I have an American Chestnut that is documented to have survived blight. The former owner of our farm is the one who told us that as a child, someone came and examined it and certified it. I haven't actually seen that cert but it is old, large and is always ina state of dying. It still ages very few Chestnuts but I did manage to get three nuts this year with no worm holes to plant 🙏🏼💚🌳
Maybe there is a way to save it by making you two batches of water with special things in it that will help to revive it ... maybe soak a lot of Goji berries and put that in the water and maybe also IMMORTALITY tea whuch you can buy at Asian Grocers ...it's also called Jiao Gu Lan ...( jzhow good lon ) . Maybe you could add some good quality saffron to that water .
@@gimomable depending on where you are, if climate allows, you could take cuttings now or in spring.. best wishes! "If you want to start growing chestnut trees from cuttings, find a young, healthy tree with strong greenwood. Use sterilized garden clippers to take a 6- to 10-inch (15-25 cm.) cutting from a terminal branch tip about as thick as a crayon. Slice off the bark from two sides of the cutting base, then dip the base in a root-promoting compound. Poke the lower half of the cutting into a moist mix of sand and peat in a planting container, then place the pot in a plastic bag and keep it in indirect light. Water the soil mix to keep it moist and mist it every other day until roots emerge. Then transplant it into a container with good potting soil. Continue watering. Transplant the trees to their permanent locations the following fall."
My grandfather born in1906 in Kentucky (east central), told me, his father told him, that in the woods on our farm, if you look in any direction you will see a Chestnuts tree. It made one of the best woods for fire, and great furniture. It fed deer, hogs, squirrels, and many other animals and people. By the time my grandfather was a late teen there were hardly any. Thanks for this Adam.
Adam, this is a well-documented and interesting presentation. The reports you reference clearly support the view that the American chestnut was not as dominant prior to European settlement in most of its range as many have claimed. However, there's an aspect to this story that you did not discuss, and which shouldn't be ignored. That's the impact of the massive logging - much of it clearcutting, that took place in the Northeast in the 1700s and 1800s. The American chestnut is extremely efficient at sprouting from its roots. When a forest that included some chestnut was clear cut, chestnuts would sprout back much more vigorously than competing species. The result would be a forest 50 years later with a significantly higher percentage of chestnut than before the logging. Faison and Foster, in the article that you reference, discuss this aspect. They wrote "..(logging).. actually promoted chestnut to dominance in parts of its range where it hadn’t been dominant before. Chestnut’s remarkable ability to sprout vigorously from cut stumps, including those of large diameter and advanced age, made it better adapted to intensive logging than any other hardwood tree including oaks. As the early Connecticut foresters Hawley and Hawes (1912) wrote, “this sprouting capacity of the species is its strongest characteristic and the one by which with each successive cutting it gains in the struggle for existence with the rival inmates of the woodlot.” Likely due to the impact of intensive logging, the American chestnut probably did become dominant in a larger portion of its range by 1900. This can explain why the perception of chestnut's former dominance is so widespread, and why, for example, the famous forester Joseph S. Illick, writing in his book Pennsylvania Trees (1925 edition), said of the chestnut, "It was formerly the most common tree of Pennsylvania." Mike Aucott
Excellent info, thank you. I was wondering about the focus on pre-European colonization. The stories about chestnut being a "cradle to grave" tree -- i.e. your crib was made of it, as was your coffin (which seems doubtful) -- are from Appalachia, as far as I know. Mountainous areas. While much of the "eastern forest" was logged and farms put in, by the mid-1800's, a lot of New Englanders were abandoning their farms for the more arable, less rocky land to the west. So there would have been time for the chestnut to become more dominant. Numerically, anyway. Likely not in the size it used to have.
I was wondering about that, to add, I do a fair amount of hiking and recognize CD occasionally with the dead trunk but with multiple sprouts all around it. I am pretty amazed that it can continue to sprout for as long as it has, dare I say 80 or 90 years in Virginia? That's some pretty hardy behavior in adverse conditions, one could believe it would be a pretty aggressive under much better conditions. I could also see farmers encouraging its growth too.
"The reports you reference clearly support the view that the American chestnut was not as dominant prior to European settlement in most of its range as many have claimed." Those reports do not have definitive data to make any such conclusion. How do they know what was dominant prior to white settlement? "They wrote "..(logging).. actually promoted chestnut to dominance in parts of its range where it hadn’t been dominant before." Yes, but how much exactly is hard to know- so it's an open question. Not all logging was clear cutting. Actually, with very heavy cutting you're likely to get early succession species like grey and white birch, pin cherry, poplar and many others- depending on which species are available for seeding. Another way to look at the issue is- even if chestnut made up, say, 20% of the trees on any particular site- because that species can grow so big, it might have made up a majority of the cubic foot volume of the trees and, what we foresters say, the "basal area" of the stand. Also, much of the landscape has been thoroughly altered. Land that is now in agriculture- it's impossible to say what the species make up was in pre settlement times- except in generalities. I've been a forester in Massachusetts for half a century- so I have a pretty good sense of how forests develop over time and how they respond to logging- whether clear cut or partial cut. Since we don't have the data and never will- it'll remain an open question. By the way, several years ago I planted 3 hybrid chestnuts gotten from the American Chestnut Foundation. They were 15/16 American and 1/16 Chinese chestnut. Two died within a few years- the other is growing very nicely and is now about 15' tall.
