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The american chestnut was once a dominant species in North American forests. As a tree with excellent timber and calorie dense nut crop it is extremely valuable. Unfortunately it has been mostly wiped out by a persistent blight. Great efforts are being made to find a tree with blight resistant genetics so the american chestnut can once again thrive.

The seedling chestnuts planted last winter are all alive and growing. Now to see if they can handle the summer heat and avoid getting chewed on by any critters.

I took advantage of some warm December weather to plant all the seedling chestnuts I sprouted a few years prior from Akiva Silver at Twisted Tree Farm. I put cages around them to prevent deer browse.

https://imgur.com/a/hA3KtjF

I chose to plant them near where I found a mature wild american chestnut growing on the property (very rare) which has sandy soil. I used swales as a guiding pattern for planting which will also help to passively harvest water and nutrients from our sheep as the graze amongst them.

I only have been able to find a couple handfuls of nuts from the american chestnut tree because I think it's lacking pollination due to so few chestnut trees nearby. Closest ones I know of are a couple miles away.

Hopefully these seedling chestnuts will eventually help pollinate the mature american and I can harvest more nuts to grow more trees with the american chestnut genetics. Long live the american chestnut!

#permaculture #permies #homesteading #grownostr #regenag #regenerativeagriculture #silvopasture #chestnut #americanchestnut

rev.hodl 2y ago

Found two chestnut trees in the neighborhood while on a bike ride

I am always keeping my eye out for chestnut trees. I took a bike ride this morning and decided to try a new route. I noticed a chestnut tree poking out amongst some other trees along a ditch.

After finding the first chestnut, in my excitement, I focused on looking hard for more on my way back to the homestead. Bam, another fairly large chestnut popped out along a road I've ridden down many times before without noticing it. The first tree I found was heavily branched so probably not dominant with American genetics, the second had much better timber form but no evidence of nuts. I'll still try to look around for some this fall and try to sprout them if I end up finding any.

#foraging #chestnut #chestnuttree #observeandinteract #treehugger

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Discussion

Arroyo 2y ago

That is so cool that you're spotting them in the wild. The story of the American Chestnut is heart breaking. I've heard that they're "functionally extinct" even though when the trunk dies from the blight the roots will send up new shoots. Do you think that's what you're seeing?