I pray that I may live long enough to see the American Chestnut in the Smokies, standing majestically as they once did. God bless the scientists involved!

I am in my 60s and I remember there was a Chestnut tree in my neighborhood, we used to collect the nuts when I was young, we also have a Chestnut Street in my town many others throughout New England. I would love to see this happen.

My first house in PA looked like a run down farm house with wavy walls and ceilings and a dirt basement. Then I discovered it was a log house built by poor Scotch-Irish people by hand. It was made with American chestnut logs and the walls were hard as steel. There was still an American chestnut tree at the driveway that seemed to die every August but came back in the Spring.

Dr. William A. Powell gives quite the good lecture here about restoring the American Chestnut to the Eastern deciduous forests of North America, His talk is both informative and interesting, the way talks should be.

I never realized what beautiful trees they were. Like the Redwoods of the East.

I would love to see this tree return.

Have been waiting and waiting for these trees to be cleared for planting. I am growing old (almost 80) sure would like plant a few of these.

I hope that the American Chestnut does come back one day. Beautiful ,huge trees from what, I saw here!

What an amazing story..restoring our wild forests is the most important thing humans should be doing at this time in history..heartwrenchingly moving :,)

A fast growing, straight grained, rot-resistant tree that produces large, delicious crops of nutritious nuts. Restoring the forest to what it used to be. Amazing.

@Belikel

4 жыл бұрын

Genetic mutants are NOT what the forest used to be, you self-serving shortsighted moron. Just because we can't foresee the aftereffects yet, doesn't mean they won't be coming with a vengeance. It's idiots like you who introduced the fungus in the first place.

@johncall293

4 жыл бұрын

野島デンジ lol... 5 years later. So who’s the moron.

@nj1639

4 жыл бұрын

野島デンジ , every living thing, and I mean EVERY LIVING THING you see in the world is a result of genetic mutation. Tottle off now.......

@megelizabeth9492

4 жыл бұрын

Genetically engineered trees are actually less disruptive to the natural genetic structure of the tree, since it only adds one or two genes, instead of smashing the gene pools of two separate species together.

@Bob_Adkins

3 жыл бұрын

@@Belikel If the Mona Lisa got tiny chip that threatened to spread, a conservator would take a magnifying glass, the finest periot paint and pigment, and fix it. The overall painting is not affected, it's still the Mona Lisa, and you can't possibly find the repair. That's the way we go about restoring the American chestnut.

To bring back the chestnut it will be important to maximize the genetic diversity of the new population. Altho Castanea dentata is effectively "extinct" in the wild, there are, scattered throughout its range, many stump sprout survivors that grow 6 or 12 feet tall, that flower, fruit, and then are killed by the blight. Attempts should be made to plant the "new" chestnuts near such survivors so that natural crosses of pollen can happen, and a new generation of chestnuts reproduce naturally in the wild with those genes. Also, both approaches --- transgenic and crosses containing some Chinese genes for resistance --- should be utilized. For the "new" chestnut to defend itself against a pathogen as potent as Cryphonectria parasitica it should possess multiple sources of resistance. The "new" American chestnut will not be identical to the old. The old one, as we know, could never survive. But it will be very very much like the old one. And furthermore, it is the long term strategy of plants to occasionally out-cross (hybridize) to cousin species, thereby bringing in new genes to the gene pool. (with animals and humans this is called "fresh blood.") Oak trees in the US do this all the time. Botanists have innumerable recorded examples of oaks hybridizing in the wild. Pawpaw species in the wild in northern Florida do this repeatedly. A little bit of hybridizing is a good thing; it keeps the species flexible and adaptable to changing conditions. The intervention of mankind into the American chestnut is merely morally correct, since it was man that caused the disaster and near extinction in the first place.

