chestnut trees are coming back. I remember huge chestnut tree’s all around city island in the Bronx. We used to Love collecting the nuts, climbing those wonderful branches and enjoy the the shade they provided.😊

[@LegendaryInfortainment]

SUCH good news which I'd thought never to hear in my life. Thank you!

[@eagledove9]

W. H. Weidlich described a technique of 'mudpacking' the trees in the injured areas, with a soil compress. Whenever the trees develop blighted cankers and damaged areas, you put a large amount of soil against the injured area, and wrap something there to hold it in place. I've been trying it with moss, but he originally used some kind of plastic wrap type of material. The soil contains a naturally occurring probiotic fungus, trichoderma, which kills the blight. This is the reason why the roots are able to survive, while the aboveground parts are killed. The roots will regrow new sprouts over and over again after dying from the blight. I am in Pennsylvania, and I have dozens of these blighted trees that never grow up quite enough to produce flowers or fruit. That is why I am now wrapping them with mudpacks to see if I can heal the cankers and enable them to grow several more years. Weidlich successfully got his trees to heal their cankers, although the exposed areas were still vulnerable and could be reinfected. He described it in "A Preliminary Report on a Method of Biological Control of the Chestnut Blight Not Involving the Use of a Hypovirulent Strain of Endothia parasitica.' So, he wasn't using genetically modified trees, and he wasn't using hybrids, and he wasn't using the 'hypovirulent' type of blight fungus. These were all pure non-hybrids, blight vulnerable, but individually being treated and living long enough to fruit, because of trichoderma fungus in the soil.

[@johnbarth684]

I've spent years in the woods and only once have I found a wild chestnut tree. Last year I came across one. The age is about 30 years. It certainly is a rare find. This year I will continue to hunt for more.

[@paulseale8409]

Grow Chestnut Grow!!!!!!!

[@qualqui]

Woohooooo.....Congratulations and so appreciative of your caring for the wild-seeded American Chestnut tree. Doing my research to see if there were or are American Chestnuts here in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountain forests, would be so COOL if their range dips south of the rio grande.🤔👍

[@somethingiswrong1916]

American chestnuts are still out there. My understanding is that they live long enough to produce seeds that will germinate and grow into more trees, but the chestnut will then succumb to the blight after that. But I am a n00b and don't really know for sure.

[@rustyshimstock8653]

Immature American Chestnuts are everywhere. These saplings propagate from the roots. The blight affects their ability to develop mature bark. Only time will tell whether this sapling is actually resistant.

[@laurierenaud1210]

THIS IS AMAZING NEWS! THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR WHAT YOU DO!

[@jimnatale9]

I've seen a bunch of old stump spouts here in Southern New England! Some are being blighted, others are blight free and are approaching 20ft tall with burs!

[@sylviapatterson3643]

Hope....for the future.

[@chesterthawkins7510]

So glad to see this. I hope the chestnut tree will make a big comeback!

[@fraserturner112]

It’s too bad most of us probably won’t be around to really see the fruits of your labour

[@therealanechoicchamber]

I'll keep everyone updated on how things are going. The key is how well the miracle sisters tree is doing against the blight! Check out the whole Playlist for "the American chestnut" to learn more...

[@thegoatlark]

It is a person that has found the meaning of life that plants a tree they know they will never enjoy the fruits from.

[@pohateos9394]

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago... the second best time is right now.

[@leoscheibelhut940]

That's wonderful news! Congratulations and thank you on behalf of all forest loving Americans!

[@saltsea9499]

Keep up the good work. When they flourish send them to us and we'll take care of the rest.

[@koholohan3478]

You should leave the downed trees. Nurse logs and dead wood are so important in the forest♡

[@johnrafey9436]

Awesome, hats off, and thank you. Future generations may get to have this wonderful lost treasure that has all but been lost to the blight.

[@stephenbrinckerhoff3510]

The first? How amazing. Several years ago I heard of a secluded valley in Tennessee where they had been bypassed by the chestnut blight. Since then, I have seen reports of other newly emerging chestnut trees in various locations.

[@headmltr6247]

how does this have so few views? beautiful composition and stewardship

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Thank you so much. My channel has never been popular even though it's loaded with content. Just fate, I guess...

[@ericpierce3660]

@@therealanechoicchamber Your content is awesome and I so appreciate the work you do. I love trees but chestnuts in particular. It would help if you include a short reminder, maybe two, in each video, asking people to support the channel by hitting the like button, subscribing, making a comment, forwarding to friends and family who might be interested in the topic. All of those increase the probability that the algorithm will recommend your videos to other people and over time the traffic and subscribers will increase.

[@beth8775]

Absolutely awesome!

[@danhealyeverythingoutdoors7105]

Great video !

[@debrapaulino918]

Exciting!!! ❤

[@MarkProjectShark]

Bless up! 🌞

[@markellis9967]

Awesome work!

[@olsonlr]

Hope they too are resistant! I have seedling datsun hybrid trees. Most are good. One is blight infected.

[@danielpascoe9638]

Is this a blight resistant variety?