@@JoeZorzin That's why Adam reported the claim of pre-contact dominance as "unsubstantiated." I think the point he was making is that, as with so many other things in life, when one person/entity in an echo chamber says something, many others repeat it as given.
Mike, I find your thoughts and observations interesting! You reference the resilience and strength of the Chestnut to reproduce itself with efficiency when cut down with new sprouts quickly growing from the parent stock of the stump or root years ago prior to the blight. In my South Carolina 'neck of the woods,' I see the same being true of the sweet Gum which is extremely prolific and will send new sprouts that grow quickly with little threat from any other species or enemies. Unfortunately, the common sweet gum has very few desirable qualities it seems, and is considered a nuisance in most cases. The fruit or "gumballs" as we know them, also add to our dislike! Phil Upstate S. Carolina
I spent many years of my professional life as an interpretive naturalist. I find your interweaving of fun, interesting facts with scientific research masterful. I look forward to your next video.
I have a customer who has a copse of chestnuts that produce heavily every year. She said the whole ridge behind her house was one covered with them but after the blight hit only the dozen or so remained. She gives seed to a chestnut restoration group every year and also to her plumber (me!) to try to breed a more resistant tree and roast a few as well. She's in her 90s but her children keep up the farm and the trees.
My mother told me an interesting story. My grandfather had an American chestnut tree in his backyard that survived the blight. He would bring chestnuts to work to eat during his lunch. He worked in a factory back then. I forget what kind but mom said his clothes would sparkle in the sun after being washed so... Anyway, a man saw him eating the chestnuts and asked him about them. The man was a part of an effort to conserve the American chestnut and they were not able to find fruiting trees to plant. My grandfather told him he'd bring him a bucket of them. And not only that, but he did that for years. Every year he would bring a bucket of chestnuts to this man. Mom claims that hundreds of American chestnuts that were planted in Pennsylvania are decedents from the one in my grandfather's backyard.
It is an interesting story but it is also an example of why human propegation of plant species is problematic. Plants exist in an ecological gradient with genetic biodiversity across an area. Because where they land they grow replicate and are crossed via pollinators when you take a ton of examples of one plant and spread it unnaturally you sort of collapse that genetic variety. We see this clearly with animal sexual reproduction where you would find it really odd if we said hey Chuck you're a hunk lets breed you with women all over the place to spread your seed so more of the next generations come from your lineage. We would go oh thats not good from an impreeding perspective. But people forget that biodiversity of plants is also good. See bananas.
@@pbgd3 Absolutely, many times a species could have quite distinct populations even over small distances and relatively minor barriers, which are already at risk through habitat destruction, planting essentially monocultures of a single mass produced variety everywhere for "conservation" only serves to obliterate the genetic diversity. Not to mention in these cases the chestnut tree could even be a hybrid, it would have been difficult to determine in the circumstances.
@@pbgd3 For me, I often only have a single plant to collect seed from as I've bought seed or a plant and only have one mature. I kind of don't have an option, especially when I am "restoring" a typical .25 acre suburban lot. I'm not getting seed from an established location. I do realize this is an issue though.
Kevin, find your local chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation... Even if you only volunteer a few hours here and there, they generally are in need of support to plant, and weed and whatever.
I just found your channel today. As someone who lived in Philly for 40+ years I never ate anything that didn't come from a market. I recently moved a few miles outside the city, have some lawn in the yard but don't care for "weed killers" herbicides. & learning to appreciate the land and God given food &nutrition. Thank you for having such an extensive library. I have a lot of catching up to do, but wanted to let you know how much I am grateful to have found your content.
I live in New Hartford, CT, on a small mountain. We do have American Chestnut on our mountain. We got hit with gypsy moths that killed huge amounts of our oak trees three years ago. Giving the Chestnuts the room now to grow bigger and expand. Thanks for the info.
Very informative! I have been working with American Chestnut trees in NC for approximately 15 years now and have a couple that are quite large(For their age). One was producing nuts at less than seven years of age. I collect nuts and start them every year in hopes that some will survive the blight.
Adam, I love your videos! As an herbalist and elementary teacher, I appreciate your research, humor, and dedication to teaching us about our land and the many sacred life forms that share it. Thank you!
