Saving Tennessee's Mother trees by injecting systemic fungicide
(Photos taken in April, 2006 by Lloyd Fly and Joe Schibig)
Joe (left) and Rex stand next to a promising new mother chestnut tree in north central Tennessee (Jackson County). The tree stands on a 1000 ft high ridge overlooking breath-taking scenery.
A close neighbor of the chestnut pictured above unfortunately died from the blight--we hope to save the other one long enough to pollinate it and harvest at least 100 BC hybrid nuts from it.
We used Mauget microinjectors to deliver fungisol
into the tree; Dr. Tattar in Massachusetts has tested this fungicide on American
chestnut trees and found that it to be effective against chestnut blight.
.
\
New TACF intern, Lloyd Fly, gently hammers a
microinjector into a predrilled hole.
From the left, Lloyd Fly, Joe
Schibig, and John Hansell pose next to a potential chestnut mother tree in South
Central Kentucky
which we released from competition.
The tree was also injected with a systemic fungicide since it was showing signs of blight at the base. Jack heaps forest topsoil around the base as another way to check the blight.
Chestnut field work provides many opportunities to behold Nature's beauty.