@williampowell3783

9 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment. We do have a plan to rescue as much of the surviving genetic diversity of the American chestnut with our "Mother tree" program. Since we will be using dominant blight resistance, we can make crosses with surviving trees before they die out. Half the offspring will contain the the resistance gene and a mix of genes from both parents. This will be continued for generations and with as many trees as possible, thereby building a genetically diverse population. We also hope to partner with breeding programs to stack the resistance gene with others from breeding to ensure durable resistance. Lastly, since the oxalate oxidase enzyme does not kill the fungus, it only detoxifies the acid it produces, there will not be a strong selective pressure for the fungus to overcome this resistance. On these trees the fungus will survive more like a saprophyte instead of a pathogen, as it does on oaks.

@GHOSTbirdnatureLOVER

7 жыл бұрын

I've seen taller than 12 feet.

@Dragrath1

5 жыл бұрын

Crispr wasn't around yet back when this video was posted but I would be curious how this has gone in development since Crisper could be used to speed up the process

@aaronseltzer6156

5 жыл бұрын

@@Dragrath1 Basically given the regulatory rules it doesn't really make sense to just switch techniques at this point since it would require them to start again in many cases with studies proving the safety of the modification before they get regulatory approval. Its just easier to crossbred with other wild chestnuts rather than messing with genetic engineering for that aspect. They may use Crisper for one of their future targets which is to bring back the American Elm.

@Reciprocity_Soils

5 жыл бұрын

@@williampowell3783 , after six years, do we have an update?

Dr. Powell, very fascinating what you are doing with restoring the American Chestnut. You are a definite hero to me and many others I suspect. It's my belief if we have the attitude as humans that we own the planet, then we are also responsible for everything we do to the planet, all the way from bringing back the passenger pigeon to the American Chestnut, etc. I've been immersing myself in the American Chestnut story over the past several weeks. I have joined the New York chapter of the T.A.C.F. I will also get involved with the Maine chapter as I have a 27 acre salt water farm very close to Boothbay Harbor, Maine which is perfect for propagating trees, (I have had the disease of a green thumb all my life and was probably divorced by my first wife in part for planting too many trees, I'm not kidding.) Where I am in mid-coast Maine would have been in the chestnut's former range. Of course I have a million questions, but as you are busy doing big things there at S.U.N.Y., I will limit myself to one. What is your best guess as to when transgenic trees might be available to someone like myself who would like to propagate the trees to restore American Chestnuts to the woods of Maine.

Efforts to breed American Elms that are resistant (not immune) to the Dutch disease have been very successful. I'm growing one in my yard now. If you're interested in buying one, a google search is easy. The American Elm I have is 100% American Elm, bred from elms that had some slight resistance, then re-bred together and so on; nothing unAmerican [grin] about them. There are Chinese American Elm blends, but true American elms are now available. However, this has taken nearly 90 years. The Chinese American elms came on the market faster. Now I'm waiting for a true American Chestnut to be available. Retired librarian, Michigan

Love this. Thanks.

Congratulations to this man and his colleagues, and good luck. Kastanie sind sehr lekker. Für Hirsch auch.

An update with info on how to get seedlings to plant would be great. The more seedlings get planted over wide areas the more chances there are to bring the species back.

There are still piles of chestnut lumber, cut in the 1930s, sitting in the Appalachian mountains exposed to the elements for more than 80 years and still looking pretty good.

My family is from the Wayensboro VA area (Intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive ). My grandparents use to tell stories about how big those trees were and how many large Chestnuts they would produce. They recall the mountains looking like a war zone during declining years. Sooooo sad. Would love to see them restored.

@dc202sports

Жыл бұрын

I’m in Grottoes. We have actually planted a few that are blight resistant here. So far so good

@rowdyhoo

Жыл бұрын

@@dc202sports Awesome. Good luck with that!

Thank you for the kind explanation! I learned a lot. >) Instead of planting chestnut stands of any kind wouldn't it be better to plant a complex ecosystem instead. A good example might be Mark Shepherd's New Forest Farm. Chestnuts would be an excellent over story tree in a polycultural food forest. I suggest that the problem is less which type of method to use in reviving the American Chestnut and more how we plant it going forward. >)

My Mother told me that her father taught chemistry at Marin junior college in California after WWII. At the campus there were a few American Chestnut trees still thriving. He would bring home nuts, and roast them in the fireplace. He said the students at the time (late 40s - 60s) no longer recognized the nut. I wonder if the trees still live.

