In Search of Chestnut Sprouts

Several American chestnut stump sprouts were reported at Ft. Knox over the past year or two.  On September 10, 2014, representatives from Ft. Knox, from the Kentucky Department of Forestry and from KY-TACF conducted a review of the known sprouts prior to searching for others.  The group headed off into the woods.

It wasn't long before arriving at the first known sprout.  Everyone enjoyed seeing this tree reaching up towards the sky.

After a quick look in the vicinity of this sprout for others, the group continued on to the larger sprout that was found in July of 2014.  Although suppressed by a large oak tree, this sprout is much larger.

The sprout has the light pink flagging on it just left of the bigger tree with bright pink flagging.

 

Directly beneath the chestnut tree was a "monster" trying to blend in with its surroundings.

 

 



The group proceeded onto an area that had some thinning conducted several years before, so that additional sun light would be penetrating the forest floor.  This additional light can encourage suppressed stump sprouts to begin growing more quickly which makes them easier to find.

Once at the location, the group spread out in order to cover more area while searching.  It did not take long for the first clump of 3 stems to be found.

Around five other stump sprouts were discovered during the short search!  Each sprout's location was recorded with GPS.  The team discussed the desire to return to the area after fall where the chestnut sprouts will be easier to find.

Currently, the understory vegetation is lush and green.  This makes spotting the toothed green leaves difficult to do.  Once fall comes and most vegetation loses leaves, the chestnut sprouts tend to hang onto their leaves (even after drying up) into the late winter.  This makes searching for and spotting them a bit easier in mid to late November.

With the sprouts found during this short excusion, it is encouraging to know that additional sprouts will be found in this area in the future.

Some sprouts that have been found will be dug and relocated to a Germplasm Conservation Orchard where they can be tended to with proper light, water, fertilization, weed control, etc.  This "pampered" treatment will encourage the trees to grow quickly and to begin producing flowers.  From the male flowers, pollen can be collected and applied to other trees.  Once female flowers form, pollen can be brought to the trees for pollination.  Nuts produced from these efforts can then be planted in backcross breeding orchards, tested for blight resistance and carried forward in the KY-TACF breeding program.

Intereseted in participating in restoring the American chestnut in Kentucky?  Join TACF at Join TACF and be sure to indicate KY for your state chapter.

Chestnut Challenges

Chestnut Challenges

Locally here in the Louisville, Kentucky area, there have been several insect outbreaks found affecting American chestnut plantings this spring.  Photos and samples have been sent to the University of Kentucky for insect verification, but I have indicated with the photos what the culprit appears to be.

Ambrosia Beetle:

 

These small holes are on a lower branch of a 10 year old tree.  The entire branch is dead from 2” diameter on up.  Usually, AB will attack trees when they are at about 1.5” diameter – or similar sized branches in older trees.  Monitoring can be done with AB traps beginning in March.  If the beetles are found, then a spraying regime can begin to protect the trees.

One bad thing about AB is that it will introduce a fungus into the tree that may continue to affect the tree even after beetle outbreaks have been controlled.  Prevention is important for our display trees at area sites.

Round Headed Borer or Long-horned Beetle:

 

Although it is hard to tell from the photo, these holes are much larger than those caused by Ambrosia beetle. The resulting dead trees send up stump sprouts, which can be managed to “replace” the lost tree. Similar to blight, the above-ground portion of the tree has been killed, but the root system remains viable.

In both cases, once the insect identities are confirmed, spraying of tree trunks to the point of runoff will be done on a regular basis with a 2.5% permethrin product.  This will kill larvae not yet in the tree and will kill emerging adults, so as to not spread the attack.

I always say that, “everything likes chestnuts!”  By this, I mean the nuts, the leaves, the twigs, the wood, etc.  This species used to make up about 25% of the forests in the Eastern US.  What a significant impact on wildlife when they basically disappeared due to the introduced blight.

 

Leaf Eating Insects

I have a chestnut tree growing in my front yard, doing quite well during its second year.  It is well over 6 feet tall and there are still a couple of month remaining in the growing season!  The other evening, I noticed some of the leaves were “skelotonized!”  This is a sure sign of Japanese beetles.  Upon closer inspection, I found that there were 2 or 3 dozen beetles on the leaves!  A quick dusting of Sevin dust seems to have resolved the problem, as yesterday I found no beetles on the tree!

