CHESTNUT-RELATED PHOTOS TAKEN SEPTEMBER, 2007

by Joe Schibig
 

Chestnut harvesting at TACF's Meadowview research farm in Meadowview, VA.
Dr. Fred Hebard, right, directs the operations.  Dr. Bob Paris, a geneticist, is in
the bucket.  Floyd Willis and Victoria Greer (front) are volunteers from Kentucky
who helped with the harvesting.
 

Fred and Jack on a bucket truck, getting ready to harvest the chestnuts
 

When chestnut burs are mature they split open revealing the tasty morsels inside.

Volunteers (left to right), Floyd, Victoria, Jack, and Mike are shucking
the chestnuts.
 

A pretty good pile of chestnut seed.

The  Amherst Co. chestnut in Virginia is one of the largest and oldest surviving
American chestnuts in the eastern U. S.  Despite the presence of blight along with
 record-breaking heat and prolonged drought, this chestnut is still very much alive.
 

When the huge trunk (about 4 ft in diameter) dies, there are younger spouts
 that will assume dominance.
 

This sprout has successfully battled blight cankers for years.
 

Robert Mohr sits by an American chestnut he recently found on his property in
Sumner County, TN.  He intends to cut the competing trees to induce flowering
and fruiting.

This  is the largest American chestnut I know of in Kemtucky west of the Tennessee
River.  It is in Calloway County on an upper slope overlooking Kentucky Lake, and
is 8 inches in diameter and 35 feet tall.  With some releasing, it may produce flowers
next year.

This chestnut in western TN (Henry County) suffered some damage from the April
freeze.  Most chestnut sprouts in middle and western TN did not leaf out until after
the freeze and escaped the frost damage, but Chinese chestnut trees suffered more
damage since they had leafed out earlier.

Please visit: 

TN Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation

Resurrecting the American Chestnut

The American Chestnut Foundation

Emily and Cameron by a young American
chestnut