I'm not sure if you saw the article "Native American influences on the forest composition of the Allegheny Plateau, northwest Pennsylvania" from 2006 (Black et. al.) where it discusses the change in abundance of chestnut relative to indigenous village distance. I was doing a forest inventory survey for ANF a few years ago and was shocked by the dominance of AMCH in the understory because most of the nearby forest was beech / maple type - this article explained a lot. Another interesting topic is the "black forest" of NC PA where all the writings say it was 80% white pine / hemlock. There are a few good articles out there showing how this perception was distorted by the fact most people travelling through the area used the river valleys (because steep hills suck) and commented only on the composition of the.. valleys - and ignored the plateaus that were mostly white oak / beech.
I'm in central Virginia. I'm 68 and when I was about 14 an old man told me before the blight you could look at the mountains and ridges and see the Chestnut trees towering above all others. He was disturbed by the blight and was hoping for a comeback. They were cut for lumber years after they died because they were very rot resistant. I remember stepping over many fallen Chestnuts when I was in my 20's and 30's. If they were not laying on the ground, like laying on rocks or other trees, they were good for decades.
As 70 year old Virginian I remember everything you have mention above. I once lived in a old house built in around 1820, the all the timber and joists were chestnut that were notched and pegged. It still stands:)
@@dougnanceywoodson5020 Thanks Doug. I've heard of someone in Rockbridge Baths that sells re-sawn Chestnut, but I've never found them. The higher mountains here in Bedford County are not the same now as they were 50 years ago with the Chestnut dead falls.
chestnut is so gorgeous. I lived down the street from an early 2 story colonial house (late 1700's) in NH with 18" wide chestnut floor boards, and entirely chestnut doors, trim, etc in the whole house. I understand why everyone loves it. GORGEOUS.
I think for proof of abundance, at least in the Virginia Blue Ridge, one only needs to look at photos taken when Shenandoah National Park was established. That was around 1932. The photos show a sea of snags, composed of dead American chestnuts. I think you’re right that American chestnut did not dominate the entire Eastern deciduous forest. But on ridges in the Appalachian and ridge and valley province, it was quite dominant. I have known and talked to people who were alive before the Chestnut blight. They have told me of vast stands of chestnuts, which turned the landscape white during blooming season. In my walks in the Appalachians, I see countless chestnut trees trying for their place in the sun before succumbing to the blight. I have a photo of the mountains where I hike taken in 1917. It shows a basically uninterrupted stand of American chestnut on the ridge. In Southern Maryland, there are still very large chestnut snags standing, after having survived into the 1960’s. A magnificent tree. I’ll never see old growth chestnut in my life, but I hope that a blight resistant strain is developed.
Jay Kaminski 1 second ago I wrote my Masters Thesis on the future prospects of the restoration of the American chestnut. From my understanding, the forests of the eastern US before Europeans (particularly The Appalachia’s) consisted of far more mature, climax type species like eastern hemlock, white pine, etc. than currently. American chestnut is a more earlier successional type species that thrives in high sunlight conditions. I believe it became far more common after Europeans arrived and logged and disturbed the entire region. Once this occurred, the species did become a dominant species across much of Appalachia. I look at the American chestnut as not a dominant species before Europeans, but a dominant species about the 100-200 years after prior to chestnut blight, at least across Appalachia.
Very good point - something I thought might alter the perspective regarding dominance because their numbers at the time they were all dying made the most memorable experience by those documenting the decline.
Forests are not uniform and they change over time, for many forests our lifespan is insufficient to really see the full impact of these changes in species mixtures. Then toss in site, slope, slope direction, soil type, bedrock type, moisture regime, soil nutrient status, temperature range, time since last major disturbance, type of disturbance and on top of all of that each species specific requirements for optimal growth and survival. So yes of course there were areas that were Dominated by American Chestnut but a mile away there may have been none at all while in other locations they were dying off to be replaced by other tree species then other areas where they were becoming the dominate species for a period of time.
@@chriscohlmeyer4735 Interesting comment, I think the natives purposely planted chestnuts as future food trees. Before humans all landscapes were in constant succession based on changing influences. Climax forests were grown eating the dead bodies of tree ancestors. Humans have reversed this process, I'm thinking humans won't stop logging, as thus taking the nutrients for forests off the landscape, until there is only pioneering scrub that burns off from time to time. Already there in many more sensitive areas. Climax forests will probably never again exist. I almost think this video is click bait, but there again, it stimulates thought.
The most encouraging "news" available for some of us: no war, no inflation woes, the majestic scientific miracle that is bringing our friend the American Chestnut back into our lives.
I think their massive size is a big part of the equation. Their usefulness had a large part to do with the claim too, I would guess. Oaks, hickory generally were worked with when still green in the days before power tools, chestnut was not too hard to drive a nail through when dried. I grew up with a stand of root sprouting chestnut trees still around in the 1980s in southern Ohio. They would get to 6-8" diameter and die, they grew more as a big shrub than a lage tree. They entire face of one ridge had been covered with them, and the rotten blown out stumps and a few massive rotten logs were still there. It was a rocky sandstone and mudstone, near cliff for the top 300' of the ridge, where the chestnuts had dominated. (Where the chestnuts grew, is by my Grandma, they were deffinitely American Chestnuts when I was a kid, because ODNR had gotten sapplings and multiple times for restoration projects, I think some actually went to Tennessee.) Guessing the huge rotting logs were on the ridge because they were near impossible to access with horses when they were stil good lumber) Great video as always.
