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New England Gardening

American Chestnut Trees - Chelmsford

Gardening101_MA

17 years ago

We found some healthy American Chestnut trees near where I work and they are healthy. Thinking of gathering some of the chestnuts off the ground to plant in my area which is wet and wooded. I hear these trees are rare because of the asian tree disease brought into this country. Trying to help bring back this species. Is this a good idea and how do I go about it?

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Comments (14)

sequoia54
17 years ago
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with trying. After all this time, if these trees have grown and stayed alive long enough to bear chestnuts, it might be they have more resistance (from random genetic changes) to the chestnut blight. I would do more research, however, to find out its cultural requirements (such as needing periods of cold or warm weather, lapse of time, etc. in order to germinate). And yes, they are rare. I have seen sprouts growing from the stumps of killed trees, but nothing bigger than that. Good luck!
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
17 years ago
You could contact the American Chestnut Foundation for information. They have a Massachusetts Chapter.

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: American Chestnut Foundation
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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
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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
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The college is not a secret, its SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, where I am currently finishing my undergrad. I've gotten to know some of the professors working on this project over the years and they have been working very hard on getting this to be a success and are very friendly people. I took a tissue culture course that was taught by some of the people working on the project and got to see firsthand some of the laboratory difficulties and challenges that had to be overcome to make it work. Elm grows like a weed in terms of micropropagation but chestnut is an absolute nightmare! Resin- I beleive the gene used in the chestnut project came from a species of Wheat that just happened to have some sort of natural mechanism for fighting a similar pathogen, and it happened to work. There may in fact be a group of genes being used, I have no formal training in genetics and was never introduced to that aspect of the project. For the elms I beleive this is the case, as there are several different diseases attacking them that needed to be addressed (i.e. elmy yellows, blight). I don't know too much about that project, although as part of the field trials several of the "immune" plants were planted in a group with "baseline" american elms in front of our campus library. they are monitored 24 hours a day for both security and to compare their growth to the normal seedling elms. Only the professors know which is which. Some of the biogengineered elms come from a few plants that were found thriving in the nearby solvay wastebeds in absolutely atrocious, dry, polluted, compacted conditions- the idea being that our trees should be quite urban-tolerant!
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The blight-resistant American Chestnuts that the American Chestnut Foundation are working on breeding are almost, but not quite, ready for release. Within 5 to 10 years, I think that their chestnuts will be available to the public. However, there IS a source for blight-resistant American Chestnuts of a few varieties. These trees won't preserve all the genetic variations found across the vast range of American Chestnuts, but they are blight resistant from everything I've heard and make very good trees. The company who produces and sells these trees is Oikos. Here's a weblink: http://www.oikostreecrops.com/store/home.asp Note that the page might not come up, in which case delete everything but the main website name (http://www.oikostreecrops.com/) and hit "Enter" and try again. I hope this helps in your quest to restore the sadly lost American Chestnut to your land.
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andyjupiter
17 years ago
Alas, the chestnuts you see sprouting will grow as tall as 25 ft but they are "almost" guaranteed to develop the orange fruiting body's of the blight. But nature can and does throw curve balls every now and then so good luck. You never know. I do know that there is an area in Wisconsin and one in Washington state where native chestnuts grow but nothing east of the Mississippi grows beyond being a toddler.
Gardening101_MA
Original Author
17 years ago
The tree they are from looks healthy. How can I tell if it were to have this blight?
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
17 years ago
Are you sure it's an American Chestnut tree? I'm certainly no expert, but I thought that here in the east they don't survive long enough to produce chestnuts.

If they really are American Chestnuts you should notify the Foundation. These people have organized to save the trees and would probably want to use them in breeding programs.

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: How to identify the tree
tree_oracle
17 years ago
I agree completely with Claire. It's doubtful these are American Chestnut trees. Probably Chinese Chestnuts.
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
17 years ago
A note on that website says:

"A good place to start is to compare American and Chinese chestnuts. Over 80% of the leaves that are sent to us each year for identification are either from Chinese chestnuts or Chinese/American hybrids, because these trees are resistant to the chesnut blight. Also compare true American chestnut with three trees often confused with chestnut: chestnut oak, beech, and horsechestnut."

I think we all hope that your trees really are true American Chestnuts - it would be a terrific find. Just not very likely.

Claire
Gardening101_MA
Original Author
17 years ago
Massachusetts Audubon Society (Land Protection Division)have been contacted. Waiting for there input. I am taking pictures of them and the leaves measure 9 - 10 inches long and 3 - 3.5 inches wide. The tree is about 35 feet tall. Becuase it is at the edge of the woods and there is wetlands beyond this young one. I am going to attemp to scrounge the inner wooded area for any signs of where this offspring came from. I am sending a clipping to ACF Massachusets rep. in Pennsylvania. I will post pictures soon on my website.
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
17 years ago
Good move.

Claire
nandina
17 years ago
I have sprouted lots of chestnuts. Easy. Very easy!
If you have a cold frame just dig them in about 3" deep and cover with soil. I plant them in rows in the cold frame. As each one sprouts in the spring I quickly dig and pot it in friable soil before the tap root really forms.
If a cold frame is not available then plant in quart pots, one seed per pot. Bury the pots close to a building and secure chicken wire over them to ward off squirrels. Once sprouted you will be surprised to see a growth of 3'- 4' the first year. Be prepared to repot in the fall, although it is best to get them in the ground at that point and protect them from deer.

Hope you will let us know what the 'experts' say about your trees.
ginny12
17 years ago
On a garden tour in Chelmsford some years ago, I saw a thriving Southern magnolia in someone's backyard. It was at least 20' tall. Must be something in the soil in Chelmsford.
york_rose
15 years ago
I'm reviving an old thread, humbly suggesting that those of you who are interested in American gardening check out the recent info. regarding the American chestnut. This used to be the dominant hardwood tree of Eastern North America, and various state chapters of the American Chestnut Foundation are in various stages of progress toward reintroducing this wonderful tree to the Eastern American forest.

The Massachusetts/Rhode Island chapter's link is here, but other states have their own chapters (deliberately so, since this will help preserve the species' genetic diversity). Check them out if you are at all interested in helping to restore this hugely ecologically significant tree, the one mentioned in Longfellow's poem "The Village Smithy" ("Under a spreading chestnut tree ..."). In Virginia we are apparently within just five years of reintroduction!

This was a tree at least as rot resistant as redwood, with timber just as good. It was a wonderful timber tree, producing a long bole, with limbs high up, so there were lots of board feet of highly rot-resistant timber. It also was a fine furniture wood (even used for making musical instruments). If it was still around those of us in the East would not be using redwood for the decks of our houses, but American chestnut.

You can help restore this tree to our land, and soon (within 10 or 15 years, or maybe less)!
idaho_gardener
14 years ago
Seems like we are getting closer to a blight-resistant american chestnut tree. There are two avenues being pursued. One is finding and breeding surviving pure american chestnut trees and testing for blight resistance, then breeding with those trees.

The second avenue is cross breeding with the blight resistant chinese chestnut. They now have a 15/16 american chestnut tree that they are starting to plant in forests.

I will be looking into the first effort to see if I can obtain some purebred american chestnuts.
originalvermonter
14 years ago
Elm trees have made a big come back up here. I hope the Dutch elm disease has run its course and is over. Because of this I see no reason why American Chestnuts couldn't make a come back as well.

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