[@JimTheDruid-db3ok]

yes please

[@umustbbornagainActs2-38]

I'm wanting to plant a chestnut tree in my yard in southern louisiana. Thanks for the encouraging video!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Every tree counts. If it lives long enough to produce nuts, grow them, even if you have to give them away. The species will adapt through reproduction BY SEED! Every generation gets the goal closer... you can help! Try to find one that was grown from seed!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

PS: you're lucky to live there, where trees can grow fast! I often wonder if I should move down there with a pocketful of my miracle sisters chestnuts!

[@umustbbornagainActs2-38]

@@therealanechoicchamber Any advice on best places to purchase seed or even a sapling?

[@therealanechoicchamber]

try contacting the american chestnut foundation. hopefully they can set you up!@@umustbbornagainActs2-38

[@peopleofonefire9643]

Wonderful news!

[@alhum5542]

I did the same thing with the chicken wire protection on 2 saplings. Went back to check in the fall and found deer had flatten and knock over the chicken wire cage and ate the whole plant right down to the ground level.

[@donnaeturner]

This is wonderful! Thank you/

[@duxdawg]

Congrats!

[@Bf26fge]

Pizz around your seedling every time you walk by. That provides some deterrence

[@therealanechoicchamber]

And nitrogen. Been doing it for many years!

[@peterellis4262]

Congratulations!

[@user-76hanging-on]

GOSH! I planted several wild chestnut trees.. One is about 8 feet high. There's a few large wild chestnuts in Western North Carolina.

[@thomaskenney2973]

awesome thank you

[@Herculesbiggercousin]

Amazing discovery, I’m grateful for you being another steward of nature. I’m sure it’s difficult but if I may ask, please refrain from giving out this location to the public & be cautious of accidentally revealing this sacred place!

[@Cubic5]

Congratulations! I do not know why youtube decided to show me this, but I am so happy for you.

[@rosescott9299]

Is the miracle sisters chestnut tree a wild American chestnut that survived the blight? I tried to find out what it is but can’t find any answer.

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Yes, it is! I will make a new video that tells the whole story. Thanks for your feedback!

[@rosescott9299]

And now the tree has a wild baby? That is wonderful! I’m subscribing now, and can’t wait for the video about the miracle sister chestnut tree! I would love to see what she looks like!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Thanks! If you watch the Playlist, you'll get a head start! New videos coming soon! The American Chestnut: kzbin.info/aero/PLQkD2LovQx-OJgVedlV91c0k6ionrqonM

[@hggfhh4449]

Save the chestnut trees

[@lizlanman47]

From what I understand, the passenger pigeon 's droppings were necessary to keep the chestnut's micorhyzal fungi healthy. Is it possible mourning dove feces might help??? A parallel problem is happening in the Indian Ocean on the islands where the dodo birds were all killed. There are500 year old trees and no seedlings because the nuts need to go through the digestive tract of the dodo s to germinate. Now that we understand the problems, I hope we can work around the problems that we created

[@greekre]

congratulations!!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

I'm just their friend and guardian. The congratulations go to them. I'll pass it along!

[@joycee5493]

If there are deer in that area you better protect that tree with caging.

[@robertrinehuls9099]

My first thought seeing the baby tree was I wonder how long it will take the deer to find it.

[@earlmenefee3421]

Incredible great

[@penguinpie5056]

this is great. I'm growing some wild american chestnuts from various sources on my property in Canada. probably doing it all wrong. Also have a source of butternuts which I will try to grow this year there as well.

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Excellent! My butternut produced It's first nuts in 2023. I prefer my walnuts, but diversity is everything... I'm in the long point basin, so there's no problem with growing them in Canada as long as the conditions are right.

[@nicktozie6685]

Don't forget guys, keep gooseberries and elderberry away

[@knuckledraggingneanderthal720]

Chestnut blight lives on many trees (oaks, hickory, sumac) but has no effect on their growth.

[@lesterexton5666]

Blight and spotted lantern fries may also find and attach to it. Are you sure it's American? Could be a mix planted to help Chestnut make a come back.

[@stumpfarm3714]

What make you think blight won’t impact the trees, is it a hybrid or Chinese?

[@waltgolston5974]

what good news!

[@wholeagain5099]

Brother you're doing something special may Jesus bless your every need in Jesus powerful name Amen 🙏🏼

[@fredwild190]

Are these blight resistant trees or will they grow until the blight kills them? Thank you.

[@walterschneider8033]

Cuttings possible for chestnuts?

[@mr.redneck2715]

What is the best chestnut to plant and where do I buy it?

[@therealanechoicchamber]

If you want to produce nuts for eating, get Chinese chestnuts. They are very resistant to the blight and produce much larger nuts. If you are more interested in trying to grow American chestnut trees, it will be harder to find them. In Canada we have the Canadian chestnut council. There's a similar group in the states but I'm unsure of their name. Maybe the American chestnut foundation? They should be able to set you up, or at least point you in the right direction. Keep us informed!