Apologies, the video answered my question! Great talk, a reason for optimism for Upstate NY!

Is there any work like this being done to save the ash trees? They are among my favorites and it breaks my heart to think they won't exist in the future.

@strutt01

4 жыл бұрын

Daniel Gering if they stop cutting them down the tree will probably find its own natural strain that's resistant. The American chestnut was cut down in thinking it would slow the spread of the blight.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS. Ima go plant some to help the environment, this video put me in the mood... (no joke)

Having been a state licensed tree surgeon/arborist in New Orleans for many years, and several years vegetarian (still picky about what I eat), I have been aware of Dr. Powell's field and believe in it as I believe innate goodness is common in people..but not to a point of being a "sap". The Dr. evidences the care he and his team use flavored by a little altruism as shown during his presentation in his mention of several generations to repopulate the American Chestnut across the continent and helping restore ecological balance, possibly saving many human lives too... By the way, volunteering to plant saplings is a great way to get outdoors and meet people, and does not require hard exertion..just a little bit.

Important subject!

I just was in the George Washington and Jefferson National Park in Virginia and saw Chestnut trees! I saw at least 5-6, some like 3-4 metres high!

To ne honest, chesnut treds has never been on my radar, but thank you nicely presented.

@nj1639

4 жыл бұрын

christopher st.marin , like Liberty, once lost is no longer on radar......

I totally agree, a diverse ecosystem is very important and the planting approach will have to encompass this.

Bless you for this! I love chestnut trees, but they don't grow where I live.:(

I remember seeing a dead chestnut tree with hundreds of little sprouts desperately trying to survive. What a strange tree I thought, I stared at it in my grandparents yard as a kid.

A guy near me in the Philly area has 2 huge American Chestnut trees in his front yard that are at least 150 years old. They are over 60 feet tall. Some of the few survivors I guess.

Methinks that transgenics represents the best approach. Having said that, these genetically-modified trees should be thoroughly vetted over and over again to make absolutely sure that they are safe to put back into the environment. It may even be a good idea to have several genes placed in the restored American Chestnuts to increase their resistance to the blight.

@megelizabeth9492

5 жыл бұрын

Crossing them with the Blight resistant backcrosssed Chestnuts is an interesting thought as well.

I had one in my yard and it was very healthy. They smell horrid in bloom. It was a huge tree and was isolated from any other ones.

As a young boy growing up in NYC in the 1970’s and even the early 1980’s the chestnut seeds would be all over the ground no matter where you walked. I didn’t notice that they had gone away, I just remember that the smell of the chestnuts being roasted by the street vendors was completely gone. Not even in Central Park or the surrounding area could you find chestnut vendors.. I would love to be able to smell that smell wafting through the city streets once again during the fall and winter months. It was definitely a smell along with pine trees that made Christmas time so special.

@blakespower

8 ай бұрын

doubt those were american chestnuts since the blight started there in the early 19th century, you can still buy chestnuts at the store they are commercial variety and huge, but like most specialty products in grocery stores they are usually rotten you have to inspect them before buying

Gluten is a composite of two different proteins and starch. They are not transferring the genes that encode these proteins, so it will not impact gluten levels of the chestnut. The low genetic diversity is a potential issue, but this would also be a problem with the alternative approach of crossing the American and Chinese varieties. I prefer the transgenic approach, it seems to be the best way of keeping the genetics of the American Chestnut as close as possible to the way it was.

Any update on the restoration project?

Great.

Does anyone have references for Dr. Powell's recent papers on this topic?

Howdy tree people! I'm starting a silvopasture project in eastern Virginia and would love to support wildlife conservation in my species choice of trees. Do you have any resources to help me choose species to plant?

Similar to the situation with Dutch Elm disease which wiped out Elm trees throughout the West.

great job . can I grow these trees in the uk ?or would that not be wise

Can the oxalic acid from rhubarb bot be used via a plant guild and proper regenerative and community planting tactics? Im sure there are a few guild designs out there useint even mushrooms for its health.