Sometimes this time of year, you start to see leaves beginning to curl a bit from the edges.  Many times, this is caused by sucking insects, such as leaf hoppers and aphids.  Sometimes, you must look at both the top of the leaf, as well as the underside, to find what might be affecting your tree.

Keep your trees healthy and they will put on more growth!

Blooming American Chestnut Trees

The American chestnut tree tends to bloom later than many other nut producing hardwood trees, such as oaks.  This is why historically, the chestnut produced a nut crop every year consistently.  Oak trees may only produce acorns once every couple of years, so wildlife (deer, turkey, etc) can only feed on this mast during times of production.  Since the chestnut blooms late, there is little chance for the flowers to get nipped by a late frost, so they tend to produce nuts annually.  This is why American chestnut trees were so beneficial for wildlife species in the forests of the Eastern United States.

When the blight basically wiped out chestnut trees from Maine down to Mississippi, it must have been a terrible impact on many wildlife species.  Eventually, this tree will be surviving back out in the forests where it once reined as "king!"

Flowers are forming on chestnut trees right now and should begin blooming in a few weeks!  It is said that chestnut trees were so prevalent in many eastern woods that during the blooming period of June, the mountains appeared to have snow on them!  This was just the many showy flowers of the American chestnut tree!

Male flowers forming - late May, 2014.

 

 

Typically, a chestnut tree will begin flowering at about 5 to 8 years old.  Sometimes, flowering will occur earlier, depending on the amount of light and growing conditions.  The trees pictured here are currently in their third growing season.  Although many male flowers are apparent, I could not yet find any female flowers - which is what will become a bur.  I'll keep an eye on them, though, in case there is an opportunity to do some manual pollination.

 

The first male catkins (flowers) this 3 year old tree has formed!

 

 

A good example for seeing flowers forming on chestnut trees up close is at the Louisville Nature Center located at 3745 Illinois Avenue in Louisville, KY.  While there, be sure to not only look at the trees, but read the 3-panel sign which tells all about the American chestnut tree, chestnut blight and efforts to breed a blight resistant tree.

 

If you arrive during the Center's open hours, stop in the building to see their displays and get information on the hiking trails.  This facility and preserve are wonderful assets for our community!

 

In a few weeks, the whitish flowers will be very obvious on the blooming chestnut trees.

 

 

Come and look at later posts.   I will attempt to take some photos and post them on this blog when the trees are in full bloom!







582 Orchard Planting - Carr Creek Lake, KY

Initial planting took place on Monday, April 21, 2014 at the 582 Orchard, hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers at Carr Creek Lake, KY.

Winter Drag - Chestnut Grafting

Although the long, drawn out winter continues here in the Louisville area, that doesn't mean that American chestnut restoration efforts are at rest.  What is happening right now? Well, for one, chestnut seeds (nuts) either in the wild or in cold storage are getting ready to start sending a tap root out.  This happens every spring!  Sometimes early, sometimes late.  My guess is for this year - late.

What else is happening?  Well, for me, I am experimenting with nut grafting!  What is nut grafting, you might ask?  It is a way of grafting living/growing materials (from trees/stump sprouts/etc) onto a live seed.  The nut provides the energy for bonding a twig onto a nut and producing roots to feed the twig.  Basically, it provides the ability to clone an existing tree by using a nut to "nurse" the twig along.  It sounds more difficult than it is.  A great resource for learning more about this can be found at Nut Grafting and this is what I used as a guide, for the most part.  Photo guidance is always good!

So, I am seeing some results from my early February nut grafting attempts.  Here is a grafted twig with not much bud activity:

The bud appears dormant (or dead) even after a month of having been grafted.

However, look at this bud.  See a difference?

The bud is expanding/swelling as it should be, which indicates a successful graft!  You might note that something is coming up at the base of this grafted twig, as well.  This sprout is the epicotyl coming up from the nut.  This will have to be cut back, as it does not have the genetics of the graft, but genetics of the nut.

Here is a closer look of the sprouting from the nut next to the grafted twig:

This sprout will have to be removed, as will this lower bud if it sprouts out and attempts dominance over the bud above it.

