sutton023

We've been wondering all year if we would get a real chestnut harvest this year, or not- since the abnormally cold spring led our trees here in Minnesota to flower about 2 weeks late. The trees have made up their minds though, and their answer is YES - This is T-401-S in flower (and Eleanor beneath) - and all those flower did indeed turn into chestnuts, currently loading the branches heavily. This tree has had the chestnut blight for 5 years- see how poorly it's doing?  No?  You're correct- it doesn't care.  Even though there is a large basal canker; you simply can't see anything from a distance.  I photograph the cankers each year- and keep worrying they'll win the battle one day; but so far - the tree is winning; and making nut crops to boot. That's Anastasia posing under the tree, our pony mule; the horses were too busy eating grass- and pruning chestnut limbs; to come when I called just now. Something that's not only interesting- but important; the s...

When we started growing and breeding chestnuts here in SE Minnesota, there was no chestnut blight ( Endothia parasitica at first, then Cryphonectria parasitica ; though my own preferred name is Cryphodothia pseudoparasitica* ... long conversation...) known, for at least 50 miles, perhaps 100. It had been identified in Ames, Iowa, and seen once briefly around Zumbrota, Minnesota; but it certainly was not here. For the first 20 years, as our chestnut plantings expanded, we never saw it. When we were ready to test our chestnut genetics against the blight, we sent seed both to Auburn University in Alabama, and to the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science in China. Tests in both places were overseen by Dr. Hongwen Huang; I will put his reports here, originally published in our Root & Branch #4: Date: Fri, 05 Apr 96 11:18:53 EST From: hongwen huang Subject: RE: report of blight resistance of your breeding lines in Alabama Dear Phil: In response to your request for the results of m...