In center of NYC, Queens, in my back yard I have nice 3 year old chestnut tree and is doing very well.I try to put chestnuts trees Upstate NY, they all die. I try Virginia, they all die. Now I have some Upstate NY, in good health. The chestnut don't like clay soil, more sand and dry, hills similar as apple, no dump and wet locations.The chestnut are one the best tree for honey bee, the honey is medium dark and very health for cardio-vascular system.

@timothylongmore7325

4 жыл бұрын

I'd Love to plant some in northern NY, Tug Hill Region. Are yours producing nuts yet? I did a barn repair job in Ledyard NY years ago. Next to one barn was a huge chestnut tree. I don't know if it's still alive but next time I'm Near there I will check. No blight near me , no chestnut trees.

@gorgig9136

4 жыл бұрын

@@timothylongmore7325 The tree is ready 10 foot tall, but no nuts. In Queens, NYC, They sell Italian chestnuts which are very similar to americans so You can use them or in PA, on Rt 61, close to Rt 78, toward Pottsville is farmers market where You can buy american chestnuts, probably end of October

I hope the implementation reflects that approach going forward. We don't know very much about the ecosystems which were destroyed in the first wave of logging across the US. Maybe we can do more than just let nature be this time around. lol

can you use trangenics on existing treas as treatment that is injectable.

I was on Table Rock, NC over the 4th of July. I noticed a lot of Chestnut Trees there. Now I'm wandering if they are American chestnuts?

@truthseeker9688

4 жыл бұрын

mike Wilson probably Chinese chestnut trees.

The trees that are created will be almost entirely American Chestnut. In addition, these trees will be heavily tested and checked. There really is not any rush at the moment; the scientists can take time to fully examine these new modified trees. Furthermore, all the government agencies will be looking at this process, too.

The mighty American Chestnut, that once, way back on the Pleistocene, shaded the forest from northeastern Mexico up to southern Canada. So suddenly and almost completely eradicated by human mistakes. Technology is now giving us a chance to bring it back, possibly, even stronger and mightier than before.

I say go with transgenic. We don't need 2800 Chinese orchard chestnut genes mixed in with our replacement population. 100% American chestnut with only 2-4 wheat genes seems like the way to go.

@nonyadamnbusiness9887

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah, then after you've planted a forest, you find those wheat genes make it susceptible to something else and you're back to zero. Genetic diversity and every approach that's affordable is the way to go. Besides, the TACF tree is ready to go now.

@XoroksComment

4 жыл бұрын

This is a good talk but it was presented by someone that is biased. His example with the book is misleading at best. The same could be said about the transgenic approach. Something like: "We do not believe in introducing foreign genes from completely different plant families into chestnuts when there are already existing chestnuts that are resistant against the disease. The reason why we can breed Chinese chestnuts and American chestnuts naturally in the first place is because they share a close common ancestor, it's because they are so similar. It is not necessary to artificially splice genes into their DNA that no type of chestnut naturally has. The breeding approach creates trees which are judged by 24 scored or measured traits typically used to distinguish American chestnuts from Chinese chestnuts in order to uphold the American phenotype. Aditionally, due to the large number of specimens required for breeding programs, high genetic diversity has been a key factor from the beginning, unlike with the transgenic approach where individual resistant specimen are created." The reality is that both approaches have their reason for existing and I think both are important for the restoration of the species :)

Chinquapin to us in the Ozarks. I miss them. I do recall them because I am older than dirt myself

@truthseeker9688

4 жыл бұрын

Rocks and Oil ...I remember chinquapins in North Carolina... but they aren’t like chestnuts.

1980, 34 bracket rd,Rye N.H.

I knew a researcher in MT twenty-five years ago who had successfully developed a biotic inoculation for chestnut blight. Unfortunately it was a biotic and was shut down.

@markrm16

4 жыл бұрын

What was the reasoning behind it? I hope it wasn't banned just because it was GE.

@richardsaunders301

4 жыл бұрын

@@markrm16 That was exactly the reason. This was the 90s when biotics of any type were looked on as invasive. Blight had already gotten out, no one wanted to see another epidemic of unintended consequences.