Here is the same sprout 10 days after the other photos were taken.  Slowly, the bud continues to grow!

And a few days later, it is still expanding.  Slow going, but it IS growing!  Note that I removed the lower bud.  I want all of the energy to go into the growth of this shoot.

The resulting grafted seedling will be a genetic mirror of the tree that it was removed from this winter.

Why would anyone want to go to the effort of doing this?  Well, think about genetics.  If we were to find an overtopped stump sprout in the woods, say in a woods that cannot be manipulated by management activities (timber harvest, removal of surrounding trees, etc), we can take part of the stump sprout with the simple tool of pruning shears and graft it as I have done here.  If successful, the grafted seedling can be outplanted into a mother tree orchard where it can serve as a "mother" for receiving pollen from other trees or it can be used as a "father" by collecting pollen from it, once it matures to the point of producing flowers (about 3 - 5 years).   The genetics from this "lost" tree can now be carried forward within the Kentucky State TACF breeding program rather than being lost completely or never being utilized within the breeding program.  The more genetic variation within the breeding program, the better off it will be (within our regional area).

Grafting can also be used for carrying forward "selected" trees from backcross orchards.  If a particular tree shows high resistance, it could be cloned (ie, grafted) to make "more of it" in order to produce more nuts/offspring from it.  Rather than having 1 or a few trees, we can create multiple trees with the identical genetics via grafting.

This is the same process used for much of our commercially nut bearing trees, as well as fruit trees.  I'm sure you have heard of a particular apple strain or pear strain.  These are produced by grafting, for the most part, and not from cross-breeding with other varieties.

Same with wine.  In order to produce a particular flavor in wine, it is important to have consistency in the grapes.  This is done by grafting.

Okay, I might have the technique down.  Now, I need to find some stump sprouts, gather scion wood and graft them onto nuts so that I can provide some new genetic sources to the KY-TACF breeding program!  Shoot, if the weather would ever cooperate, maybe I could do this, but things are not looking good for this winter!  I might have to practice on bud grafting this summer!

Happy March!

Blighted Trees!

Back-crossed American chestnut trees were evaluated in a Louisville area orchard recently after having being inoculated with chestnut blight earlier this year. An earlier blog discusses and shows photos of the inoculation day.

Blight evaluation - this is a first round of evaluating how the blight is affecting the trees.  Well, actually, it is more about evaluating how the trees are reacting to having the blight.  Some show little to no resistance, while others show active "fighting" of this invader.  That "fight" is what is being looked for!

Above:  TACF Southeast Regional Science Coordinator, Tom Saielli, evaluates inoculated Louisville area chestnut trees for resistance.

Above:  KY-TACF President, Lynn Garrison, records blight resistance evaluation data.

Above:  A blighted back-crossed 15/16th American chestnut tree shows some resistance to blight.

This initial evaluation is a start to selecting only a few trees from the several hundred within the orchard that will be bred forward in order to develop Restoration Chestnut 1.0 nuts for test planting in the woods of Kentucky.  These trees will have genetics from Kentucky, so should be well adapted to our environment.

Louisville Branch members and other interested parties will be heading out into the woods on December 14 to search for surviving American chestnut trees and stump sprouts in the Horine Reservation of Jefferson Memorial Forest.  Email kchacha@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining in on the search.  If local material is found, it would be wonderful to add it to the KY-TACF State Chapter's breeding program!

A morning that started with sunshine and chill in the air quickly changed to an overcast late morning. However, being in an orchard of beautiful chestnut trees in the fall made it seem that warmth was coming directly from the ground.  Seeing blighted trees does not glimmer the greatest hope, but seeing blighted chestnut trees that are showing resistance to this invader makes hope shine like high noon on a clear day in mid-summer!

These trees will, again, be evaluated next spring.  Additional evaluations will take place once resistant trees are identified within the orchard.  Other traits, such as American characteristics (straight trunk/single leader, fast growth, etc) will be included until only a handful of trees will meet minimal requirements to move forward in the breeding program.  The other trees will be "culled from the herd," if you will, or might even be utilized to "clone" the highly desirable trees to the living stumps by grafting.  This will multiply future nut production of the highly resistant/desirable trees.

A fall look down the rows of a Louisville area American chestnut breeding orchard.

