Update on saving American Chestnut

[KY wild]

The Problem With Darling 58

The fight to save America’s iconic tree has become a civil war.

nymag.com

I really enjoyed article about progress of saving American Chestnut, little long but worth it

 

[Bill]

Well that stinks.

 

[letemgrow]

ACCF trees at my farm are showing favorable responses to the blight. I’ll have to go back through them to remove competing trees.

Swollen cankers are a positive.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KY wild]

First time I have seen a chestnut tree that was not a black and white pic, cool. Now I know what they look like. Tell us more about ACCF trees and your involvement, please.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I wouldn't give up hope on a GMO blight resistant chestnut. CRISPR wasn't around when they were first transforming the original Darling lines. It should be much easier (and cheaper) to insert the same blight resistant gene. The biggest hurdle at this point will be regaining trust and eventually momentum with funding a new round of research.

I

 

[letemgrow]

First time I have seen a chestnut tree that was not a black and white pic, cool. Now I know what they look like. Tell us more about ACCF trees and your involvement, please.

American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation

The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to breeding a pure American chestnut tree and restoring it to the native range in the Eastern United States.

accf-online.org

ACCF trees originated from two original blight survivors called Floyd and Gault.

Pics are below of those 2 trees.







Progeny has been produced and distributed to growers who have trees like this.

Pure American Chestnut at High Altitude with Durable Blight Resistance/Control
Dr. Gary Griffin and Dr. John Rush Elkins, November 2019​

 

[Teeder]

I pretty much wrote off my american when I saw this.

 

[letemgrow]

I pretty much wrote off my american when I saw this.

That doesn't look good....

 

[Teeder]

No, pretty bummed about it.
The tree is about 20 years old and just developed that cancer the last couple years.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I have shown photos of this tree in one of these threads in the past, but I took this photo today of an American chestnut in St Paul, MN. This was the smaller of at least two that were originally planted by the founder of the American Chestnut Foundation who was a University of Minnesota plant breeder. The other tree was much larger before it showed any signs of blight. You can see the scars on the bark for this one. Unfortunately, there are no other pollinizers around, so this tree just makes a bunch of empty burs.