Very interesting/ great comment! I went to College in Southern Ohio and sometimes when we were out in the forest for class the Professor would always point one out if it was present. Makes me wander how many were in Northern Ohio since that's where I'm from.
Excellent video and great research. I was once a part owner of a 500 acre property in Clinton county PA outside of lock haven. The property boasts a log cabin built by the previous owner circa 1952. The cabin was constructed completely of American chestnut using only hand tools. I was of the opinion that it was widespread, but according to your research our area is where it occurred in its highest density. I have heard that Penn state has been working for years on breeding a blight resistant American chestnut that retains 99% of its DNA, but haven’t read anything recently.
Even I was not interested in the topic, once I start listening to his talking and I couldn’t stop, end up I learnt something, very well explained👍. And I love chestnut 🌰.
I think it'd be interesting to compare the forest from early european settlement (1600-1700s ) to the forest from the 1800s and early 1900s. It seems reasonable that land clearing eliminated a disproportionate number of generalist trees growing in valleys and bottom lands. Chestnut and other 'niche' species that preferred ridges and slopes may have represented a larger percentage at that time period do to the removal of other forest types. This could be another possible explanation why some sources claim it was a dominant species.
Wow this guy is a solid professional so enjoyable to listen to him discuss a topic that he clearly has the passion for but also clearly highly intelligent and educated I'm glad for him
Excellent and interesting video! In isolated parts of eastern West Virginia where I grew up you can still find small stands of chestnuts on shady, leeward, rocky and wet mountainsides, the kind of locations you also find 4-prong ginseng. Grows among the black soil and small limestone rocks. Wet, but well-drained. Follow those slopes to lower spots where you can find morels. These locations are quite magical, and still exist today, the chestnut trees greatly diminished. (Monongahela National Forest, WV)
Adam, Thank you so mush for doing a video on American chestnut! Yes! the chestnuts are more akin to the eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, in their importance. They were dominant locally on specific environments where the survivors are still found today. I find it very frustrating that the focus on their restoration seems to start at them being a "dominant" tree, when trees don't need to 'dominant' to be important. I am glad you made this video because I am always looking forward to your videos. And in particular, I'd like to thank you for drawing attention to this less visible, yet still important species.
I've heard that chestnuts were a tree particularly prized and cultivated by Native Americans because of the ease of processing the nuts and it's relatively soft wood, which is important when using stone axes. It might be a case where sites suitable for settlement had been previously occupied by Native Americans, with planted chestnuts in those areas skewing the perception of the forest.
Great video Adam, I know of one large American chestnut tree near my camp at Clear creek state forest. Many sprouts grow out from old dead tree's only to died from the blight. What I and I'm sure others would like to see is the progress of the blight resistant chestnut trees being developed and raised at Penn State and other research facilities. It would be great to see such a video coming from you.
I sure would love to taste a roasted chestnut. They used to be sold on the streets of big cities in North America by vendors with carts . They were very common until the blight started killing them off. The reference to " Chestnuts roasting on an open fire " in the song " Have yourself a merry little Christmas", envoked memorable images of a familiar smell that was universally recognized by most people living in North America at the time the song was written. The line in the song referring to Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, is still a memorable line. But few people know what a chestnut is in these days. And including myself, very few people know what Chestnuts smell like, or taste like when roasted. The trees were over harvested due to the valuable furniture that people made from their wood. Many of the wildlife species in their relied on the chestnut trees for food. Including swarms of bees in the spring when the trees were in full bloom. I have some very old furniture made from American Chestnut . People should think before they clear-cut old growth forests. We can always plant new trees, but we cannot restore ecosystems that are lost by clear cutting forests, and introducing foreign species. Every plant comes with its micro organisms.
I’m 65 years old and I have personally walked in to homes that were built out of nothing but American chesnut , also know people who were born in that same home , also seen with my own eyes the remnants of this great tree ,, fallen hollow logs , some of which were five or six foot through , it was a mighty chore to have to navigate in the North Carolina mountains after all these giant trees fell , to crawl over one meant to be five ft from the ground or more , had I only have known to record all that I saw as a young man ,just to have witnessed such a mighty tree is a grevious memory.
Pre-settlement. What about the period between post-settlement and blyte? Interesting that one of your sources was around Lake Ontario area. I recently read some geological survey reports of my area near Lake Ontario. I wanted info on ground, soils, and water tables because I was drilling a well. In a report writen some years prior to the blyte, the report noted American Chestnut being the dominant tree species in our forest. My folks, in their mid-80's now, said Chestnut trees were every where when they were kids.
I grew up in NJ we had American Chestnut everywhere in the 70s I remember picking up the spikey fruit. We purchased a house in Central Pennsylvania it was framed with American Chestnut 🌰 I don't know about dominance but they were everywhere, I haven't see one in decades at least not the fruit.