Please recruit students from high schools to further your program.

The number of North American Chestnut trees was estimated to be around 4 billion with average yields of 3 bushels per trees (12 billion bushels or nearly half trillion pounds) in the Appalachian mountain region alone each year. Imagine how many mouths 4 billion chestnut trees with those yields could feed? Wouldn't that provide enough meat for the whole continent.. Its a staggering thought to ponder!! Its also a tragedy when you think about it!

@winnipegnick

5 жыл бұрын

Wow, so true.

@truthseeker9688

4 жыл бұрын

My parents spoke wistfully about the bountiful American Chestnut trees...they supported a wonderful variety of wild animals and birds. Appalachian people would let their livestock roam freely....pigs and cows...then harvested the hogs in winter..they said the chestnut fed pork was deliciousness taken to another level!

My grandmother said that they would go into the hills and gather chestnuts by the wagon load. Hogs were turned loose in the woods to feed. The loss of the American Chestnut was an ecological disaster. Many people went north for work during those years and it wasn’t just the Great Depression and WWII job opportunities. Much of my home was built with chestnut as it was built in 1943. The Ash trees are currently dying out because of the Ash Tree Borer and you can drive down highways and see the remains. Those are breaking apart.

Imagine the difference in animal populations in these forests with such a keystone species of food being removed so suddenly. I would not be surprised if this blight caused the extinction of more than just chestnut trees.

I believe we have an existing one on the West Coast of the U.S. In December 2019 - we had a huge, heavy, wet snow storm. Our Chestnut Tree had 4 trunks. We lost 3 of them .. one fell West, one fell South and one went East. It was and is a bee and insect magnet and the pods do feed Deer and Squirrels here on our property. We have one trunk remaining and we had it trimmed to keep it from hitting our house. We are hoping that the remaining trunk will survive for many years. When we are gone .. all the amazing trees on our land will probably be bull dozed and destroyed (we will no longer be able to keep them safe from "progress").

Can you weaken the fungus and inoculate the chestnut tree with the weakened fungus so it can build immunity to the fungus?

@katiegreene3960

3 жыл бұрын

Yes I'm curious about treating the sick trees too or greeting them before they are sick like giving them a tree version of a vaccine. Actually now that makes me wonder do plants have immune cells like we do? Why do I only hear of breeding or gmo it's like they just gave up on treatment of the disease.....what if we did that with humans? Eghhh let that one die just breed a new one.

@molybdenum20

2 жыл бұрын

I'm about a year late but afaik plants don't have the adaptive immunity systems like we humans do. Pathogen resistance in plants comes from the genes.

So apparently State University of New York for Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) is behind this project. I made be looking there for college.

@jameslee1145

9 жыл бұрын

Update 2015: I am going there in the fall!

@kenzofinucane4057

5 жыл бұрын

James Lee hows it going? Studying environmental science or what?

@terrencegibbons3351

5 жыл бұрын

James lee discovered girls n doesn’t gaf bout trees no more

We have several nut producing trees on our property. I've been growing more and more from those nuts.

I wish my grandfather could see this. the old guy hated chestnuts.

When can I buy this?

Any update on this? how's the restoration doing?

@ronrothrock7116

4 жыл бұрын

Dr. Powell replied 2 weeks ago on someone else's post "We are very close to having the USDA review our blight tolerant trees. Stay tuned."

@VincentMichael207

4 жыл бұрын

@@ronrothrock7116 omgomgomg!!! So exciting!

Very interesting and exciting project! However, I was wondering if such a tree (and its produce) is considered to be GMO? I'm zero in this topic, but this is the first thought that came to my mind.

