TN-TACF
BACKCROSS ORCHARDS
Several orchards have been established in Tennessee by various volunteers. Hill Craddock (Hamilton County), Jed Young and Randy Dodson (Putnam County), Clint Neel (Lincoln County), Tom Hill (Marshall County), Sam McInturff (Blount County), Greg Weaver (Williamson County), and Sean Fisher (Environmental Engineer for Bridgestone-Firestone, Warren County) maintain orchards throughout the state. In all these orchards, hybrid chestnut trees having mostly American chestnut genes and relatively few Chinese chestnut genes (including those needed for blight resistance) are now being grown. These trees are seedlings from pure American chestnut mother trees in different regions of the state that were pollinated with backcross2 (BC2)or backcross3 (BC3) hybrid pollen from TACF's research farms in Meadowview, Virginia. When the hybrid backcross trees in the Tennessee orchards are a few years old, they will be tested for blight resistance and only the most resistant will be intercrossed producing BCF2 trees. When the BCF2 trees are a few years old, they will be screened for blight resistance and only the most resistant will be intercrossed producing BCF3 progeny, all of which should be strongly blight resistant. Then BCF3 trees will be intercrossed producing trees that look and grow like the American chestnut and which will breed true for blight resistance. Furthermore, these trees will be adapted to the different regions of Tennessee. This effort is being repeated thoughout the eastern U. S. in other state chapters of The American Chestnut Foundation. In 10 to 20 years, the dedication and hard work of these growers will yield blight-resistant American chestnut trees to restore to the woodlands of Tennessee and throughout the eastern U. S.
TN-TACF Orchards in Tennessee
Sean (third from the right)
shows guests the Bridgestone-Firestone orchard in McMinnville, Tennessee
Photo by Clint Neel, January 28, 2006
Hill Craddock demonstrates
proper pollination technique
in one of his orchards close to Chattanooga, Tennessee
(Photo by Joe Schibig, May, 2003)
Sam McInturff has a green thumb.
From: http://www.tntech.edu/aghec/pdfs/newsletters/Fall_2005.pdf
Greg Weaver has built a
deer-proof fence around his orchard in Williamson County, TN.
For more photos and details of the fence construction
Click Here
Clint Neel has hardy
reinforcements to help him plant his backcross orchard in Lincoln Co., TN
Photo by Hill Craddock, Jan. 22, 2005
New TN-TACF Orchard Sites
Clark Cropper (left) with
help from his father (right) will soon be establishing a
TN-TACF orchard in Monroe County, KY, a few miles north of Red Boiling
Springs, TN.
(photo by Joe Schibig, July 9, 2006)
Rickie Brandon (left photo),
who lives just a few miles north of Red Boiling Springs
in Macon County, TN, also plans to start a TN-TACF orchard in the near future.
In the right photo, Rickie and Clark stand by a chestnut rail fence on Rickie's
property. They say that before the blight, chestnut was a dominant
tree in
their region. Rickie has a rare flowering American chestnut on his
property
that was recently pollinated by TN-TACF workers.
(photos by Joe Schibig, July 9, 2006)
