American Chestnut Trees

[eveled]

A blight kills Chestnut trees but apparently they have solved the problem.
https://gardenandgun.com/articles/f...gh-forests-of-mature-wild-american-chestnuts/ I have 2 Chestnut tees in my yard that are over a hundred years old. The root balls are alive and healthy. They send up saplings that only get so big and a ring of bark dies and the sapling dies, but another one takes its place. Sort of sad.

 

[krw]

Same as all Chinkapin's in Ark

 

[eveled]

When the Chestnut trees died Apalachia was changed forever.

I'll look up Chinkapins

 

[Ale-8(1)]

We had a large chinkapin in our back yard but it had been planted too close to the house and had to be removed after many years.

We ate the nuts every year, so there must have been another one close by to provide cross-pollination.

Also gave a bunch of the nuts to a friend and he planted them in his own woods. Most of them sprouted and are doing well. Glad to know "our" tree has survived and propagated.


PS . . . I understand that our tree was actually not a chinkapin but perhaps some variety of chestnut. When we bought the property we were told it was a "chinkapin" and we didn't know any better. Have been told "Chinese chestnut"? The nuts were completely enclosed in a very spiky pod.

 

[eveled]

From what I can see chinkapin is one of several species of dwarf chestnut. They are moderately blight resistant.

American Chestnut trees were 100 feet tall. Trunks up to 10 feet across!

The nuts were a valuable food source for humans and animals.

It split into planks easily and was rot resistant. It was devastating when they all died.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I also note that it might have been an "Allegheny chinkapin". Ours forked just above the ground into three
"trunks" that all grew to at least 25 feet or so . . . close to the house, unfortunately.

Whatever, it was a darn neat tree and we do miss it.

 

[gunzo]

I've seen a few original AC's along the Ky. river 30 or so miles from the mouth. A treat. 30 more miles S. east a friend has some on his farm. I asked, I thought they were all gone around here. He smiled, & said they are, these are blight resistant Chestnuts planted by the past owner some 40 or 50 years ago. Now, a nice stand of productive trees. another treat to see.

 

[TULLYMARS]

I think it is the University of Tennessee that has a registry of know trees in the state. People I know that have the trees keep their location secret. I love eating raw chestnuts even though some are riddled with tiny worms.

 

[Joey]

A friend and I got permission to tear down an old barn in mid TN in the late 90's. Took some of the wood and had it planed, it was chestnut! I used a bunch of it on 2 remodel projects I was doing at the time. The homeowners loved it! It had a beautiful graining. Sold 2 truckloads to a guy in TN.
Apparently chestnut was used for barns in some areas where it was plentiful. Another friend bought a farm in E TN that had a bunch of chestnut stumps on it big enough to lay down on! The area was apparently logged during/after the blight in the '30's.
What a loss............

 

[wheelgun1958]

I thought chinkapin was an oak.

https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/quercus/muehlenbergii.htm

 

[Larryburford]

I am a member of the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation. I have been working with the president of the organization since before it was founded finding ways to restore the Chinquapin and breed blight resistance into the trees. We do not cross with Chinese Chestnut or any other species. We search out trees with natural blight resistance and cross pollinate with other trees that have a high degree of blight resistance. We are making a lot of headway and have test plots all over Missouri and Arkansas. We have found wild growing Ozark chinquapins from Texas to Maryland. In my area we have some Ozark and Allegheny trees, but they are rare in the wild. Check out the website.

https://ozarkchinquapinmembership.org/

 

[Wvfarrier]

A blight kills Chestnut trees but apparently they have solved the problem.
https://gardenandgun.com/articles/f...gh-forests-of-mature-wild-american-chestnuts/ I have 2 Chestnut tees in my yard that are over a hundred years old. The root balls are alive and healthy. They send up saplings that only get so big and a ring of bark dies and the sapling dies, but another one takes its place. Sort of sad.

You can make a branch sprout roots and then transplant it. Its pretty easy. We have done it several times with out American Chestnut