Does sound a bit hyped up sales talk there.

One point to bear in mind; chestnuts are outcrossing, so if you plant all of just one cultivar you won't get much successful pollination. A mix of several different cultivars will give far better crops.

Resin

not been a single reported instance of Dunstan Chestnuts dying of blight infection in over 30 years

===>>>> that isnt even the life span of a single tree/generation .... thats right up there with defining weather cycles on a multi-billion year old rock based on 100 years of data ...

that, and.. most trees dont become affected with problems until they are OLD .... and 30 year old trees can barely be considered old ....

ken

Dunstan is said to do poorly in northern states. One option is to try Oikos tree crops hybrids they have, or for the best chance of growing your own chestnuts, look up Badgersett hybrid chestnuts.

Thanks for the input. I do have several Oikos hybrid chestnut seedings already (several each of their Timburr, American Hybrid, and Seguin strains) grown from seed they were selling last fall. I also have been considering purchasing some from Badgersett since they are locally grown for me. Guess I'll stick with those choices then.

Dunstans from Chestnut Hill are seed grown to my knowledge. I have about two dozen seedlings right now in containers from seed collected in Georgia (I can't legally call them 'Dunstan').

I also have the ECOS and the Timburr trees from Oikos and the Dunstans are different. The Oikos trees have less pubescent leaves and I believe they have more American DNA compared to the Dunstan.

I was given 5 Dunstan seedlings, about 2 foot size, in about 2002, purchased from the original Florida source as a gift. I planted them on a small sunny parcel on Long Island, NY. They exhibit a wide range of success versus chestnut blight, but all are infected. A complication is that the smaller ones have been damaged by rabbit and deer browsing. All 5 are alive, but three have almost completely died back, only to resprout. The dieback was definitely caused by blight. One of those resprouts is up to about 10 feet high on its largest trunk. The second best one is about 15 feet high and had male flowers 2 years ago but no female flowers. The standout is a rounded (not a strong central leader tree), about 20 feet tall and 25 feet wide which has produced a 40-60 nuts each of the past 3 years, pollinated by a chinese chestnut seedling and the other Dunstan. It has cankers but responds vigorously to them

I was given 5 Dunstan seedlings, about 2 foot size, in about 2002, purchased from the original Florida source as a gift. I planted them on a small sunny parcel on Long Island, NY. They exhibit a wide range of success versus chestnut blight, but all are infected. A complication is that the smaller ones have been damaged by rabbit and deer browsing. All 5 are alive, but three have almost completely died back, only to resprout. The dieback was definitely caused by blight. One of those resprouts is up to about 10 feet high on its largest trunk. The second best one is about 15 feet high and had male flowers 2 years ago but no female flowers. The standout is a rounded (not a strong central leader tree), about 20 feet tall and 25 feet wide which has produced a 40-60 nuts each of the past 3 years, pollinated by a chinese chestnut seedling and the other Dunstan. It has cankers but responds vigorously to them

Be careful in not misinterpreting the success of the dunstan chestnut. It stated no infection occurred in the last 30 years not the age of the trees. This is probably good indicator for the viability of this tree. I do have a forestry degree and a very limited amount in other forest tree disease research experience.

on wild american chestnuts the blight sets in when trees reach around 7 years of age.....when the bark starts to crack and become mature.....so if it survives past that stage you know it will be ok

They may say 'Dunstan' is a hybrid American chestnut, but honestly I think they're mostly Chinese. My trees are taking on the typical Chinese chestnut traits, a very branchy bushy tree that's difficult to train to a central leader.

No hybrid would be as good as original AC but that ship has sailed for now. Dunstan's appear hyped to me.

OIKOS "Timburr" hybrid chestnut is a bit of a disappointment here. Healthy & no disease, but decidedly "squat" like a Chinese chestnut.

They had Dunstan Chestnut trees at every place that sold trees this summer. I didn't buy any, but they were at every Big box and farm and feed around here this year. They seemed to sell a good bit of them.

Yep, Walmart had a bunch of them, sold mostly as food plot trees for hunters. I'd rather them sell those than the darned Sawtooth oaks which everyone around here seems to love. Mine have grown well here in my zone 8b. The ones I bought from Oikos have done poorly, they're alive but very little growth.

I have recently had Dunstan chestnuts from High Rock Farms in Gibsonville N.C. and find them delicious. This farm has several hundred trees and does very well with them. The trees look very large and healthy (though I am no botanist), and grow alongside a large number of pecan trees. I thought chestnuts were extinct but find they are readily available here. Story of Dunstan chestnuts:

• http://www.ohenrymag.com/the-nutty-professor/

I've been growing chestnuts for 30 years now. We have Eaton, Qing and a few others as well. I had the chance to grow Dunstan trees, as they were available at the research farm where I worked. They were just not as good as other varieties that were available at the farm. I'd have to say that it is more marketing than fact that these trees are any better than average chestnut

I have Dunstan and Chinese chestnuts planted in Ga and NC. Three of 4 Dunstans i planted in NC died. I do not believe blight killed them. I believe the protective cover that i was told to put around them killed them. The fourth tree was dying when i removed cover a couple years ago. Behind cover was molded and wet. Tree is doing good today. Dunstan and Chinese chestnuts are doing well in Ga and NC today.