My mom has a massive American Chestnut on her property sadly i think it has blight and is slowly declining year by year. On a plus side i have found a few saplings that have taken root and seem to be doing good so far.
I agree with you, Adam. I think the American Chestnut was common here, but not as common as most think. As with most tree species, they are spotty. As one walks through the woods, he will move between different species concentrations. One acre may be dominated with oaks, another with maples, still another with ash trees. Those reports were probably perpetuated by the fact that chestnuts were majestic trees, much more noticeable than maples and oaks, thus remembered longer. I hope the American Chestnut comes back. It was one of the most important mast trees in PA.
Chestnut not being as abundant as once thought will help make it easier to re-establish the tree to previous levels. Kind of a glass half full thing...
I read Susan Freinkel’s “American Chestnut” many years ago, so my information and recollection may be faulty. I thought one of our big mistakes in dealing with the blight, was to rush out and cut down ALL the trees. This isolated the few survivors, rendering them unable to pollinate each other. We didn’t understand back then (early 1900’s) that usually about 10% of any species will have a natural immunity to a new disease.
I'm of Melungeon ethnicity who still lives on their ancestral land in Northeast Mississippi. I grew up hearing stories of our chestnut dominated forest from my great grandparents. And my family land still has dead chestnut trunks all throughout my forest. Forest that my family has reside on since before the US existed
According to my granddad, who lived in the mountains of North Carolina, very close to Joyce kilmer national Forest. He worked for a logging company. He told me that while the woods were full of Red, and White Oaks. He always talked about how huge and tall the chestnut trees were. We used to hunt, when I was a child. And the stumps of the Chestnut trees were still there. And they were so big both of us could sit comfortably inside the stumps and use them for ground blinds. Some were as big as Volkswagen beetles. As of 20 years ago the stumps still remained. I don't know if they were the majority of the trees, but they definitely were the most noticeable. The water table has been dropping for years in the mountains. He also told me if you were thirsty while cutting wood, and there was not a spring of water nearby; he said that the soil was so moist, that you could stomp your boot heel in the ground, and in a few minutes, you would have the equivalent of a bowl full of clean clear water. Hope that this helps someone.
Good stuff. Breaks my heart to think of countless saplings dying of blight still today. Such an important tree to the history of this land. Glad to learn some myth debunking. Great length of the video.
Here in Belgium there is an artboretum, that was planted ±200 years ago, where a C. dentata recently was found to naturally reproduce, which isn't very common for "exotic" species. It was an American botanist on holliday that remarked it, it would be an understatement to say he didn't expect to find it over here doing just fine :p I think a growing program or something like that is in progress atm
Since they were such a huge tree their dying was noticeable and striking. My grandmother talked about it. She was born in 1898. I live in southern Michigan and watching how quickly the emerald ash borer has destroyed all the ash trees in the area.
I am very grateful to my parents for raising me in central Wisconsin...spent my youth "In the woods"...Beach trees 3' in diameter...mostly mature... ELM...Red Oak...Chestnut...Ironwood and wild Ginseng...Trilliums... Puff Balls 2' in diameter...even deep woods Indian Mounds, Petrified Wood and Isinglass rocks, I took home a piece I could hardly carry...most has been Raped at the behest of Zion Bankers quest to control the world...Chestnuts were rare but there...and more chipmunks than you could count...
I tell you we must have been neighbors because I grew up in the exact same environment in the exact same state. In the late '60s early '70s I came across the chestnut tree and I had to ask my dad what it was. He said he couldn't believe it that he had not seen one of those since he was a child back in the twenties. I'll have to go back someday and see those trees are still there
Great video! I never would have considered this bit of common knowledge false, since I live in one of the historically highly chestnut-dominated areas--a rocky north slope of the Blue Mountain, in the area where Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, and Lehigh counties meet. I believe there was mention of the abundance of chestnut in the diaries of the Moravian missionaries in the 1750s. There are a ton of place names starting with Chestnut going back to the early 1800s, when the area was settled by white farmers (not a lot of Lenape names survive). The slope of the mountain was too steep in most places to cut timber, so it stayed pretty well untouched (and there are still remnants of stumps and logs up here, a hundred years later). When I was in high school in the 90s, I interviewed a local resident (b. 1898! which blew my mind) for a history project; he was a young man when the chestnut blight got here and we talked a lot about its impact (especially on the wildlife, but also how the mountain looked in the summer, with all the skeletons of the dead trees). I've been thinking about this a lot the last few years, because in 2017-18 we had a massive oak die-off from a combination of drought and gypsy moths and I've wondered how it compares with the chestnut die-off. I know it's been terrible for the deer and other wildlife. The hemlocks are dying too and I wonder what's going to be left in 20 years.
Farther to the north Eastern Hemlock survives in certain stands in certain climes. It's possible they could evolve resistance here or father north and come back 1,000s of years from now. maybe sooner if we helped. It was my favorite tree before the adelgid. I long for the day its shade can form the place where a future Tom Riddle might meet the Devil once again.
