Darling 58 American Chestnut Public Comments are open

[Upstate Nerdneck]

https://www.regulations.gov/document/APHIS-2020-0030-8291/comment

 

 

 

 

[Lawdwaz]

I don't know shiit from apple butter about chestnut trees but THANK YOU Herb Darling.

[G-man]

Been involved with american chestnut foundation for over a decade . Great group and veey.important to bring this tree back to the forests of north america!

[Bucksnbows]

2 hours ago, Rusty said:

Thanks for the heads up Upstate!  

Reaching out to you tomorrow. Love the chestnut re-intros! 

[Upstate Nerdneck]

Yeah, sorry about the brevity, yesterday was nuts.  Ba-dum-cha.  I just wanted to get that link posted before it slipped my mind.  I really really want to plant a grove of those on my own property.  

Quick version for those who don't know:. The darling 58 is the original American Chestnut with 1 single strand of wheat DNA spliced into it which makes it form a pustule around the chestnut blight instead of it destroying the tree.  Or something in that vein, I'm an IT guy not an extra on Jurassic Park.

[Keith Nehrke]

I breed T-Rex for a living, and you got it right.

Great story, hopefully the start of a comeback. It's going to be a long road though, and the increased prevalence of Chinese trees means that we are unlikely to ever have pure American Chestnut in the wild due to cross pollination. 

I will say that my batting average with any variety of Chestnut on the west side of Rochester is low. I do have some 6-7 year old trees that produced their first catkins this year, but I also have many trees that die back and stump sprout each winter. IMHO, we are on the edge of the range for Chinese and hybrids, but the jury is out on the Darlings. Good luck!

[Belo]

3 hours ago, Keith Nehrke said:

I breed T-Rex for a living, and you got it right.

Great story, hopefully the start of a comeback. It's going to be a long road though, and the increased prevalence of Chinese trees means that we are unlikely to ever have pure American Chestnut in the wild due to cross pollination. 

I will say that my batting average with any variety of Chestnut on the west side of Rochester is low. I do have some 6-7 year old trees that produced their first catkins this year, but I also have many trees that die back and stump sprout each winter. IMHO, we are on the edge of the range for Chinese and hybrids, but the jury is out on the Darlings. Good luck!

I'm east of the roc and wanting to plant some as well. My dad has some dunstin i think in wayne that are doing ok. Any recommendations? 

[Keith Nehrke]

Dunstan were a complete bust for me. They were the first trees I planted, and I was 0/10 after four years. My successes have been growing seeds from local trees, likely Chinese hybrids, but I knew they would survive. My understanding is that there are huge differences in whether fringe trees will survive along the lakeshore due to subtle changes in terrain creating frost pockets and whatnot. Whatever you do, plant them somewhere there's good drainage - top or hillside is perfect. I have four trees in the backyard that are ~20 years old and produce prolific amounts of nuts...no use to me for my properties thirty minutes away, unfortunately. The drop times are early, usually late September through mid-October. There is one commercial variety of chestnut that's supposed to be late drop, but the per tree price is crazy, they're grafted, and I've heard that the graft union has a high failure rate later in their life. 

So, short answer no, I don't have any great recommendations. I have struggled with Chestnut. I hope your experiences are better. And I'm looking forward to the native restoration!

[G-man]

On 12/13/2022 at 7:28 AM, Keith Nehrke said:

I breed T-Rex for a living, and you got it right.

Great story, hopefully the start of a comeback. It's going to be a long road though, and the increased prevalence of Chinese trees means that we are unlikely to ever have pure American Chestnut in the wild due to cross pollination. 

I will say that my batting average with any variety of Chestnut on the west side of Rochester is low. I do have some 6-7 year old trees that produced their first catkins this year, but I also have many trees that die back and stump sprout each winter. IMHO, we are on the edge of the range for Chinese and hybrids, but the jury is out on the Darlings. Good luck!

Your really not in historic chestnut range .  The organization has good info on past range of the american chestnut