@gammondog

9 жыл бұрын

Yes it would be a GMO because it is a genetically manipulated organism. The difference here is that the gene produces an enzyme that resists an acid that the fungus uses to kill the tree. Most GMOs produce toxins to kill insects and diseases or make the plant resistant to the chemicals sprayed onto the plant. Thus enabling higher concentrations of insecticides and herbicides can be sprayed onto non organic fields. The enzyme here, is non-toxic. It doesn't even harm the fungus. It would have been nice if nature could have come up with a mutation that made a few wild trees resistant but,alas,she didn't. And with so few wild trees left producing nuts,it's very unlikely to happen. Therefore,this seems to me to be the best chance to save the American Chestnut.This is the one gmo that I would be willing to eat.

@vikanotes

9 жыл бұрын

William Albert thank you for the full answer!

@ruslandon

9 жыл бұрын

William Albert It would have also been nice if we had ALLOWED nature to come with a mutation that made a few wild trees resistant by not cutting all the healthy chestnuts down.

@kenzofinucane4057

5 жыл бұрын

William Albert well, youre probably eating a ton of other gmos as well and it probably doesnt harm you

@kenzofinucane4057

5 жыл бұрын

Especially when you count all the strains we blasted with radiation before we started using a more sophisticated approach

Will this work on the European ash trees, now being afflicted?

0:00 I'd like to you to first think about: when is the last time you saw an American chestnut tree? Now, you're probably thinking: well, I haven't seen American chestnut trees. And that is actually a sad and true story. Only some of our most senior people have actually seen American chestnut trees the way the used to be. They used to be one of the most abundant trees in the eastern forests. So if you were to look at this scene behind me of a patch of the Appalachian Mountains, uh, one out of four tree would have been American chestnut in this setting, okay? Quite a few trees. Now, the American chestnut was a keystone species, meaning that a lot of other animals and Wildlife relied on it for their survival. The main reasons why it was a keystone species is because of the mast, or the nut crop that it produced year after year. 1:00 It produced a very, very stable nut crop. The oak trees which have since replaced the chestnut do not produce that consistent, stable mast, as the chestnut did. Now you're thinking nuts? Well maybe that supports things like squirrels. Well it did support squirrels. In fact, when we lost the chestnut, those actual squirrel populations in forests declined. Okay, but a lot of other animals also relied on chestnut. And all these that I'm showing here - even some animals that are now extinct that you're hearing about in these talks today, such as the Carolina parakeet, and of course everybody else has mentioned and I want to mention the passenger pigeon also- it probably relied on American chestnut. So you think about it, if you're going to bring back a species such as the passenger pigeon, what are you bringing it back to? Where our forests are not the same as they used to be; they used to be predominantly chestnut. So you might want to first bring back the chestnut before you bring back these other species. 2:00 Okay, so what I want to try to do at the first part of my talk is to convince you that chestnut is a species worthy of restoration. And I've just shown you right here how important it is to ecology, and it has many other values also. The American chestnut is also very valuable as a nut crop, for agriculture. So not only did wildlife like to eat chestnut but humans liked to eat chestnuts also. Whether you like to eat it roasted, or candied, or grounded up into a flour where you can make soups or breads, and you can even brew it into a beer - and by the way this is a gluten free beer for those of you who, like me, can't eat gluten, okay. So it had a lot of value in that way. Um, it also has very valuable for the wood that it produces. the wood was very straight-grained, a fast-growing tree, the woodworkers liked it. But one of the key things about it was that it was a very rot-resistent wood. So it could be used in outdoors without rotting. 3:00 So uh, what I always tell people is if chestnut was abundant, like it was in the past, all your decks would be made out of chestnut, instead of that old pressure-treated stuff that it's made out of now. And in fact, all telephone poles would probably be made out of chestnut, and you don't have to treat them with all kinds of chemicals. Okay, so it had a very good economic value. But in addition to that, the American chestnut tree is really part of our history and part of our heritage. You probably can't go to a town without finding a Chestnut street. Just like you would find an Elm street, or Maple street, um, you'll always find a Chestnut street. I particularly like this corner here, at the intersection of Chestnut and Powell for obvious reasons. But this is actually in California. This is way out of the range of American chestnut and yet is still uh, recognized. Um, you'v probably seen chestnut [unintelligible] and songs, such as this: a, uh, very familiar song at Christmas time, and it starts off "chestnuts roasting on the open fire." 4:00 You might have learned this poem, in, uh, school at some point, where it talks about "under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands," that is also an American chestnut. So it's really kind of part of our-our natural heritage here in the United States. Now the American chestnut was one of the largest trees in the Eastern forest, before we lost it. Now this is a picture from the Forest Historical Society, uh, showing some lumber jacks and that's the end of large chesntuts and you can see, how large they are. -end transcription because it's getting late for me sorry.