Great info! I work with various Castanea species and hybrids, and they are amazing trees! Chestnuts definitely have their preferences for well drained soils, and can really suffer from low spots and areas with poor drainage. It's not surprising that the American chestnut would be overtaken by other species in these places.
It's a shame that there's not a way to cross a horse chestnut with an American chestnut. Horse chestnut grow all around my place like weeds. Especially in the wetland next to the creek.
im in eastern PA and i have two beautiful old chestnuts growing right by me... they put off such a good crop this year it was amazing!! i must have buried a few hundred of them throughout the surrounding woods (mostly oak, pine, and maple) in nice open areas. i hope they take root in the spring i would love to see them make a comeback. the wildlife go nuts for them. funny watching deer jump up and down on them trying to get the spiked shells to pop open.
I'm in the Southeastern part of West Virginia and I guess I'm lucky enough to have a chestnut on my property. The fruit of the chestnut that comes off of my tree is an acquired taste as it has a bitter somewhat acidic taste to it even after roasting.
Thank you for such an informative video. We have a park in Louisville, Kentucky that has a plot of land dedicated to growing American Chestnut tress. I have been enjoying watching the progress these young tree saplings are making.
I remember one of these trees being on my grandparents street. I get the feeling that it was taken down because it “makes such a mess”. So much for intelligent people 🙈
We have a few near my house. The largest is about 40 feet tall. In the spring when it goes in bloom the odor can be a bit harsh. It reminds me of the Bradford Pear smell. I can't imagine a whole forest in bloom. It would be brutal.
Great video. I live in southeastern Indiana with steep rolling hills and realized 40 years ago that each species prefers a different soil type and topography. My favorite wood to saw on my mill is tulip poplar but I have to go twenty miles north to flat country to find a single tree. The same for beech.
Great video and very appropriate for me as I was one of those who was under the impression that chestnut was "the dominant tree of eastern forests" . Thank you
When we were kids in new england we all gathered chestnuts and put a shoestring through the center and played a game where you smacked the other guys chestnut with your chestnut, if you broke your opponents chestnut, you won! It was a big deal back then, late 50's they were beautiful, color and glossy.
I always feel a sense of awed respect when I find chestnut sprouts, knowing that the tree's roots are well over a hundred years old. The roots have stayed alive all these years by sending up sprouts, which, although they eventually die from the blight, make enough energy to keep the roots sending up more sprouts. What persistence!
You’re confusing the question of ‘was chestnut dominant at the time of settlement’ and ‘was it dominant in 1900’ . I believe it is generally accepted that the indiscriminate logging of the Colonial and Victorian eras massively advantaged chestnut due to its spectacular sprouting capability.
I planted several restoration American Chestnut seeds that I got from the American Chestnut Foundation. I would like to see the tree make a comeback. Very interesting video! I am in Wisconsin in a mostly oak area, so maybe my trees will feel at home - if the blight doesn't get them 😮
It would be interesting to know the dates of the studies and level of settlement . They were prized trees for building cabins because of their rot and termite resistance . The numbers might have been off because of harvesting them . Just a thought
Any success? I've got a half dozen producers of unknown parentage collected over the past thirty years with more placed out waiting for maturity. Switzerland County. Deer love them, I'm kinda fond of them too......
Thanks for this instructive video. I had been lead to believe by several videos and organizations like the American Chestnut Foundation that this tree WAS the dominant tree in eastern forests! I really appreciate you doing this research and sharing it with us. I do wonder why this claim has been made by so many and then realize that biomass might have had something to do with this claim, as these trees could get massive compared to any other eastern forest tree. I have grown chestnuts for over 20 years and chestnut blight is not their only challenge. American Chestnuts do not like to grow in swampy areas as they get root rot easily and a significant amount of swampy areas exist in the eastern forest. I often wonder if any species of fungi went extinct along with the "functionally extinct" status that the American Chestnut now has, as the biomass of the leaves would have been a great substrate for many fungi, and has essentially been gone from eastern forests for over 50 years. Anyone know of studies about pre-extinction forests and fungi?....Anyway, I am breeding chestnuts that are 3/4 American and 1/4 Chinese and I am hopeful they may have significant blight resistance...but maybe it will be too late if the GE Chestnuts are approved by the FDA anytime soon.
Living in NWPA, I have had difficulty getting started trees to grow; whereas just a little farther south and east, it seems to grow with ease. I postulate, as you suggested, that growing conditions, soil composition, and overall harshness if climate contribute. I do also think, if a chestnut tree gets an earlier start than neighboring oaks and hemlock, a single chestnut can dominate the canopy, with a higher and broader reach. So, depending upon the inferred meaning of dominant, if height and overall reach are meant, and not sheer number, the may have dominated in some areas. I live in Warren County, where we still have some old growth forests in protected areas, but chestnuts don't seem to do well overall. That being said, in protected areas, in Central PA, I have observed old growth chestnut that are beat up, broken, and battered, that still produce viable nuts. My son in law gathers said nuts, they readily germinate, and thrive in buckets there; when we bring them here to grow, they fail every time. They have rockier, drier soil, the slope is more severe and it is warmer and less impacted by lake effect weather than I get on the Allegheny watershed area.
