Pure American Chestnut Trees

Some people think that pure American chestnut trees have been extirpated.  Actually, this is not the case.  The Asian blight kills the stem of the trees, but does not kill the root system.  Chestnut is a prolific sprouter, so once the stem is killed new sprouts come up off of the existing root system.  Depending on the conditions, such as available sun light and competition, sometimes these new sprouts will survive long enough to flower and form burs.  If other chestnut trees are also flowering in the area, then viable nuts may be produced.

Efforts are ongoing to find these sprouting trees out "in the wild!"  I had the opportunity to help do some searching for stump sprouts this past winter in the Green River Lake area, but we had no success.  We did find some Chinese chestnut trees in Green County, but we were looking for pure American trees.

When found, these remnant American trees are utilized within the breeding program of The American Chestnut Foundation.  This adds local genetics to the "pool" so that there are regional sources to put back out in the woods, once the time comes to do that.

There are pure American trees growing here in the Louisville area.  Plus, some individuals, as well as local TACF folks, continue to grow, plant, breed, and search for American chestnut trees in our area/region.

Here is a pure American chestnut within the city limits of Louisville that is doing quite well.

This tree was planted in 2006 and the photo was taken on September 9, 2012.  The tree is over 20 feet tall and appears to be in good health.  I suspect this tree will flower this year, so some help may be provided to this tree (with pollen from another tree) to help it produce some viable nuts (it becomes a "mother tree").  A couple of other trees in the area that are still surviving do not look as good.  They had been over-topped by competing vegetation, had vines weighing them down and were just not nearly as nice as this tree.  Efforts were made to knock back the competition and these trees will be tended to a bit more in 2013.

Some folks are growing their own pure American seedlings to out-plant on private property, share with neighbors and are keeping the genetics growing out on the land.  Here are some happy pure American chestnut seedlings enjoying NOT having to be out in the continuing cold March weather!

These seedlings will be planted once the danger of frost has passed.

One thing about growing pure American chestnut trees - that is that they will eventually succumb to chestnut blight.  American trees developed over the eons without the blight, so no genetic resistance was built up in them, unlike Chinese chestnut.  That doesn't mean that they won't survive for many years, won't produce nuts or won't develop into a marketable tree!  They can and they do, sometimes.

If growing only a few pure American trees, there are actions that can be taken to help prevent or treat blight, such as mud packing cankers.  And who knows, there might be that one in a million chance of a pure American tree having some resistance to blight!  Now that is what I want to find in the pure Americans that I plant!!

Interested in planting some trees on your own land?  Let me know and maybe I can find you some "test" seeds to try.

Don't forget about the March 30 KY-TACF Louisville Branch meeting at the Louisville Nature Center beginning at 9:30 AM!  Following the meeting and after lunch, we will move across Trevillian Way to the Zoo in order to plant some potentially blight resistant bred chestnut seeds.  Everyone is welcome to both events!  Feel free to email me at kchacha@yahoo.com if you have questions or want to let me know that you are coming!  This will be a great opportunity to find out what is going on in our area, what opportunities to become active are happening and a great way to meet other folks with a passion for saving the American chestnut tree!  (There might even be some tasty snacks to enjoy!)