Couple big American chestnuts OH

last year

last modified: last year

I was very surprised, but don't have a reason to doubt it -- a pair of big Amer chestnuts in Stephenson County IL. IF they are isolated from oaks, which can harbor the chestnut blight, then there's no blight to infect them. Amer chestnuts can grow well on the US west coast.

I have one (one other was deer-destroyed) supposedly 95% F5 hybrid Amer chestnut from OIKOS that has grown pretty well, about 30 ft x 30 ft now. Alittle blight on a branch or two, but not serious.

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bengz6westmd
Original Author

12 months ago

last modified: 12 months ago

lacey, the description didn't say, but I'd venture that they were planted, as that area is not in their natural range. In good conditions (acidic, well drained but moist conditions), Amer chestnuts can grow very fast. I have a tuliptree near 70 ft tall and a honeylocust over 60 ft tall after only 19 yrs.

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Comments (8)

BillMN-z4a
last year
Good to see the American Chestnut hasn't been completely decimated by the blight.

Thanks for posting!
bengz6westmd thanked BillMN-z4a
L Clark (zone 4 WY)
last year
last modified: last year
Really cool.

so F5 means American chestnut was bred with an asian tree then bred four more generations with only American chestnut?
bengz6westmd thanked L Clark (zone 4 WY)
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arbordave (SE MI)
last year
beng, I believe that pair of chestnuts is actually in Stephenson County, Illinois (NW corner of the state) rather than in Ohio. American chestnut is native to Illinois, but probably only in the extreme southern tip of the state, so those trees would be well outside chestnut's native range. They are indeed impressive trees, thanks for posting.
bengz6westmd thanked arbordave (SE MI)
L Clark (zone 4 WY)
last year
Interesting article about the abundance of American chestnut

https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/did-american-chestnut-really-dominate-the-eastern-forest/
bengz6westmd thanked L Clark (zone 4 WY)
bengz6westmd
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Thanks for the info, arbordave -- you're prb'ly right (edited post). And that makes more sense since OH was prime chestnut range (blight is still present as it is here at my spot).

LClark, you are correct. Too bad OIKOS went out of business as they had an extensive program on the Amer chestnut with quite of few generations of chestnuts going. As I recall, they started w/pure Amer chestnuts that seemingly had some resistance to the blight, then crossed them w/Chinese ones (F1). That generation was then purposely exposed to the blight, and the most resistant then crossed w/the first Amer chestnut types, resulting in F2. Continue then w/that process and eventually result in their F5s.

I'm sure this process is continuing now w/other organizations like The American Chestnut Foundation and others. https://tacf.org/

The American chestnut rivaled tuliptree as the tallest eastern US tree.
bengz6westmd
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
LClark, your link is very interesting -- looks like American chestnut's range is very close to the rock chestnut oak's range, which made it mostly a "mountain" tree, and not very tolerant of wet soils.
laceyvail 6A, WV
12 months ago
I'm intensely curious as to how they got into that front yard. Deliberately planted by someone hopeful? Sheer accident? And I hope some idiot doesn't cut them down. Wonder if the homeowners or the community realize what they have there.
bengz6westmd thanked laceyvail 6A, WV