Chestnut Harvest Time

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!

Upcoming Chestnut Opportunities

Fall is coming, so there are many "chestnutting" opportunities to plan for.  Annual meetings and conferences, nut harvesting, fall plantings, etc.

The KY-TACF Annual Meeting will take place on September 24, 2016 at Bernheim Forest near Clermont, KY.  The meeting should begin at 9:30 AM.  More info to come.

The National TACF Conference will be in Louisville in November!  More details to come or check the TACF website for info.  www.acf.org

Locally - we will be harvesting nuts at Meades Landing Orchard this fall.  These nuts will be planted into the new seed orchard at Eastern Kentucky University next spring.  We also need to tend our local display plantings.  A request for participants will be sent out once the weather moderates a bit.

Late fall/early winter - hopefully, we will have the opportunity to search out pure American root sprouts at Ft. Knox again this year.  Those found that can be dug will be transferred to the Germplasm Conservation Orchard at Green River Lake.  More info to come.

Make your plans now to participate within the Louisville area in these many upcoming opportunities.  Together, we can save this Eastern giant!

Pollinations and Inoculations - Come Help!

Come One, Come All!

Volunteer to help with Hand Pollinations and with controlled inoculations at our Meadowview Research Farms and Throughout the Southern Region!!

 

Dear Members and Volunteers,

 

We are excited to start our pollination/inoculation season with fun and satisfying fieldwork at Meadowview and throughout the southern region.

 

There’s plenty of work going on from early June through early July, so pick some dates that work best for you. Just let me know if you’re looking for something local or if you want to make the trek to Meadowview.

 

Note that although we anticipate various projects going on all month and throughout the region, the exact where and when the work takes place can be dependent on Mother Nature, so try to be flexible.

 

Lodging at Meadowview is provided at Emory and Henry College (just remember to bring your own linens).

 

 

WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN:

 

1^st and 2^nd weeks of June – We are looking for a lot of help with inoculations at Meadowview this year (we have 7000 trees to screen in the Meadowview progeny tests). Whenever at Meadowview, we spend the day in the field having fun and then head out for a well-earned meal (and maybe a beer!).

 

1st week of June through early July – we will collect pollen and conduct controlled pollinations at Meadowview and throughout the region. Again, if you join us at Meadowview, you’re in for a rewarding experience.

 

Let me know if you have any availability during these timeframes.

 

 

Email Tom for more details, directions, etc.  tom.saielli@acf.org

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Blogger note - "Meadowview" is The American Chestnut Foundations's farm in Meadowview, VA.

5th Semi-Annual Southern Region Chestnut Meeting

Mark Your Calendars for the 5^th Semi-Annual Southern Region Meeting

May 14^th 2016, 9:00 AM

Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center

College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Sciences

Tennessee State University

472 Cadillac Ln

McMinnville, TN 37110

 

Dear Members, Volunteers, Cooperators and Citizen Scientists of the Southern Region of The American Chestnut Foundation:

Please join us at the 2016 Southern Region Meeting Saturday, May 14^th 2016 at the Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center.

At this meeting, I will present the current status of the TACF breeding program (Jared Westbrook may attend and also present on this topic) and the role of the chapters as we move forward with innovative genomics and new strategies in disease resistance breeding.

I will also update members on the “what’s going on” at the National level, including some key topics discussed at the recent National Board Meeting. Be prepared for an ‘open discussion’ on our breeding program and regional objectives.

We will be looking for members and cooperators to bring items to discuss, including, new ideas and innovations, issues that need to be addressed, and/or potential new opportunities for partnerships.

Do you want to give a presentation? We also welcome presentations from attendees, including, but not limited to, chapter reports, new research, student presentations, chestnut culture and history, or anything else that’s fun and interesting. Let me know and I’ll get it on the agenda!

 

Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center

The folks at the Research Center will provide a large space for our meeting, equipped with media equipment (projectors for presentations), at a beautiful modern facility and a fascinating research center.  http://www.tnstate.edu/agriculture/nrc/   Thank you Dr. Nick Gawel for providing this space for our event!

General Itinerary:

9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Presentations, discussions and chapter reporting

1:00 to 2:00 PM, Break for catered lunch

1:00 --? Attend a guided tour of the research center, provided byf Research Center Superintendent, Dr. Nick Gawel

Catering:High Rollers Smokers
Paula Roller
Paula is very familiar with the facility and has done a lot of events here.  They can do a pretty reasonable BBQ sandwich lunch.  They have very good BBQ (So says Nick, but his favorite is their chicken leg quarter).  Paula is very flexible and will tailor the meal to include the items we want. 

(Let’s try to get an estimate on number of attendees to Paula and then ask everyone to pay at the time of the event?)

If for some reason Paula cannot help, another person is Janice Kennemar.  Nick has not personally used her, but other groups that meet at the NRC do, so she is familiar with the facility.

Lodging:

It would be really, really fun to meet at Fall Creek Falls State Park the day before our meeting, for a little pre-meeting socializing, hiking, science talk, etc.

