I am looking for someone who knows something about this beautiful and endangered tree.  I am trying to propagate with seeds, air layer, and cuttings.  I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I AM DOING!! I do not want to waste a whole seasons crop of nuts.

Do you know about http://www.acf.org/  American Chestnut foundation.  If you have a known American Chestnut they will probably be interested.  I know there are still some isolated stands of the American chestnut and they distribute the nuts from them to grow. I think you have to donate now to get an Amerian Chestnut from them.

Danny,

I have grown many chestnut from seed they were from AmericanXChinese Hybrids but the process will be the same. Do not let them dry out too much if you plan on keeping them in the fridge over the winter. I usually get a 15 Gal pot fill it to within a few inches from the top with a potting soil and then lightly push the nuts into the soil. I then would cover with some shredded leaves, just use a mower to make them and cover with a couple inches of the shredded leaves then cover the top with chicken wire or such to keep the squirrels out or else they find them all. When I have tried completely burying them completely most of them rotted into puss balls. If your winter climate is dryer then mine you could over them completely or if you were planting straight out in the ground. I think getting them a year start in the pot then planting out the second spring is much more successful. Be sure it is a pretty good sized pot that is deep enough and you can group plant a bunch in there a separate later. You can plant them in the fall now or if you keep them slightly damp in the fridge,NOT freezer over the winter. You are aware that if you are in the eastern half of the U.S. the Blight is still present and a pure American (castanea dentata) after they getting big enough for fissures in the bark they would likely be affected. There is a lot of great info on the web and development of blight resistant trees and general info on them. Truly one of the greatest biological tragedies in our country’s history as the Chestnut was such an integral part of our ecosystem with the mast crops it provided. I would start at this website, but there are many others http://www.acf.org/

Danny K...

The nuts will probably need stratification, then planted into a protected bed to prevent animals from feasting on your nuts....well not YOUR nuts, but, the Chestnuts.

I have read that the Chestnut Blight will eventually claim any new trees....but, good luck.

Frank

THX- these trees are 40+ ft tall and are in great shape.  They are American Chestnut, from all I can determine, leaf, trunk, seed, etc.  I know the two foundations/societies are interested in cultures from these mature trees and I have sent email to both.  I have several seeds to experiment with and am trying planting some now and storing some in the fridge.  Some of the burs have a tendril coming out and 1 has a leaf, I am planting the one with the leaf but I am not sure what to do with the ones with the tendril.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

Most of the natural range will have blight present, but pockets of trees can be found even in the eastern states. And even in blighted areas trees still persist, but most frequently as suckers from an old root system. Some of these get large enough to bear prior to fungus affecting it, and some trees struggle with and manage to survive. If your trees were planted by man I would suspect they are one of the other species or a hybrid.  The leaves of American in general are relatively narrower and a thinner leaf that is less leathery. The Asian’s normally have a whitish cast on the leave underside and will feel very slightly fuzzy from small hairs on the leave underside.

Pictures of Chestnut bur and leaf

Bob that is not a tendril or root or anything from the nut starting to grow it is the dried up catkin from spring, basically the flower, your nuts are within the spiny bur and not even sure those should have been picked yet. the bur will dry and split to reveal normally 1 or 2 nuts within. If you open up that bur and see the shell of the nut is slightly light colored it was picked to early. They should be a rich "Chestnut" brown. I can't tell for sure from the leave but I am leaning to NON- American, probably one of the Chinese from the leave shape being wider and what I can see of the spines on the leave

Those were picked up from under the tree, probably fell due to rain.  Most of the nuts we have picked up are nice size mature nuts.  Of course the deer and the squirrels beat us to a lot.  County extension agent thought American, I thought they looked more like the European variety, regardless I want to figure out how to propagate them.

Thx for the info.

This is a photo of a American Chestnut burr with 3 filled out nuts.It would normally fall from the tree within a few days.Most of my burrs have 1 developed nut and 2 underdeveloped nuts.The burrs on my largest tree have fallen off early this year;I guess it is due to the early spring.