So this was 2013, where are we now in 2022? Can I get a couple super-chestnuts™ and plant them up in Maine?

@joygwin6673

4 ай бұрын

this year will be planted in forest

@joygwin6673

4 ай бұрын

2024

UPDATE!

Do you sell seeds

That was the only tree I had in my yard I used to hit the green spiky balls with a tennis racket

"Monsanto fund" supports this action at 14:59

@markrm16

4 жыл бұрын

For PR?

A round of Chestnut beer to all Earth restorationists

South Carolina is mostly outside the Chestnut zone. Does that mean South Carolina can't help with this project?

@redddbaron

6 жыл бұрын

There were chestnuts in S Carolina, especially in the Western portion of the state.

@tatyanazhebentyayeva1807

6 жыл бұрын

In South Carolina chestnut was wiped out by another disease, ink root rot caused by Phytopthora cinnammomi that kills roots completely(biological rather than functional extinction). Winter frost is the only efficient way to kill Phytopyhthora. Until problem with resistance to P. cinnammomi solved, restoration of American chestnut on the South East not feasible.

Chestnut trees are all over the maine woods

👑

What about the American Ash tree? The bight of the emerald ash borer beetles

Any updates, or does anyone know where I can go to find out? Video was posted 6 years ago, I would be very interested in seeing the progress made

I just planted some Chinese Chestnut trees. I'm on a quest for the last few years in trying to find nuts from a wild tree stand of pecans that grew and put out nuts in Iowa. There was also some that were found in Wisconsin. And apparently Michigan has a pecan orchard or something. I was warned by this one guy about going to Paris and being pulled in to buying roasted chestnuts.....he said some were rotten. But roasted chestnuts are possibly one of the most delicious smells ever while walking through a city. Anyway I never bought them because of the price they wanted. Decades pass and I'm in an Asian store and I buy a package of roasted chestnuts....😐 Why have I never had these before, they're delicious. Read about the blight and such and that Chinese were sweet chestnuts so I planted some so I could roast some before I die. Maybe I'll be like one of those Parisians that sell the smell of them while roasting them as cars go down the street someday. And making sure they aren't rotten. The smell is like if you could toast and sugar butter. At least from what I remember. Lucky I didn't eat any rotten ones. It would have ruined the memory of the fragrance floating on a wintery day in Paris.

Not to sound like I wear a tinfoil hat, but there is a belief that the transgenic route is being pushed and paid for by large pulp/paper/lumber companies so that precedent can be set for genetically "superior" trees so that they can introduce versions of trees which grow faster, cheaper and closer to ideal specs for highest profits

@megelizabeth9492

4 жыл бұрын

That’s completely untrue. The only thing the wheat gene adds is blight resistance, and bringing back the American Chestnut can only be a positive.

@brookschris4

4 жыл бұрын

@@megelizabeth9492 I never said the genetic modification of the chestnut is for anything but blight resistance, just that a precedent would be set for transgenic trees in the ecosystem.

@megelizabeth9492

4 жыл бұрын

Honestly, I’m pretty sure the transgenic tree is being pushed more out of necessity than anything else. As he points out in the video, the problem with traditional back-crossing methods, is that since the trait in Chinese Chestnuts is poly-genetic, the level of resistance passed on to offspring can vary wildly depending on which genes were inherited. Since the eventual goal is to reintroduce them into real world forest settings, that unreliability is very undesirable, and won’t allow it to compete with other trees. Since the resistance in transgenic trees is controlled by a single gene, it’s just more reliable and easier to ensure that the same level of resistance is passed on to the offspring.

its been 10 years since this video but you dont hear anything about the chestnuts anymore

@chinmoykhastagir2330

6 ай бұрын

why not? you can just search youtube or google it to find plenty of news about it. There has been more progress.

