I was curious if anyone knows of any improved varieties of Allegheny Chinkapin out there? I’ve been thinking about planting some nuts but space is limited. Hazels are on the top of the list, of course, but more variety is good!
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I don’t know much about the Allegheny Chinkapin, but I’ve read several things about the very closely related Ozark Chinkapin being used to cross with Chinese Chestnuts to deal with the invasive chestnut gall wasps. They cross can also give the chinkapin the blight resistance you’d probably want. Perfect Circle farm is probably your best chance to get hybrid nuts or seedlings, but may be sold out. Here is one article on the gall wasp resistance.
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I know a bit about Ozark Chinkapin, the In Defense of Plants podcast has a great 2 parter with the guy from the Ozark Chinkapin Foundation. That’s a big tree, what interests me about the Allegheny is it’s relatively small (20’).
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Also if you read Akiba Silver’s (of twisted tree farms) book “Tree’s of Power” he does say that the Ozark chinkapin is much more susceptible to blight
Twisted tree farms probably has the most creative crosses. Japanese chestnut crosses with the Allegheny chinkapin have a lot of promise especially in the eastern US
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If memory serves from that podcast interview I mentioned, Ozark Chinkapin has much more genetic variation than American chestnut. As such, some are very susceptible but others seem to be largely immune.
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Sounds good. I’ll definitely give it a listen. I would think the height could be kept lower with crosses to smaller orchard form chestnuts, but that takes time and having the trees to start with. I ordered 2 seedlings of Little Giant from Perfect Circle. Here is the description:
Little Giant C. [ (mollissima x seguinii) x (mollissima x seguinii) ] . A true dwarf orchard-style tree, has sweet small nuts. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station selection
No guarantee they will be as small as the mother tree, but it sounds like most seedlings so far have carried that trait.
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As noted above, Allegheny Chinkapin has a lot of genetic variability over the range it grows. In some areas, it is fairly resistant to chestnut blight. I know where two trees/bushes grow in North Alabama. IMO, neither is worth propagating except for animal use. Deer and turkeys love them. The nuts are about the diameter of a dime or just a tad smaller.
A supposed American Chestnut found in Alabama several years ago was thought to have some blight resistance. When tested, it turned out to be a cross between chinkapin and chestnut. The blight tolerance was determined to be from the chinkapin inheritance.
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Regarding Ozark Chinkapin from Wikipedia:
Castanea ozarkensis is susceptible to chestnut blight and has been devastated by the disease, and largely now grows only as a small tree or shrub.[3] However, several mature individuals have survived the blight, with over 45 such individuals located so far since the 2000s. The discovery of these specimens has spurred an ongoing project to restore the species by using the offspring of these trees, headed by the Ozark Chinkapin Foundation.[5] An analysis has also found that Ozark chinkapin populations contain far more genetic diversity than those of the American chestnut, which was also devastated by the chestnut blight. The study also found that the Ozark chinkapin may actually be ancestral to the American chestnut and Allegheny chinkapin, rather than the other way around.[6][5] Another study has found that the surviving Ozark chinkapins are even more resistant to the chestnut blight than the Chinese chestnut, which is not affected by the blight.[5]
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I have a graft of ‘Verona’ Ozark chinkapin; had scions of another one, ‘Schoolhouse’, IIRC, at the same time, but none of those grafts took. Small nuts, and not a lot of them, yet.
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I always like reading the USDA fact sheets (https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_capu9.pdf). Allegany Chinkapin seem to be a great wildlife plant. I don’t have any, but I remember others that do telling me that they were sweeter, but much smaller, than chestnuts when I was contemplating getting some. I believe AC is more cold tolerant than Ozark. AC tend to drop a little bit later than chestnuts and typically have one nut per bur. Some varieties are more resistant to fireblight. They tend to recover better after getting fireblight and fruit much quicker.
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