Buckeye is in the Horsechestnut family (Hippocastanaceae).
American Chestnut
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Tim Krause
ArboristSite Member
plantation
there is an american chestnut plantation near my house. it is on state property. all the trees are tagged and are from 12-20" dbh. they actually collect the nuts with bucket trucks and try to germinate them. they expanded the plantation recently and made the new section with high fencing. a couple years ago we removed one on a property. it was around 24" dbh. only one i've climbed.
there is an american chestnut plantation near my house. it is on state property. all the trees are tagged and are from 12-20" dbh. they actually collect the nuts with bucket trucks and try to germinate them. they expanded the plantation recently and made the new section with high fencing. a couple years ago we removed one on a property. it was around 24" dbh. only one i've climbed.
Kewadin
ArboristSite Lurker
http://www.westshorepub.com/primetime/default.php?action=getDefaultArticle&issue_id=346 I would like to contact him and ask him to show me one. I doubt if I have ever seen one. I remember reading another link about a stand in Wisconsin where they were trying to vaccinate them. If I can find the link I'll post it.(http://chestnutfungi.com/research.php)
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chestnut pics
I took these yesterday of the big yard tree near Dexter, ME. The tree is almost exactly 3 feet in diameter at the base, a bit over 35 feet tall, and about 50 feet in spread. It has the classic form adopted when there is nothing near it competing for light. It is about 10 days past the peak of flowering, but note how the profusion of catkins gives the tree a very distinctive form. This tree produces thousands of burrs each year, but no fruits, as there is no other tree nearby to pollinate it.
I took these yesterday of the big yard tree near Dexter, ME. The tree is almost exactly 3 feet in diameter at the base, a bit over 35 feet tall, and about 50 feet in spread. It has the classic form adopted when there is nothing near it competing for light. It is about 10 days past the peak of flowering, but note how the profusion of catkins gives the tree a very distinctive form. This tree produces thousands of burrs each year, but no fruits, as there is no other tree nearby to pollinate it.
b1rdman
Addicted to ArboristSite
I took these yesterday of the big yard tree near Dexter, ME. The tree is almost exactly 3 feet in diameter at the base, a bit over 35 feet tall, and about 50 feet in spread. It has the classic form adopted when there is nothing near it competing for light. It is about 10 days past the peak of flowering, but note how the profusion of catkins gives the tree a very distinctive form. This tree produces thousands of burrs each year, but no fruits, as there is no other tree nearby to pollinate it.
If you're in southern Maine and you have interest in the tree you may want to call these folks. You're not too far away. It's a pretty good story about a chestnut tree that was recently found not too far from me.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/FOSTERS01/107170264
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jrparbor04
ArboristSite Operative
wow,,,you guys are really missing out on a great tree,,,i have two in my parks department here in st. louis that is beautiful,,,no dead loss and produce tons of chestnuts per year,,,the chinese people are always all over the nuts once they hit the ground,,,i believe there are three or four only 50 yards away from each other and are about 35ft tall,,,i will actually see them on monday and tuesday,,,i will try to get some pics
Thillmaine
ArboristSite Operative
Am chestnut
We were doing a removal of a few oaks the other day in wellsley mass and saw a small, approximatley 2 inch caliper american chestnut in the woods. I thought it was a saw tooth oak, according to the leaves but someone had said it was a chestnut, hard to see its form,. but looke dlike an interresting tree.
We were doing a removal of a few oaks the other day in wellsley mass and saw a small, approximatley 2 inch caliper american chestnut in the woods. I thought it was a saw tooth oak, according to the leaves but someone had said it was a chestnut, hard to see its form,. but looke dlike an interresting tree.
Thanks for the link, b1rdman, it's a nice story. Using my mapping software I determined that the Dexter tree I mentioned is 143 miles NNE of Farmington, NH, just above the 45th parallel. As described in the story you posted, it was pollinated and bagged a couple of years ago and over 100 nuts were collected. Most of the pollen used in the Maine recovery effort comes from Virginia.
booboo
ArboristSite Operative
Good time for this thread to pop up. I had one growing on the edge of my yard when I bought the house 7 years ago, looked really healthy, no sign of blight at first. I was around 6" DBH and maybe 20' high. Within 3 years, it hit 8" DBH, started to get furrows in the bark, got badly blighted and died within a year. I cut it down and burned it. Last year, I noticed a couple of seedlings near the old stump, assumed they were stump sprouts. Last week I was cutting brush on the other side of the yard and found another seedling, maybe 150' away from the others. Obviously not a stump sprout as there's never been a chestnut there since I've owned the place. All the seedlings look great.
I'd have loved to see the old trees, some of the photos are just amazing. Maybe someday they'll be back like that, but not in my lifetime.
I'd have loved to see the old trees, some of the photos are just amazing. Maybe someday they'll be back like that, but not in my lifetime.
in Tulsa and only know of one surviving chestnut tree. it's a large beautiful tree throwing off loads of nuts every year.
most folks don't have a clue of what they are looking at. I'll have to take pictures and post it here.
most folks don't have a clue of what they are looking at. I'll have to take pictures and post it here.
jrparbor04
ArboristSite Operative
ill try to get the camera tomorrow and take some pics of the ones i have in our parks
046, are you talking about loads of nuts, or loads of burrs? Even an unfertilized tree will throw off burrs, and they even contain smallish concave nuts. But these nuts are not plump and edible (the squirrels ignore them), and they are sterile. I was fooled last year into thinking I had found a tree with fertile nuts, which I intended to plant, but I was wrong.