Thanks a lot Nat King Cole!!! no more Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack frost nibbling on your toes.

@hyzercreek

3 жыл бұрын

Chinese chestnut trees don't get the blight

I'm here from Kurzgezart. Or whatever his name is.

Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me. Closing line of 1984 by George Orwell.

@deloreandorian

3 жыл бұрын

what? The last line in 1984 is "He loved Big Brother."

@carlnoe2

2 жыл бұрын

The quote is Winston’s message about betrayal and torture. From the old English song Go no more a-rushing ("Under the spreading chestnut tree, Where I knelt upon my knee, We were as happy as could be, 'Neath the spreading chestnut tree.") to the honored mighty Smithey of Longfellow’s poem to the Orwellian quote, the contrasts should be shocking. What humanity is worthy to be preserved? Can joy, happiness and honor be renewed? The old chestnuts should be restored if possible.

Most likely a gargantuan contributor to the dust bowl

@russellsmith3825

4 жыл бұрын

Completely different parts of the country. For a more info on soil loss look up Prof David R Montgomery, "Dirt, the erosion of civilization".

Is the answer the Dunstan Chestnut tree? What is the answer?

How is this different from GMO in our food production?

@4philipp

4 жыл бұрын

christopher snedeker thru evolution species go extinct and other species emerge. So the only reason to safe the trees is for it’s economic value which is most likely exploited commercially. Global trade and fast travel allows harmful organisms to travel as well, thereby speeding up changes in our ecological systems. It’s GMO which we crucify in our food system. It’s an illusion to think that changing one or two genes to make the trees resistant doesn’t affect other ecological aspects.

@4philipp

4 жыл бұрын

christopher snedeker past tense. You can’t rebuild that eco system with 300+ million people greedily consuming everything in their path

hopefully those mining companies pay for some of that

Would these trees grow in Montana?

@bluesmoke8714

4 жыл бұрын

there was a huge one in edmonton alberta until it got sick about 20 years ago.

if anyone is in Oregon and wants to work together to grow chestnuts please contact me!

Will the Chestnut tree grow in the hills of central Louisiana?

@redddbaron

6 жыл бұрын

yes

Mark Sheppard knows how to save the earth look him up and Gabe brown too!

The environment may have left the chestnut behind

Get me some nuts or saplings I'm ready to plant. I'm a forager/ hiker and spread nuts, seeds, and plants all the time. I'm in northern NYstate , Tug Hill. Largly monoculture forests with pockets of biodiversity. I try to reintroduce rare species.

When I was a young man I would walk through New York and it smelled like roasting chestnuts from the street vendors. It was part of the experience.

Test them in the field..... 😁

I'm going toattempt to transcribe this because my brain can't hold on to spoken info very well, and judging by the comments, others can't either lol.

if you need American chestnut genes sorry my spelling but in Utica NY theres 7or8 American chestnut tree that r huge and i think gave emunity to the blite im 48yrs old and there still there huge as ever so you mite be able to get good genome's for your laboratory to do some test on y there still there sincerely yours Allan biggs

@duanekamstra8890

4 жыл бұрын

Allan Biggs. I love how Americans are so quick to volunteer help. Unfortunately I doubt these scientists are reading these comments.. try writing the American chestnut foundation and telling them what you have. TACF National Office 50 North Merrimon Avenue, Suite 115, Asheville, NC 28804

I'm just watching this for class

65 dislikes are the Cryphonectria parasitica lol

They will also help with the environment,. Trees naturally sequester carbon just by living

@mikebetts2046

4 жыл бұрын

But when they fall and rot, all that carbon is sent right back into the atmosphere. Ditto if burned for heat. The only way to lock carbon away is to use the lumber to make things with it or to bury the wood somewhat deeply in the ground.

@martinkaldahl8712

4 жыл бұрын

@@mikebetts2046 yeah that's the way nature works.

@oe542

3 жыл бұрын

Isn’t that what all trees are doing?