Castanea dentata

The #americanchestnut #seedlings are doing great. I had to put them in a cage because everything wants to eat them. #castanea-dentata 8 May 2022 #grownfromseed #fromseed #treesfromseeds

This is terrific!

They look nice and healthy 🤗

My raggedy #americanchestnut #seedlings made it through the winter too and are putting out new growth! #castanea-dentata #newgrowth 8 Apr 2022

It's going to be 28°F tonight (which is cold in America) so I brought in the #americanchestnut #seedlings inside for the night. 19 Nov 2021 #castanea-dentata #chestnut #treesfromseeds

My top-heavy treepots kept falling down in the wind so I made the lowest of low tech fixes. 16 Oct 2021 #castanea-dentata #treesfromseeds #seedling #americanchestnut

Update: just had a thunderstorm and it worked!

Looks like perfect fix. Why over-engineer? 👍👏👏

Yay! 👍🏻😄

Soooooooo these guys ain't looking too happy. They did not appreciate the intensity of the LED grow light. I miiiight have forgotten to water them a little (a lot). It's been overcast so they're finally acclimating to outdoor light. Survival TBD. 12 Oct 2021 #experiment #ediblelandscaping #permaculture #castanea-dentata #americanchestnut #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #treesfromseeds

I hope they survive and grow happy

#americanchestnut branching out 25 Apr 2021 #native #castanea-dentata #chestnut #treesfromseeds

A closer look at one of the #americanchestnut #seedlings that's having a bit of a struggle. I think I'm watering them too much. #castanea-dentata #chestnut #native #nativetree #treesfromseeds #tacf www.acf.org 16 Apr 2021

@sushiwaitress we have a tendency to over water our plants! Looks like they could use a little food 😉

@treefrog44 I was thinking maybe food, but I already put in about a teaspoon of slow release ferts and soil acidifier so I might also be overdoing it with those nutrients too.... maybe TACF can advise me in their Facebook group......

State of the #americanchestnut #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #growyourown #gyo #treesfromseeds 16 Apr 2021 #castanea-dentata #chestnut #nativetree #native #tacf www.acf.org

Wow - where did you ever find the Chestnuts to plant?

I joined the PA/NJ chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and every spring they have seeds available to members. They're still blight-susceptible, but the hope is to grow them big enough to one day pollinate with a resistant variety and get some resistant offspring. I've been told to expect a lot of failure 😀 @DelbertYoung

Right above your name at the end of Ruth's post is a link to the American Chestnut Foundation @DelbertYoung !

Glad you’re trying. We are losing too many trees everywhere. 👍

14 #americanchestnut #seedlings -- about 10 too many to fit in my backyard. #castanea-dentata #grownfromseed 8 Apr 2021

Starting to see the classic breaking waves leaf tips pattern of #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #chestnut #seedlings #grownfromseed 8 Apr 2021

Leaves!! #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #tacf 1 apr 2021 www.acf.org

Outstanding!!!

Leaves!! #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #tacf 1 apr 2021 www.acf.org

Leaves!! #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #tacf 1 apr 2021 www.acf.org

Leaves!! #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #tacf 1 apr 2021 www.acf.org

Leaves!! #americanchestnut #castanea-dentata #seedlings #grownfromseed #fromseed #tacf 1 apr 2021 www.acf.org

Seven #sprouts so far 26 Mar 2021 #castanea-dentata #seedling #grownfromseed #tacf www.acf.org

I joined the American Chestnut Society as soon as you told us about it. I can hardly think of a more valuable or exciting project.

Oh yay! @emch I feel the same way!!

Noticed the first #americanchestnut #seedling peeking up out of the soil 💕🌱🌳🌰 26 Mar 2021 #castanea-dentata #chestnut #grownfromseed #tacf www.acf.org

I joined the American Chestnut Foundation whose goal is to bring the American Chestnut (castanea dentata) back from almost-extinction. I got seeds (normal wild-type seeds which are not blight resistant) which I am hoping to plant in my back yard in a few months. 14 Mar 2021 #castanea-dentata #chestnut www.acf.org #tacf

The potting medium is the ACF-recommended soilless mix (not at all what I expected) of 1/3 peat (because it's acidic and chestnuts like acid), 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 vermiculite. These are 4"x14" tree pots.

This is a fabulous project. They can have very long tap roots but then spray out. Great blessings for germination

@thehardygardener Aly, the ACF has developed a blight resistant American Chestnut using genetic engineering. It's under review with three government agencies (FDA, EPA, & USDA), and the idea is that if it's ever approved for planting, then the ACF will distribute transgenic pollen so we can pollinate remaining American Chestnut trees and help to create blight resistant offspring. Hooray for citizen science!

That's a great development for save your chestnuts, very cool science. We have ash die back now, fungi from Europe. Its devastated the ash, but years after the Dutch elm disease hit, our elms are now resisting. Fingers crossed for a resistant ash to be found too.