A Kentucky American chestnut bur reveals seven viable nuts!
It is a sure sign of fall when the chestnut burs begin to open up, revealing their tasty nuts inside. Although many burs only reveal 1 to 3 viable nuts, sometimes more, the above pictured bur with seven nuts was quite a surprise to see! This is an indication of good pollination of the female flower that formed this bur. Unfortunately, when poor pollination occurs or a single tree doesn't have an unrelated tree nearby to provide pollen, a bur can form with no viable nuts inside. It is easy to tell these because the "nut" will just be a thin, somewhat shrivelled, shell that does not contain an actual nut inside.
Now is a good time to get out into the woods to find chestnut trees by locating burs on the ground. If you find a tree that is producing burs, PLEASE see if you can find viable nuts inside the burs! If you do, KY-TACF would be very interested in obtaining some of these nuts to add to their Germplasm Conservation Orchards of pure American chestnut trees! If you locate such a nut producing tree in the woods of Kentucky, please contact KY-TACF President, Rick Caldwell, by emailing him at rcaldwell@bernheim.org to let him know. Be sure to document the location of the tree!
Enjoy the cooler weather and the soon to be changing leaves!
