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| Does anyone know about the American Chestnut Foundation program? It appears they are breeding American chestnuts with Chinese genes (1/16 I think is the goal) to resist blight.
How is this going? Will trees be available to the general public anytime soon? More importantly, will they truly be blight-resistant? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 10, 12 at 15:54
| do understand that 'resistance' does not make anything 'proof' ... the problem i always had with things like long lived trees.. is that you invest 10 or 20 years.. only to then find out.. the day after you think to yourself.. man that tree is just perfect .. and pleasing me no end ... you find out.... it wasnt resistant enough ... i think that happened to me a a borer resistant birch .. yeah.. right .. bite me.. lol .. ken |
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| As a member of The American Chestnut Foundation, I can tell you that their testing is rigorous. The infect every tree with the blight and keep only that survive to continue into the program. The Georgia Chapter is currently using pollen from Georgia trees to create a more southern form. Pollen from more trees in the more northern range were used in the earlier crosses. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Read more on their website
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| my understanding is they started creating the final generation about 2007 and have been increasing nut production. There have been wholesale forest plantings as well, but they still need to do a bunch of resistance testing. They are years away from general release. http://www.acf.org/FAQ.php There are also parallel efforts to create a pure American resistant strain by breeding various survivors. You can get some of these, but resistance would be questionable And if that wasn't enough, they are creating franken-nuts with wheat genes, hoping to bypass all the 'nature hippie' stuff: |
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| these people should really get more support. The chestnut was one of the great trees |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sat, Nov 10, 12 at 23:29
| Then to make matters worse-and I'm not suggesting that the people involved in this don't know this-pathogens themselves mutate and change with time. Take apple scab for an example. Scab-resistant fl. crab varieties have suddenly "become susceptible" but what's really happened is that the infectious agent has changed and is now able to infect these formerly resistant varieties. It can be a moving target. But yes, Am. chestnuts are superb trees. I hope they will one day make a strong return. Speaking of which, I've got a brother down in SW Wisconsin that is growing a few. Last time I was there, they were growing well. I'll have to inquire as to how they're doing. +oM |
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| Absolutely correct Tom. However if you can get a generation or two into forest recombining genes with the survivors to increase genetic variation, then you would stand a chance of co-existance. From what I remember the resistance in the Asian Chestnut is thought to be due to one or two genes. If these genes have not been overcome by the blight in native regions, then they aren't likely to be overcame by the blight here. Arktrees |
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- Posted by greenthumbzdude (My Page) on Sun, Nov 11, 12 at 11:32
| There are some backcrosses out already. They are like 80% american and 20% chinese. If you become a member of the Aerican chestnut Foundation they will send you seeds. I heard that the final generation will not be availabe to the public until 2020. |
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| It would bring me great pleasure if a resistant strain of this tree were developed. I would love to see a million of them planted in the forests of eastern United States. I do love the oaks that have taken their place in the canopy, but the chestnuts are something beyond amazing. Rosefolly |
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| How does the flavour of the american chestnut compare to castanea sativa... roasted chestnut is THE Christmas snack back in my old country... |
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- Posted by jocelynpei 10 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 12, 12 at 16:15
| American chestnuts are a bit sweeter than sativa chestnuts. They tend to be smaller too. Incidently, many woodlot owners here are doing what one poster suggested...planting a couple dozen of mollissima in their woods and letting nature introgress them. I don't know how many genes for full resistance, but even if it's 2 or 3 pairs, the squirrels plant so many that some are bound to get the right combinations. It helps to get a more timber type Chinese parent . We are lucky here to have some Wolfville seedlot trees where over half the seedlings have good forest form. The rest, grin, want to be bushes. The bush type soon gets overtopped in the woods and doesn't stay in the breeding pool. My oldest trees are 6 years old, so I have no seednuts to offer yet. Jocelyn |
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