Ahh, so you live in the artic circle of PA. My wife is from there. Yes, the NWPA is not great growing conditions for chestnut because of the colder climate and very importantly the poor soil drainage that is a result of topography, parent material, and glaciation. However, I agree and have witnessed (through records of old men) that any tree once established , may thrive in areas where it otherwise would not be found.
I have been fortunate enough to acquire some chestnut lumber from standing dead trees. It is a wonderful wood to build things from. Light, strong, and pretty grain. The biggest living chestnuts I have ever seen had about 250 board feet in them (maybe 19 inches at chest high). It would be great if they arrive at a cultivar that can be re-introduced to american forests, because it is a valuable and useful forest product.
A very interesting video, as usual, Adam! Including the names of the research papers in your video was super useful. I get a real kick out of finding even just the "ghosts" of the trees, dying trees that are still producing root suckers. I have found a few such dying trees here in a New York City park. Finding a mature and fruiting tree in upstate NY was the biggest thrill!
I remodeled an early American home in North western Connecticut a few years ago. After removing layers of more modern coverings from the floors and walls we found original slabs of native chestnut 18-26" wide to both floors and walls. A great find which we repurposed. I also remember collecting the nuts as a boy from three large trees in our town. Unfortunately they were taken down for developments.
This is really interesting information. Just a thought why this is believed by so many people today is it was such a big thing to the people it effected that generations later we still have hear the stories from grandparents and great grandparents. That is at least the cast for me. Thank you for this very interesting video.
My grandfather was a lumberjack. He said that the chestnut was one of faster growing trees. They would be some of the larger trees in areas that had been harvested.
I absolutely love learning about Pennsylvania forests, trees, fungi and whatever Adam is willing to teach us. I look forward to every video just wish there were more and they were longer. 😊🙂😀☺😊
Here in Indiana, I've always been taught - and from dnr- that white oak was the back bone of indiana forests. Settlers left accounts of their pigs fattening on acorns, as well as turkey, etc . The passenger pigeon and white oak seedlings went hand in hand.
As someone who was highly allergic to the Chesnut tree, I do not regret the loss of that particular tree. The oplen made me break out in hives if I came within 1/2 a mile of one. Picking up a leaf put me in the hospital a few times as a kid until the ran some allergy tests and discovered the cause. Thank God I never ate a chesnut!
Adam I am very happy you took the time to find the truth. I too believed the American Chestnut was extinct and incapable of producing viable fruit, based on many TH-cam videos. This is why I asked your opinion a year ago. The ACF has a big stake in this issue because they are developing a blight-resistant variety and claim it is based on American stock. I was interested in planting some native seeds here in Ohio but have had no luck finding any and am opposed to any genetically modified option. Thanks again! I hope you will follow this subject in the future.
I think that a lot of amateur naturalists already know this, but are not in a position to publicly disagree with the scientists that have been parroting dubious facts and skewed data for so many years.
I was told as an undergrad in the '70s that the origin of the "Purple Valley" of Williams College in Westerm Mass was due to the chestnut forests on the surrounding slopes. All passed on as of then but remembered by poets "Smoldering at the roots and sensing up new shoots..." Not so per your citations.. Love your channel always learning Thanks!
As an antique lover and an ESFer, I appreciate your bringing this up. But I know I have been to many forts that were supposedly built from the might chestnuts of the region, of furniture that was supposedly made from chestnut wood. I wonder what the chance is it was Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) that shares some of the same area. Just a thought. Great analysis.
Great video Adam! Bringing the Chestnut tree issue under the spotlight only makes for more interest and hopefully more action to help recover this wonderful resource!
My forester friend in Summerville west virginia showed me a mountain side in monroe county wv that was white with chestnut bloom in the 1920s!! My father made a living , buying , logging and sawing chestnuts corpse in Preston county wv in late 40s and early 50s. It seems certain south facing hillsides were populated with Catania dentista . I’m a life long educator and nurseryman from Preston county , I helped start a small chestnut festival in Rowlesburg, wv!! Love your videos ! I raise mushrooms and study wild ones and consume!
One thing missing in all this is that chestnut was the preferred wood for furniture, wagons and such before power tools. It was a hard wood that did not easily split by nail or hammer and was easier to saw. So a lot of chestnuts were harvested first for such uses. We had a big one in our little backyard when I was a kid. Spent lots of time in it. Easy and fun to climb, my double story tree platform, harvesting the nuts and oiling them to take to school to give away. I nice thing to rub in your pocket.
My house was built during the early part of the 20th century and all the original trim and woodwork inside is chestnut. We have a Chestnut St, and I've heard local historians talk about chestnut season where many people would be out collecting chestnuts and vendors would be out on the street selling roasted chestnuts.
