Should work OK. Much the same method has been used to select the hybrids in the first place. Resin

Ken, Post shouldn't be considered spam, I don't work for the nursery and have no benefit in spreading this word than knowing that these seedlings will be planted. PURE (yes pure, as opposed to "adulterated", i.e. HYBRID trees) Castanea dentata can be very hard to come by as the species is functionally extinct in the wild. Note the word "functionally" extinct - as in only existing as sprouts that grow to about thirty or forty feet in most caswes and then die back from the blight. The blight, Cryphonectria parasitica, needs warm humid summers to shed spores. The American West, of course, rarely has warm temps and humidity, so the trees stand a chance since the blight has a much harder time getting established out there. I have seen a 150 year old American Chestnut that was planted by a gold miner from West Virginia. It grows on the Klamath River near the Oregon Border, it must be six feet diameter.

Thought some of you might enjoy reading this! Rare chestnut tree still survives in Ohio State official let it slip that one mature tree stands in Ohio; its exact location is protected. Staff and Wire Reports Tuesday, March 25, 2008 SANDUSKY For about seven years, the state's natural resources leaders have harbored a secret. They still won't reveal the exact location of it or allow outsiders to see it. This Ohio treasure's existence was closely guarded until last week when the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources revealed that a full-size American Chestnut tree still stands in a marsh near Lake Erie, the Sandusky Register reported recently. For tree experts, it's a big deal. American chestnuts that grew up to 120 feet once accounted for about 25 percent of the forests in the eastern half of North America until a fungus wiped out all but a few. 'They are often referred to as the redwood of the East because of their tremendous size,' Gary Obermiller, a regional manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. The fungus was first detected in 1904 in trees in New York City, and by 1950 some 3.5 billion trees about 90 percent of the species were dead. Only a few trees had resistance to the fungus and survived. In Ohio, most American chestnut trees were found in the eastern half of the state. In August, the Dayton Daily News reported on the existence of a stand of American chestnuts anchored in a working sandstone quarry in Braceville Twp., Trumbull County, just west of Warren near the Mahoning River. The specimens that sit on a standstone knob are a handful, the tallest reaching 75 feet. According to the Register, the state's largest existing chestnut tree known only to a few until last week is in Sheldon Marsh, a 465-acre state nature preserve about midway between Toledo and Cleveland. The tree stands 89 feet tall and has a 5-foot circumference. 'To our knowledge, we don't have any that come close to this size,' Obermiller said. Most surviving chestnut trees are small, sprouting from the roots of trees killed by the fungus. Steve Maurer, the new chief of Natural Areas and Preserves, decided the public should be told about the tree, Obermiller said. 'He realized this was a very special tree,' Obermiller said. American Chestnut facts American chestnut trees once made up about 25 percent of forests in eastern North America. The trees grew up to 120 feet tall and lived up to 600 years. Its wood was valuable because it was straight, light and rot-resistant. A fungus that eventually wiped out most of the trees was first found in 1904 in New York. All American Chestnut trees in New York City were dead by 1912. By 1950 about 3.5 billion trees about 90 percent of the species were dead

There was also some road work near the tree, although it is hard to believe the whole thing would go down that fast due to an existing informal parking area seeing increased activity. When I first discovered the appalling spectacle there was one small live branch coming out of the trunk, the rest of the 106' x 19'7" x 101' (1993) crown as bare as in winter. Maybe one day somebody with water mold infested mud on their tires drove beneath it, or some infested soil or aged manure was dumped near it. It was between the highway and a farm field. Whatever happened, the thing must have been there for quite awhile before being done in, and had a full canopy until it suddenly didn't. Van Pelt (1996) wrote in his sidebar on it In a species famous for rapid growth, Washington's two record trees have grown to over six feet in diameter in around 100 years