American Chestnut, American Sweet Chestnut

victorgardener, The American Chestnut Foundation is very interested in where you found that/those trees in Harriman State Park! Please c...Read Moreontact me or them to notify them!

if ANYone finds a tree, Always contact them to see if it's registered!

There are thousand of wild, native stump sprouting American chestnuts out there growing from old root systems. Over the years I have als...Read Moreo found about 7 wild, seed grown trees that tolerate some blight (not immune to it but fight it and recover with battle scars) and produce burrs semi-regularly. These range from 8" - 18" DBH. Finding those took hundreds of hours and many wonderful miles on the hiking boots.

Collect the nuts from these specimens and grow them into trees. Its a great way to pass the time in the winter.

With proper care, it is still possible to grow blight-sensitive American chestnuts in their native range up to about 30' in height and 6"...Read More trunk diameter. Cultivated trees are important for preserving genetic diversity for future restoration work. They will eventually be hit by the blight, but can produce chestnuts and wood until then. Chestnut blight does not kill the roots, and stump sprouts can be re-grown into productive trees.

This was once the most common tree in the Appalachian forests from Maine to Mississippi, growing to 120'. Massive, majestic, and beautiful, it was a keystone species in the ecology of the eastern forests. It was also of tremendous economic value for its rot-resistant lumber, tannin for leather tanning, and food for humans, livestock, and wildlife. The chestnuts are said to be smaller than Asian chestnuts but much tastier.

The chestnut blight fungus, accidentally introduced from Asia at the end of the nineteenth century, has virtually wiped it out as a major forest tree. A few isolated trees remain, and sprouts from old stumps are not uncommon.

Two separate private non-profit organizations have been working independently to breed blight-resistant trees: The American Chestnut Foundation and the American Chestnut Cooperators' Association. The Canadian Chestnut Foundation is working towards the same goal: the restoration of this important forest tree throughout its original range.

All three are interested in receiving reports on any surviving trees or stump sprouts you may encounter, and can help you with their proper identification.

The US Forest Service began small-scale experiments in restoration with newly bred trees in 2008. These blight-resistant forest trees are not yet available to private individuals, but should become available within a few years.

Information on how to grow blight-sensitive American chestnuts is available through the above-mentioned chestnut organizations.

If your primary interest in growing chestnuts is for nut production, and you're inside the original range of this species where chestnut blight prevails, you'll be better off with a blight-resistant asian chestnut or hybrid.

Blight-resistant hybrids of C. americana with other species---bred for nut production rather than forest restoration---are commercially available.

Added: The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project is another organization working to preserve American chestnut germ plasm and develop blight-resistant trees, using different and complementary methods.

I first saw some of those chestnut tree sprouts that keep coming up from old trunks in the forest of Crows Nest Land Preserve in Southeas...Read Moret PA, before dying back down from the blight. Then I visited Tyler Arboretum's Chestnut plantation, surrounded by fencing to keep deer out, near Media, PA. Their trees vary from being pure American species that have enought resistance to grow decently to plants that are 1/8th or 1/4 or 1/2 Chinese. The American Chestnut Association has begun planting trees that are 15/16th American in various forests in the Apppalachian Region.