Because American chestnut trees will eventually die from blight and because they produce small crops of small nuts that are difficult to harvest and store. They are of very little value for food nut production.
I agree, and the same would apply to the American Beech. It’s futile to plant these trees just to see them die off. Butternut may be another one, although it may have a more appealing nut. Of the three, Butternut appears to be threatened the most as it is not able to continue to regenerate from the root.
1 Like
The American Chestnut Foundation is distributing some potentially blight-resistant seeds now:
It’s a beautiful tree, too. And while small, the nuts are said to have superior flavor. But the reasons I won’t plant them are that if it survives, it will become HUGE, and also, the pollen is reputed to be highly allergenic.
“Potentially blight resistant” basically means “not blight resistant”. The reason TACF has now backed the GMO chestnut tree is because their American/Chinese hybrids are simply not good enough to reliably resist blight. TACF seeds are also VERY expensive.
The best European and Chinese nuts are far superior to American nuts. That’s why Americans as far back as Thomas Jefferson were bringing chestnut trees in from Europe. That’s why in 1900 there were more European and European/American named cultivars in the US than pure American cultivars. That why Americans were importing Chinese trees into the US in the early 1900s.
The extremely small size of American nuts makes them difficult to use as a nut crop. They have to be picked up every day and they do not store well and they are a pain to utilize because of that small size. The trees are pretty but this thread is about nut trees for nut production, not for ornamental trees. Beech trees, chinquapin trees and American chestnut trees are at the bottom of the list for nut production.
5 Likes
I am not in the northeast but I plan to put in some nut trees soon, probably some hazelnuts and I am toying with the idea of putting in a couple pecans but am wary because of the amount of space they require.
2 Likes
It is a bit more complicated. The low rate of segregation and number of genes involved limit the amount of blight resistance they have been able to transfer to the American Chestnut genome. Simply put, the trees that are blight resistant are not yet forest type and the forest type trees do not yet have enough blight resistance. While Charlie Burnham was alive, they had a top notch geneticist working on the breeding program. I am not sure they have that level of expertise working on the breeding program currently. They do have some competent people. Please note that the GMO tree was not developed by TACF.
The GMO trees express high levels of blight tolerance that can be combined with other blight resistance genes. One problem is that the gene they used is positioned in the American chestnut genome such that oxalic acid oxidase is produced in all plant tissues. They want to insert it into the genome using Crispr so that it will be behind a wound initiator. In other words, it will only be expressed when the tree has been wounded. I am in favor of this approach vs using the tree they have currently.
Even if they get approval for the GMO tree, they still have ink disease to overcome.
3 Likes
I have to say… I’ve only had beechnuts once. I was dropping my daughter off at college, and the campus had a small ornamental beech covered with seed cases, some of which were still full of nuts. They were delicious, and despite the size, I’d love to have a source.
I live near all manner of beech trees and have never seen a nut before. Probably our squirrels get them all.
3 Likes
boy id love a small statured beech tree. we used to pick them by putting a tarp on the ground and us kids would go up into the tree and shake the branches. love beechnuts! unfortunately theres a fungus going around killing off the trees here. very rare to see a healthy mature beech nowadays.
I would like to order some hazelnut plants and was wondering where is the best source to get them from? I think I would like the European or Asían varieties or what are your thoughts about these two varieties. Thanks
i have only american hazels and because they are all the same lineage i don’t get much nuts. contacted arbor day and they told me to get a hybrid to help with pollination. oikios, z nutty and great pains nursery carry them as well as others. supposedly the hybrids are more resistant to the hazel disease.
2 Likes
Thanks Steve
1 Like
I have been happy with
Nice people. And they are clear on which ones will be blight-tolerant.
3 Likes
Even simpler put, TACF trees that are reliably blight resistant are not American chestnut type trees. And if it’s not an American type tree, you might as well plant Chinese trees.
You’re referring to the timber form of the tree when you talk about type?
Traits of American chestnut include strong vertical growth, relatively small nuts, highly rot resistant wood, relatively high protein to starch ratio in the nuts, and ability to thrive in the understory until released at which time they grow rapidly.
Chinese, Japanese, and European chestnuts form umbrella shaped trees with strong branching on a relatively short trunk. They have been selected for large high starch nuts and high production. The wood is not as rot resistant as American chestnut. They have been selected for strong blight resistance.
Crossing blight resistant trees to susceptible American trees results in trees that strongly resemble the umbrella crown type. Even with a dozen generations of back crossing and selection, the blight resistance genes are still riding in a genome that produces umbrella crowns.
2 Likes
Yes, I’m referring to the timber form when I mention “type” above.
1 Like
I was wondering where you bought your hicans? I’ve only read poor reviews on them until i read your post. Gives me new hope to try some.
Rock Bridge Trees
Perfect Circle Farm
I don’t know what will happen at Nolin River Nursery since John’s passing this Fall but his daughter he’d often mention helped him run the business at least part time. John probably has a lot of trees grafted that his children will be able to sell.
Grimo Nut Nursery in Canada which they ship to the U.S. and have excellent trees being grown, at.
Everybody’s always sold out though. You gotta be on it like a hawk.
Next Fall I’ll open a small nursery as a website thru to order my grafted nut trees, persimmons, & pawpaws. I’ll be grafting pears off and on, as-well. Probably apples as years advance. I have exactly what you’re looking for being stored for winter & to be sold bareroot, next Fall. This is after I decide upon a name and have a website created for me. But, there’s a start for ya though. You should also be highly considering adding several-many ‘Grainger’ shagbark hickories with (a) ‘Porter’ or another good shagbark to be the single pollinator for Grainger(s) at a ratio of 1:5. It’s an exceptional nut with exceptional crackability and it’s very large & cracks out in halves or quarters. With the right cracker you could get halves just about every time. The two best nutcrackers are: The Master Nutcracker (not THE DUKE which is a replica) & then there’s The Mr. Hickory - that Fred Blankenship used to build and he’ll be going back into production upcoming, but it may be a few years. He’s not in any rush at the moment, however is his plan for retirement plan returning to building his nutcrackers.
Great hican cultivars include: Marquardt (the real one and if the grower doesn’t know which they have then they don’t know if they have an inferior tree that isn’t the true Marquardt); ‘Underwood’ (same story as Marquardt. there’s two vastly distinct clones) & then ‘Clarksville’ and ‘T-92’. Those are some real good ones.
Shellbark hickories: four of the greats include: Henry, Keystone, Selbhers, Longnecker
3 Likes
I grew Burlington hican for a couple decades in MD, nuts never did fill.