If you do have another tree nearby, it should be within a couple hundred yards.
this local chestnut tree throws off loads of mature chestnuts inside pods. I've lived close by this tree for a number of years and have roasted chestnuts off this tree a number of times.
years ago when I was running my Auto Parts store, a good customer used to bring me bags of chestnuts. he told me chestnut tree were kinda rare, but I never realized just how rare until recently.
drove by the chestnut tree a few minutes ago. it's massive by surviving chestnut tree standards. looks to be 2ft+ DBH.
I'll be posting pictures and an actual measurement soon.
years ago when I was running my Auto Parts store, a good customer used to bring me bags of chestnuts. he told me chestnut tree were kinda rare, but I never realized just how rare until recently.
drove by the chestnut tree a few minutes ago. it's massive by surviving chestnut tree standards. looks to be 2ft+ DBH.
I'll be posting pictures and an actual measurement soon.
moray; said:
just got back from taking pictures and actual measurements of this beautiful mature chestnut tree in Tulsa, OK.
sorry can't give out location.
measures 89in circumference or aprox 28in DBH
trunk is smaller near base, 24in dia.
height is aprox. 60ft
in good health loaded with nuts.
now I'm curious as to location of second chestnut close by.
sorry can't give out location.
measures 89in circumference or aprox 28in DBH
trunk is smaller near base, 24in dia.
height is aprox. 60ft
in good health loaded with nuts.
now I'm curious as to location of second chestnut close by.
http://www.acf.org./
Some answers can be found at this link about the history and status of the American Chestnut.
Some answers can be found at this link about the history and status of the American Chestnut.
Lumberjacked
ArboristSite Operative
I too know where a mature, relatively healthy looking American chestnut is. It is in upstate NY in a small town called Skaneateles. A customer there had me care for it the last couple of years before I moved. I basically removed what little die back it showed, and that was about it. I wanted to create as few wounds as possible. At this time I was taking a tree pathology class at SUNY ESF and asked my prof. as to why this Chestnut was still alive and fairly healthy. He basically told me that the Chestnuts that are still surviving are isolated examples and will eventually succumb to the blight. ESF is one of the leading research facilities for Chestnut Blight and other pathogens such as Dutch Elm Disease.
Chesnut Blight is a type of a diffuse canker fungus. This type of canker fungus-host combination results in a super aggressive fungus that attacks the host with such vitality it doesnt not allow the host to produce a callus defense wall. There are many aspects that make CB a "super pathogen" like its ability to survive on other hosts like oaks, chinkapin, red maple, and sumac are a few. Other characteristics of CB are; numerous means to spread its spores, infects through commonly produced infection points (man, birds, insects, wind breakage), invades so rapidly that Chestnuts can cannot induce resistance mechanisms, and CB can survive extreme conditions. This is just the tip of the iceberg really, I would look on line for more info and updated research.
Chesnut Blight is a type of a diffuse canker fungus. This type of canker fungus-host combination results in a super aggressive fungus that attacks the host with such vitality it doesnt not allow the host to produce a callus defense wall. There are many aspects that make CB a "super pathogen" like its ability to survive on other hosts like oaks, chinkapin, red maple, and sumac are a few. Other characteristics of CB are; numerous means to spread its spores, infects through commonly produced infection points (man, birds, insects, wind breakage), invades so rapidly that Chestnuts can cannot induce resistance mechanisms, and CB can survive extreme conditions. This is just the tip of the iceberg really, I would look on line for more info and updated research.
Lumberjacked
ArboristSite Operative
I too know where a mature, relatively healthy looking American chestnut is. It is in upstate NY in a small town called Skaneateles. A customer there had me care for it the last couple of years before I moved. I basically removed what little die back it showed, and that was about it. I wanted to create as few wounds as possible. At this time I was taking a tree pathology class at SUNY ESF and asked my prof. as to why this Chestnut was still alive and fairly healthy. He basically told me that the Chestnuts that are still surviving are isolated examples and will eventually succumb to the blight. ESF is one of the leading research facilities for Chestnut Blight and other pathogens such as Dutch Elm Disease.
Chesnut Blight is a type of a diffuse canker fungus. This type of canker fungus-host combination results in a super aggressive fungus that attacks the host with such vitality it doesnt not allow the host to produce a callus defense wall. There are many aspects that make CB a "super pathogen" like its ability to survive on other hosts like oaks, chinkapin, red maple, and sumac are a few. Other characteristics of CB are; numerous means to spread its spores, infects through commonly produced infection points (man, birds, insects, wind breakage), invades so rapidly that Chestnuts can cannot induce resistance mechanisms, and CB can survive extreme conditions. This is just the tip of the iceberg really, I would look on line for more info and updated research.
Chesnut Blight is a type of a diffuse canker fungus. This type of canker fungus-host combination results in a super aggressive fungus that attacks the host with such vitality it doesnt not allow the host to produce a callus defense wall. There are many aspects that make CB a "super pathogen" like its ability to survive on other hosts like oaks, chinkapin, red maple, and sumac are a few. Other characteristics of CB are; numerous means to spread its spores, infects through commonly produced infection points (man, birds, insects, wind breakage), invades so rapidly that Chestnuts can cannot induce resistance mechanisms, and CB can survive extreme conditions. This is just the tip of the iceberg really, I would look on line for more info and updated research.
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