[@Crayfish-]

" Find Out What Plants " Repel Deer " and other herbivores. And " Plant " Them Around " these " Chestnut Trees " ! I heard one man say that he Planted some " Green Onions " Around some trees, and the deer won't even come Close to them ! I wish I had known what Plants I Needed to ward off Coyotes, and Wild burros near where I lived !

[@bigDbigDbigD]

Where can I buy seeds please?

[@ronaldsmith2343]

can I get some to plant?

[@huddunlap3999]

Shared on Facebook

[@davegaetano7118]

Good job, but don't count your chestnuts before they fall. I have read that the old chestnut trees provided a honeyflow at a time when it was very much needed by the bees. I hope this variety does the same.

[@zachreyhelmberger894]

HalleluYah!!!

[@cogentdynamics]

I am in Western North Carolina and would love to get a couple of these trees started in my small forest. How could I do that?

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Watch my newest video for some tips!

[@melchezi8818]

Plant more trees, plant more trees, plants more trees!!

[@joegallagher1842]

Do they grow as far south as Missouri? I grew up in PA but would love to see them here.

[@markstuber4731]

Yes. As far south as Georgia. However, the American Chestnut is not indigenous to Missouri. The traditional range doesn't go much further west than the Applelachians.

[@lonefoxbushcraft]

I've got 2 🇺🇸 Sweetchesdnut im uk 🇬🇧 there 8 years old pos 10 I will do a video thus year when the leaves open

[@edf7008]

Was the "big" tree a Tulip Poplar? Good luck little Chestnuts!

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Correct. Nice identification.

[@aaronkolatch5211]

Is this one of the blight-resistant chestnut trees?

[@commentarytalk1446]

Could you make it a lot clearer the premise of the value of this American Sweet Chestnut Tree namely it's a rare genetic variant sapling from a tree that survived the Chinese blight? Equally, although emotionally charged due to the value of the find, it's more accurate to call it a SAPLING not a BABY which also grates in terms of confusing what exactly is going on here as others seem to think it was grown in a lab. Aside from those nit-pics on clarity of communication you're trying to convey and using emotive vocabularly on social media to draw more sympathy, the work you're doing is outstanding or at least I fully accord with your important work and would like to see success derive from it over the coming centuries.

[@BrooklynBotanicals]

Hero

[@harrymason1053]

Let's hope.

[@danmckeon3847]

Guy talks real funny!

[@savingferris8279]

What state is this?

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Ontario, Canada. It is specified in the video description. KZbin doesn't seem to do a good job of making such things obvious...

[@savingferris8279]

@@therealanechoicchamber thanks!

[@avael2451]

@@therealanechoicchamber Grew up in the boreal forest and never saw a chestnut tree, my father had though. Now that I'm living in southern Ontario going outside and the only greenspace I see being farmland is quite depressing. Just stumbled across your channel now and I'm thoroughly impressed, keep up the dedication and hard work :)

[@therealanechoicchamber]

Thanks so much!

[@scottekelberry9595]

Put a fence around it

[@skeets6060]

A tree grows and lots of fire wood !

[@snowmiaow]

So he cuts a big tree down. What kind was it?

[@beth8775]

One not endangered as the American Chestnut. You should google and read up on the issue.

[@loquat44-40]

If I was younger I would try to get some of those blight resistant nuts. I have dunstan and chinese chestnuts planted in zone 8b NW FL. There were american chestnuts down here also at one time and might be a survivor here and there. Even the appalachian chinquapin castanha are have a hard time and I have some chinese x chinquapin hybrids growing and one actual local chinquapin that seems to be ok.

[@loquat44-40]

The presence of a lot of chinese chestnuts will make the return of pure american chestnuts impossible.

[@LokiOdinssnn]

@@loquat44-40 not really, because there are dedicated organisations and volunteers that dna tests their trees as they plan and breed them.

[@loquat44-40]

@@LokiOdinssnn American Chestnuts can be pollinated by pollen from Chinese Chestnuts. So if there are any Chinese Chestnuts growing within pollinating distances of the americans, hybrid nuts/seeds will be produce. There places in Canada IIRC that forbid Chinese chestnuts for this reason. So if you plant any american chestnut next door to my chinese chestnuts, hybridization will result.

[@joeschaar3172]

How are things doing this year? I woukd love to trade you some pollen ! I have an American chestnut on my property that is 100 years old and produces empty husks because its never pollenated - there are no companions 😢

[@therealanechoicchamber]

If it's possible... I'm in Canada! This is why I call the miracle sisters chestnut a "miracle"... she self-pollinates!

[@grkuntzmd]

When you cut the big tree down, did it make a sound? 🙂

[@scotmayall3067]

I’m very interested in growing those chestnuts in North Idaho……..

[@markstuber4731]

Why not Chinese Chestnuts? The American Chestnut isn't indigenous to Idaho and Chinese Chestnuts are better orchid trees because, their branches grow further out and closer to the ground .

[@SamsLiberty]

I would pay good money for some seeds.

[@naterussell6025]

very young woods if that was a very big tree. lol