Fall Creek Falls State Park
The park is about 45 minutes east of the Nursery Research Center, on the Cumberland Plateau.
General site for park: http://tnstateparks.com/parks/about/fall-creek-falls
Site for the Inn at Fall Creek Falls: http://tnstateparks.com/parks/inn/inn-at-fall-creek-falls

Also, FYI…

For lodging directly in McMinnville we do not have much to choose from, but of what we have, the preferred lodging is:
Tree City Inn (Best Western): http://bestwesterntennessee.com/hotels/best-western-tree-city-inn

One that is OK, but a little lower quality than the Best Western:
America's Best Value Inn:  http://www.americasbestvalueinn.com/bestv.cfm?idp=683

Please plan to attend!

Please RSVP as soon as possible!

Please forward this invite to members/cooperators, etc. whom may want to attend

And please let me know if you and/or your students would like to give a presentation.

See you all there!

Thomas McNeill Saielli

The American Chestnut Foundation

Southern Regional Science Coordinator

50 North Merrimon Avenue, suite 115

Asheville, NC 28804

 

Tel: 828-450-9100

Office: 828-281-0047

 

tom@acf.org

www.acf.org

Planting Opportunity in Kentucky - Spring 2016

Planting at Eastern Kentucky University


Friday, April 22nd, at 10:00 AM
We will plant containerized seedlings at a regional seed orchard at beautiful Eastern Kentucky University
Level of difficulty: moderate
Will hands get dirty: Yes
Fresh air and good folks: Definitely
Note: Bring water, lunch, snacks, gloves, sun block/sun hat, bug spray, and dress for the weather…also bring hand tools (such as a hand trowel) and a bucket to carry thing around with you.
 
This site is well-maintained, mowed and easy.
 
Directions to the main office:
Gentry Bldg.
1136 VanHoose Drive
Richmond, KY 40475
GPS: 37.735681, -84.291359

We will meet at the Gentry Bldg. and carpool to the site as a group at 10:00 AM.
 
Email Tom for more details tom.saielli@acf.org

American Chestnut Interest

In April of this year (2016), the 3rd anniversary of this blog will come about.  It is interesting that prior to that month, there will be over 5000 views on here!  For folks to find my little ramblings about American chestnut trees in Louisville, Kentucky (and across the state), is pretty neat.  Even the demographics of the viewers is very interesting.  Here are the countries in which the top 5 viewer numbers come from:


1.  United States
2.  Russia
3.  France
4.  Ukraine
5.  Germany


The US views make up about 3/5 of the total views.  I wish that just 10% of those US viewers would consider joining The American Chestnut Foundation and help to bring this tree back to our woods in the Eastern US!  You can learn more at TACF Membership and right now until the end of March, if you join at the $250 level or higher, you will be eligible to win a hand-crafted American chestnut Tappan chair!  Find out more here:  Chair


It is not too early to begin thinking about springtime and flowers.  Towards the end of May and into June, look throughout Kentucky's woods for flowers that look like this:

These are male flowers (catkins) of the American chestnut tree.  Often, chestnut trees are the tallest trees in the woods, so when blooming on the side of a mountain or below a lookout point, they can readily be spotted.  Report your finds by following the directions found here:  http://www.acf.org/find_a_tree.php


Keep your spirits up during this late winter time.  Enjoy the warm, sunny days when they come and know that spring is on the way!  I even had a moquito on me a few days ago, so that is a sure sign of spring/summer!


Best regards!

Planting American Chestnut Trees

I took off early from work yesterday to help plant a "first-of-its-kind" American chestnut tree!  This was a Kentucky produced "B3F4" tree, which came from two Restoration Chestnut 1.0 parents growing at the Louisville Nature Center (See this Dec. 2014 post: First B3F4 Nuts from Kentucky ).  This particular nut was produced in 2014.  I harvested it, cold stratified it over the winter in moist peat moss, planted it into a half gallon container and grew it in my house throughout 2015.  In the early fall, I transferred it to my outdoor growing area so that it would "harden off" and go dormant.

Chestnut seedlings growing in a west facing window - 2015.

Hopefully, this special tree will grow well and show good blight resistance.  The parents of this seedling, along with the two other trees planted at the Louisville Nature Center in December, 2012, have grown very quickly (although the mother tree of the seedling has not grown as quickly as the father tree and the other two trees at the site).

Resistance-wise, neither the mother tree nor the father tree have shown signs of blight.  One of the other trees located at the planting showed signs of blight in the late winter/early spring of 2015.  The point of infection was mud packed and the tree did very well throughout the 2015 growing season.  I anticipate that when the mud packing materials are removed this spring, there will be no signs of blight at that particular spot.  If you want to learn more about mud packing blight cankars, look at this link:  http://masschestnut.org/mudpackingCankers.php

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements and chestnut activities within the Louisville area.  We need to do some display planting maintenance, support the early summer (May/June) pollination efforts across the state, and continue to spread the "chestnut word" to our neighbors, coworkers and friends.

Happy New Year!