FCMGA SUPPORTS AN AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION PROJECT
Members of the Floyd County Master Gardeners (FCMGA) joined other volunteers working on behalf of the Georgia chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). We gathered on the Berry College campus Saturday, Feb. 17, to plant a chestnut backcross orchard. This is the first of its kind in Georgia and could help pave the way for the return of the "Redwood of the East" to Southeastern forests. This effort has been directed by Dr. Martin Cipollini, an associate professor of biology in Berry's School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, who lead Saturday’s planting effort and gave an informative presentation of all of the research activity leading up the establishment of the trees we planted.
This orchard, which is located on a 1-acre fenced plot near the Old Mill on Berry's mountain campus, is part of a national effort to resurrect the nearly extinct American chestnut tree. Until a century ago, the American chestnut was one of the most abundant tree species in eastern North America and was valued highly for its wood and for the food it provided to both humans and wildlife. The species was virtually eliminated from the wild during the first several decades of the 20th Century by a fungal pathogen from imported blight-resistant Chinese chestnut trees to which American chestnuts had little resistance.
Among the seedlings that FCMGA and other volunteers planted were hybrids resulting from breeding efforts by local TACF members. These seedlings are the offspring of a cross between a pure American (Georgian) tree and a second blight-resistant tree that is about 88 percent American and 12 percent Chinese. The seedlings being planted are thus about 94 percent American - yet may carry blight-resistant genes from the original Chinese parent. These seedlings will be tested for blight resistance in about four years. From the trees that show blight resistance, TACFmembers will select (for future breeding and nut production purposes) trees that are virtually indistinguishable from pure American chestnut trees. Also planted for control purposes were several hybrids of pure American (Tennessee) seedlings as well as some pure American chestnut seedlings and some Chinquapins, both of which are highly susceptible to the blight.
The American chestnut tree is an enormous, fast-growing mountain tree that produces sweet-tasting nuts; the Chinese chestnut is a smaller, orchard type tree that branches to the side quickly and produces more bitter nuts. As Master Gardeners we are proud to have participated in this project so important to the future of the American chestnut in North America and believe it will one day make a major contribution to the reestablishment of the American chestnut as a viable species in the Southeastern forests.
