Online Seminars: American Chestnut

lenphillips

Online Seminars has an article called American Chestnut. It will be available for discussion at the website until the end of December.

Online Seminars: American Chestnut

This article is not so much about an American symbol as it is about how this tree was saved from extinction. Researchers believe they have finally achieved success in getting rid of the chestnut blight? I wonder if this process will work for other diseases?
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Len Phillips
Administrator
Online Seminars for Municipal Arborists

Sean Freeman

I think there will be developments along similar lines in relation to other fungal pathogens, both naturally occuring resistant trees and hybridized trees can form the starting point for a resistant seed bank from which to rebuild specific tree populations.
Sadly however as I'm sure you're well aware the cumulative pressures that our altered soil environments and urbanised ecosystems place on all trees pushes them further into stress and makes them more vulnerable to all kinds of negative health factors fungal and insect. Gaining general recognition for the desperate need to rectify the impoverished soil environments in which our urban forest grows, and persuading land owners and managers (public and private) of the sense in adopting very simple and cheap measures to begin to redress the imbalance will porbaly achieve much more.

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

mdvaden

The part about roasting was something fresh to think about, because we have not roasted them in Oregon. In fact, my mind must go neutral when I hear the holiday song with "roasting chestnuts over an open fire" because I don't put 2 + 2 together when it plays on the radio.

My question is - and maybe I missed it in the article, but don't remember reading it - when these new seeds and trees are reforested, when they mature and drop the next generation of offspring, how much different will those be, and will they be susceptible or resistent?

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Grove of Redwood TITANS

Oregon BIGOOT trap

lenphillips

Mario,

The answer is implied that because of all the in-breeding that was done, the nuts are virtually the same as they were before the blight hit. From now on, nature will take its course and the nuts should not revert to blight susceptibility unless there are several generations of cross breeding with susceptible trees. However this is not likely if the forests are replanted with blight resistant trees.

Does that make sense?
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Len Phillips
Administrator
Online Seminars for Municipal Arborists

treevet

Or work in opposition to exotic insect attacts such as EAB, etc. In China these beetles are not a major threat to ash. Why not just import Chinese Ash? As I understand their ash are not very asthetically pleasing trees. Cultivars may be the answer.

lenphillips

treevet,

In my opinion cultivars ARE the answer.

Dr. Elwin Orton at Rutgers University developed cultivars of Cornus florida x C. kousa that are resistant to borers and dogwood anthracnose which are wiping out native populations of Cornus florida all over the eastern half of the US.

There are many cultivars being developed which are superior to the species for tolerance to the urban environment.

Look at all the new crabapples being developed that are resistant to the 4 major crab diseases, plus they are being bred to have persistent fruit that provides winter color.

There are hundreds of new cultivars coming out all the time that are being bred to be more beautiful than the species.

When clients ask for a recommendation to plant a new tree, it is my opinion that every arborist and every landscape architect, world-wide owe it to their clients to offer the best trees available, especially cultivars.
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Len Phillips
Administrator
Online Seminars for Municipal Arborists

treevet

Yeah, Len, In my small town we have lost every (maybe 2 or 3 hundred) mature sugar maples in the approx last 5 to 10 years in the tree lawns alone. They just cannot exist in this climate with global warming ( yea, I said it). l00 foot 3' trunk dia gorgeous specimens. Just north of here they are doing fine. Do you give up on them. I ve been planting a drought tolerant cultivar and therefore the client and I are investing in an experiment together. Sweetgums with no balls, disease and drought tolerant sycamores, compact growth cultivars to fit tight spaces, etc, etc. Designer trees if you will. It is fun shopping the nurseries for trees these days. How about that cherry that comes out green and turns the deepest purple and holds it all summer. It is usually the reverse..

Sean Freeman

Ok you've definately got my attention treevet but how about some pics especially of that cherry you mention?

Cultivars are definately exciting in what they potentially offer, hopefully the growers have learnt from some of the less successful experiments of the past!

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

treevet

Were completely in dormancy here, Sean in Ohio. I bet Len could come up w the cultivar and you could search it. We ve got some in my neighborhood and they are so new the largest is about 40 feet now. You think they have become defective as they linger in green in spring then boom, deep purple and it lasts and lasts. I think they are somewhat borer resistant also.

lenphillips

Sorry Sean & treevet, I am not familiar with this cherry, but it does sound like something I would like to use.

treevet, have you tried the Green Mountain Sugar Maple to replace your natives. Here in New England, we find it to be an excellent replacement. Same size and beauty as the native sugars, and it is tolerant of our urban pollution.
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Len Phillips
Administrator
Online Seminars for Municipal Arborists

treevet

Yeah, Len, That is the plant I was referring to in the post (Acer Saccharum "PNI 0285"). I think tree guys (and girls) are wasting a great source of revenue by not planting trees. Who knows them better (and who will be responsible for them later?) and late fall, winter , early spring during slow periods I can earn a typical days pay (netting in the nborhood of 80$ man hr) and maybe not even working as hard as humping trees. I sometimes dig hole w stump grinder ( generates a nice broken up soil that can be mixed) and may boom ball in with my crane to hole if appropriate. Biggest issue I ve had lately is long legged rats (deer) damaging trees and we re dealing with that successfully I hope.

treevet

Sean, Search Prunus Cistena, purple leaf sand cherry.

Sean Freeman

Thanks treevet I'll see what can be found via the electronic ether...

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Sean Freeman

Very pretty little thing, well worth a try if your climate and soils are right..

Attached Images

	Prunus cistena.jpg (31.0 KB, 39 views)
	prunus_cistena2.jpg (31.6 KB, 39 views)

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

treevet

I m going to have to investigate a little as this tree looks like a plum. I may have listed the wrong cultivar. This tree is capable of maybe 50 or 60 feet and llarge scaffold branching. It may take a bit Sean.

treevet

Len, I was curious as to your take on Autumn Blaze maple. A red maple, silver maple cultivar with vivid long lasting red/orange fall color that tolerates drought, clay and vert. wilt purportedly. Fourtimes the growth rate of r maple but w stronger wood and better branch structure than silver maple. It also has the pretty cut leaf maple leaf so famous in newspaper pictures above storm damage articles. The tree of the year by SMA. Sounds too good to be true. I planted one today and while naked it looks just like any silv maple. Isn t it likely to be a huge threat to the environment when it puts on 30 or 40 years?