But, after decades of work breeding trees, The American Chestnut Foundation, a partner in the Forest Service's effort to restore the tree, is close to being able to make a blight-resistant American chestnut available. The final blow happened at the turn of the 20th century when a disease called chestnut blight swept through Eastern forests. The tree's demise started with something called ink disease in the early 1800s, which steadily killed chestnut in the southern portion of its range. Because it could grow rapidly and attain huge sizes, the tree was often the outstanding visual feature in both urban and rural landscapes. Before the turn of the century, the American chestnut was one of the dominant trees within its range in the eastern U.S. Be sure your soil is acidic before growing chestnut trees. History of the American chestnut and the chestnut blight. They can grow in partially clay soil if the land is on a slope, but they will grow best in deep, sandy soils. This photo was taken somewhere in Western North Carolina. Forest Service, The American Chestnut Foundation and institutions like the University of Tennessee Tree Improvement Program, those blight-resistant trees are on the horizon, and scientists are developing silvicultural strategies to restore them to forests across their former range. Similar to our Hybrid Chestnuts but with slightly less production and lower nut quality. It was first detected in New York in 1920 however, the initial introduction could have occurred as early as 1876 with the first imports of Chinese chestnut ( Castanea mollissima) and Japanese chestnut ( Castanea crenata) nursery stock (Anagnostakis, 2000). Mature American chestnuts have been virtually extinct for decades. All chestnut tree types require well-drained soil to thrive. The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is leading an unprecedented mission to restore the American chestnut tree to its native range. GIANTS American Lumberman magazine published this photo in its January 1910 edition to show the size of giant chestnut trees. The American chestnut tree, scientifically known as Castanea dentata, is primarily found in the southern and eastern parts of the United States. Now, thanks to collaboration between the U.S. Same great Hybrid Chestnuts but with a later drop time (Nov-Dec) for even more attraction. Chestnut blight is a canker disease caused by a fungal pathogen in East Asia. Notes left by early foresters including Gifford Pinchot, the founder and first chief of the USDA Forest Service, suggest that its ecological role was as impressive as the tree's size. There were once billions of them and their range stretched from Georgia and Alabama to Michigan, but the majestic tree was gone before forest science existed to document its role in the ecosystem. Sometimes reaching a height of more than 100 feet tall with trunk diameters often well over 10 feet, the American chestnut was the giant of the eastern U.S.
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