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Avatar for Plantsmylove
Jan 24, 2015 1:56 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Alex Junge
MN st paul, (Zone 4a)
A long time ago american chestnut trees were plentiful- found in america from maine to flordia. then a blight or fungus came along brought over on chinese chestnuts. of which the native american chestnut had no defence practiclly. Killing four billion trees in around 60 years tops. Some of theses chestnuts were 150 feet tall and 13 to 10 feet wide at the base.


I recently found out that The american chestnut foundation is crossing chineases and american trees which have shown resistance to the blight. and then back crossing those trees to american size and growth habit but with chinese resistance, they in tern produce nuts that are possibly able to survive blight. Now I dont live in chestnut county, i'm in zone 4 mn, but for those that do... it would be a cool thing to be part of. .


I urge you if you can to become a member if you live in those areas and try to find public land- state parks- nature resurves that are willing to try to plant the seedlings grown from the possibly blight resistant nuts. The membership is at its cheapest to get nuts is $300 but you get other benefits too of which I dont know
Avatar for keithp2012
Apr 3, 2015 9:57 AM CST
Name: Keith
Long Island, NY (Zone 7a)
Zinnias Plays in the sandbox Roses Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Organic Gardener
Region: New York Native Plants and Wildflowers Lilies Seed Starter Spiders! Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Other nurseries and organizations are selling them too, trouble is many areas don't like the mess they make if cars run over the nuts.
Last edited by keithp2012 Apr 3, 2015 9:58 AM Icon for preview
Avatar for LAbegoniac
Apr 6, 2015 3:32 AM CST
North Central Louisiana (Zone 8a)
Planting seeds proves you believe i
I love chestnuts to eat. They grow easily from seed. Dunstan Chestnuts have been bred for resistance as well. I ordered nuts from Ebay, stratified and planted them. In the mountains of Arkansas when I lived there they grew so quickly I was eating nuts from them in 3 years. Here in N. Central LA with exceedingly sandy soil it takes longer to get them established, but I had quite a crop last year. The North American Fruit Exchange (NAFEX) had a chestnut group and I used to exchange nuts with growers all over, Michigan too as I recall and learned a lot. Chinese chestnuts themselves taste great too and the trees are not too large. You must have acidic soil though.
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Apr 23, 2015 4:42 PM CST
Name: Roberta
Cherokee Village, Ark (Zone 7a)
Irises Orchids Region: Tennessee
Do you have to plant two trees? I live in Cherokee Village and have room for one tree.
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