Date: May 21, 2006

 

Clint Neel presented a PowerPoint slide show on grafting rare chestnut trees that includes pictures of the tree on site and a TN map of the county’s location. One of the new sites was in Perry County on the western edge of middle TN near Linden and the TN River. 

 

An explanation was given of the difference between chinkapins and chestnut-- American chestnut glandular hairs have a “hot cross bun” configuration and the leaf has no hairs on its undersurface.  Tullahoma was mentioned as one  location of a chestnut with chestnut chloroplast DNA.

 

Clint mentioned that Edgar Evins State Park in Dekalb County had a large chestnut tree which has died and which may be cut and the wood used.  The new Cannon County chestnut is on a bluff in a location that should be bucket-truck accessible. Another new mother tree was located at Old Stone Fort State Park, Coffee Co., close to Manchester  on the edge of a lake and it has gall wasps. He mentioned that Jackson Co. has 4  mother trees.

There was some discussion of rooting a chestnut from a cutting

 

Chris Shaw with Tree Care Products gave a demonstration on how to apply nutrients or fungicide directly to a tree.  He mentioned the brands Mauget and Treetech.  These are systemic systems. Micro-nutrients are transferred to the xylem of the tree by first drilling an 11/64th inch hole about 3/4 inch into the tree.  When white wood first appears in the drill hole it is deep enough into the xylem to deliver the product. This area is the 1^st or 2^nd growth ring. Trees that are 2 inches or greater in diameter can be injected safely. The drilled hole should be at a 35 degree angle to take advantage of gravity delivering the product. Soil temperatures must be at 45 degrees or higher for best results.  Injections of fungicide should not take place at bud-break because the tree’s system is already under stress. To administer these products a person must be certified. The companies will only sell/deliver to someone who has passed the test and gotten certification in hazardous chemical application?. These tests are available through local extension service agents. If a certified person is present to supervise the application, another person can actually do the injection? The application of fungicide takes effect in the tree's  vascular system within 30 minutes to 4 hours.  The process is harder to do with oak and maple due to their sap pressure. Administering the injection to the trunk flare is most effective due to the water activity there and the motion on the tree due to wind action. Do not administer injections at crevice sites as the tissue here is dense and will impair up-take of the product. Tebuject is a fungicide in the azol chemical family and is a blocker to functions within the fungi?.  Fungisol should be applied at the rate of one for each 2 inches of  tree diameter and needs to be applied annually. used.  Injection of phosphites may also inhibit tree fungi. Since these products are systemic the product stays within the tree. The amount of dosage of fungicide depends on the leaf canopy of the tree–canopy loss (fewer leaves) indicates that less product should be applied. Chris mentioned that insect attack is rapidly wiping out  the hemlock population.

 

Chris asked Paul Sisco for the exact name of the fungi that kills the American Chestnut.  Paul responded that it was Cryphonectria parasitica–commonly known as chestnut blight. Chris was also asked to describe the process used by the fungi that actually kills the host. He said the fungus secretes an acid that allows it to penetrate cell walls and feed off the cell material. To defend itself, the tree tries to wall off the infection--this works in most Chinese chestnut trees, but seldom in American chestnut trees.

 

Paul then explained that a grant of about 2.8 million dollars had been obtained for research on chestnut and other members of the beech family.  Due to overhead costs at research institutions and universities, only about 1.4 million would actually be available for research. Paul listed about 5 research institutions that would receive money.  These research groups will be doing DNA mapping–NOT  trying to map all of the tree DNA but those groups or clusters that seem to produce resistance to blight. If those areas of DNA in resistant Chinese Chestnut can be identified, then the RNA and proteins they produce can also be determined; it then may be possible to introduce those blight resistant Chinese genes directly into American Chestnut.

 

Lunch–At lunch, people were seated in diverse groups that lead to interesting conversation in a picturesque setting overlooking the lake and a multi-arch, Roman style bridge of native rock. A light rain only added to the scene as the water was lightly dabbled in a pattern against the lush green of Spring in high country. Lovely.

 

After lunch Sam McInturff of Greenback, TN showed us another slide presentation on East TN mother tree sites and map locations.  These included new mother trees in Monroe,and Polk counties, TN.  These are at

elevations of about 3000 to 4, 500 feet; the high elevation trees are ready to pollinate in July and nut harvest is in October.  There are over 10 new flowering American chestnut trees in these counties which are in the Cherokee National forest.  Sam persuaded the foresters to help him release American chestnut sprouts in 70 acres of national forest land.          

 

After Sam’s presentation, the group took advantage of the stop of the rain to walk/hike around the lake to view chestnuts and chinkapins in their native setting. The trail was not difficult; we had 70+ year-olds and twenty year- olds and every age group in between; we were dodging roots, scampering around slick rocks, clinging to the steel cables on the swinging bridge and keeping an eye on the party as members would disappear behind a curve in the trail into a wonderful world of trees and laurel in bloom, rocky overhangs inviting a cave-like stay and tiny water falls over rocky stacks. Beautiful.  Joe Schibig’s long-legged pace did not lose any of us (I’m living proof as I  type this today–but we may want a current update on the membership). Along the trail, Joe would stop and show us seedlings of chestnut or chinkapin and we could see and touch the differences in the two and see how the trees had adapted themselves to shade or sun by the width of their leaves. One chestnut specimen was about 12 ft tall–a global positioning device was use to record the exact location of specimens. Shannon Cagle, Clint Neel and Lloyd Fly wrote down their coordinates  and took samples.