Newsworthy:  On January 25, 2014, at The Bard's Town on Bardstown Road, the Louisville Branch of KY-TACF will be hosting a fundraiser for area chestnut activities.  Live bluegrass music will be played by Millers Folly Bluegrass Band www.millersfolly.com, there will be TACF and local activity information available, plan on getting some 50/50 raffle tickets, because the drawing will take place this night, great food and beverages will be available and the fun is just an added bonus!  Part of the fundraising activities will include a $5 cover at the door.  This will be going to chestnut activities, not to the business.  So, be sure to tip your wait staff!  Mark your calendar now and plan to head to the Highlands area on Bardstown Road on January 25, 2014, from 6:30 PM until 10:00 PM!

Questions, an interest in getting involved or want to see some chestnut trees growing in Louisville?  Email Keith at kchacha@yahoo.com for more information!

Blighting the Chestnut Trees

Adding blight to healthy American chestnut trees, through inoculation, seems counter-productive and makes little or no sense!  However, that is what was done with a 5 - 6 year old chestnut orchard not far from Louisville on the morning of June 22, 2013.  Nearly 165 trees were infected with chestnut blight, which included potentially blight resistant American trees, Chinese trees, pure American trees (no resistance) and half American/half Chinese trees.  This variety of trees provides for a "control" to measure against when determining blight resistance.

Healthy 15/16th American chestnut trees soon to be blighted.  (Photo by Ed Fredrickson.)

So, why would anyone want to intentionally blight these apparently healthy and nut producing trees?  As questionable as this sounds, the answer truly is, "to save the trees!"

TACF Southeastern Regional Science Coordinator, Tom Saielli, inoculates the first tree in the orchard. (Photo by Ed Fredrickson.)

Huh?  Please clarify!  Okay, here is the deal (short version).  These trees have been back-cross bred for blight resistance.  Not all of these trees will demonstrate high resistance, so they need to be "tested" to find out which ones carry the most resistance within their genetics.  Those that do will carry forward with breeding to eventually provide offspring that will be placed back into our Kentucky woods to naturally reproduce, compete, and fulfill the former niche provided by American chestnut trees!

There are two genetic lines represented in this orchard, with about 70 trees of each.  They have all been given two doses of different strains of chestnut blight.  The inoculation points (holes punched through the bark, blight added, taped over to "seal" it in) will produce "sores" on the trees.  Some will show resistance to these infections by attempting to heal over the "sores."  Others will completely fail, so will die.  Measurements will determine which trees show good resistance and which ones should be "culled from the herd."  Yes, those that fail will not be allowed to continue in the breeding process.

Ultimately, it is hoped that 5 or 6 trees from each genetic line will "pass" the resistance evaluation and will be allowed to naturally breed across the two lines.  Then, the nuts produced from these trees will be used through a similar process with another unrelated genetic line that "passed" a similar test.  The offspring of this next generation (in 5 or 6+ years) will be considered "Restoration Chestnut 1.0" trees, so will be ready for out-testing in forested conditions to see how they compete, how they resist natural blight and other vectors and may well be some of the future "redwoods of the East" that we read about in books, diaries and other documentation of how American chestnut trees used to be throughout our Eastern US woods.

Interested in helping with the American chestnut program in the Louisville area?  It isn't all work, as some of it is a lot of fun!  You could help follow up on a report of a chestnut tree out in the woods, such as in Jefferson Memorial Forest, at Otter Creek or on someone's private land.  Maybe you would rather help write a news release of ongoing activities within the Louisville area?  Maybe you can only occasionally participate, so would like to water growing trees within the Louisville area every couple of weeks as a "chestnut steward?"  Well, come on, get involved to help revive this tree!  Comment on this blog or send an email to Keith at kchacha@yahoo.com and we'll get you involved!  All assistance is appreciated and accepted!  Even if you can only assist monetarily, that is greatly needed, as well!

A "chestnut steward" is providing care for the four tree grove of chestnut trees located out front of the Louisville Nature Center.  The rain hasn't stopped since watering devices were installed (after photo was taken).  (Photo by this blogger.)

Learn more about efforts to restore the American chestnut tree at www.acf.org.

Be sure to check all postings at http://louisvillechestnut.blogspot.com/ for the Louisville Chestnut Trees blog!