Adam , as always once again you did a really great job . I collected a huge bag of these weird knots and I have no idea what they are as they are not walnuts , pecans , acorns or hazelnuts . The sheath they come in kind of looks like it has a little Sombrero hat at the top .
I have an American Chestnut that is documented to have survived blight. The former owner of our farm is the one who told us that as a child, someone came and examined it and certified it. I haven't actually seen that cert but it is old, large and is always ina state of dying. It still ages very few Chestnuts but I did manage to get three nuts this year with no worm holes to plant 🙏🏼💚🌳
Maybe there is a way to save it by making you two batches of water with special things in it that will help to revive it ... maybe soak a lot of Goji berries and put that in the water and maybe also IMMORTALITY tea whuch you can buy at Asian Grocers ...it's also called Jiao Gu Lan ...( jzhow good lon ) .
Maybe you could add some good quality saffron to that water .
@@gardensofthegods thank you for this wonderful information 🙏🏼 ❤
So lucky to have such a specimen, good luck with the seeds! I would also try starting cuttings from the tree, if you can reach any branches lol
@@krimmer66 great idea. I may have to wait until spring to recognize the best viable options but a great idea, thanks 😊
@@gimomable depending on where you are, if climate allows, you could take cuttings now or in spring.. best wishes!
"If you want to start growing chestnut trees from cuttings, find a young, healthy tree with strong greenwood. Use sterilized garden clippers to take a 6- to 10-inch (15-25 cm.) cutting from a terminal branch tip about as thick as a crayon. Slice off the bark from two sides of the cutting base, then dip the base in a root-promoting compound. Poke the lower half of the cutting into a moist mix of sand and peat in a planting container, then place the pot in a plastic bag and keep it in indirect light. Water the soil mix to keep it moist and mist it every other day until roots emerge. Then transplant it into a container with good potting soil. Continue watering. Transplant the trees to their permanent locations the following fall."
My grandfather born in1906 in Kentucky (east central), told me, his father told him, that in the woods on our farm, if you look in any direction you will see a Chestnuts tree. It made one of the best woods for fire, and great furniture. It fed deer, hogs, squirrels, and many other animals and people. By the time my grandfather was a late teen there were hardly any. Thanks for this Adam.
Adam, this is a well-documented and interesting presentation. The reports you reference clearly support the view that the American chestnut was not as dominant prior to European settlement in most of its range as many have claimed. However, there's an aspect to this story that you did not discuss, and which shouldn't be ignored. That's the impact of the massive logging - much of it clearcutting, that took place in the Northeast in the 1700s and 1800s. The American chestnut is extremely efficient at sprouting from its roots. When a forest that included some chestnut was clear cut, chestnuts would sprout back much more vigorously than competing species. The result would be a forest 50 years later with a significantly higher percentage of chestnut than before the logging. Faison and Foster, in the article that you reference, discuss this aspect. They wrote "..(logging).. actually promoted chestnut to dominance in parts of its range where it hadn’t been dominant before. Chestnut’s remarkable ability to sprout vigorously from cut stumps, including those of large diameter and advanced age, made it better adapted to intensive logging than any other hardwood tree including oaks. As the early Connecticut foresters Hawley and Hawes (1912) wrote, “this sprouting capacity of the species is its strongest characteristic and the one by which with each successive cutting it gains in the struggle for existence with the rival inmates of the woodlot.” Likely due to the impact of intensive logging, the American chestnut probably did become dominant in a larger portion of its range by 1900. This can explain why the perception of chestnut's former dominance is so widespread, and why, for example, the famous forester Joseph S. Illick, writing in his book Pennsylvania Trees (1925 edition), said of the chestnut, "It was formerly the most common tree of Pennsylvania." Mike Aucott
Excellent info, thank you. I was wondering about the focus on pre-European colonization. The stories about chestnut being a "cradle to grave" tree -- i.e. your crib was made of it, as was your coffin (which seems doubtful) -- are from Appalachia, as far as I know. Mountainous areas.
While much of the "eastern forest" was logged and farms put in, by the mid-1800's, a lot of New Englanders were abandoning their farms for the more arable, less rocky land to the west. So there would have been time for the chestnut to become more dominant. Numerically, anyway. Likely not in the size it used to have.
I was wondering about that, to add, I do a fair amount of hiking and recognize CD occasionally with the dead trunk but with multiple sprouts all around it. I am pretty amazed that it can continue to sprout for as long as it has, dare I say 80 or 90 years in Virginia? That's some pretty hardy behavior in adverse conditions, one could believe it would be a pretty aggressive under much better conditions. I could also see farmers encouraging its growth too.
"The reports you reference clearly support the view that the American chestnut was not as dominant prior to European settlement in most of its range as many have claimed."
Those reports do not have definitive data to make any such conclusion. How do they know what was dominant prior to white settlement?
"They wrote "..(logging).. actually promoted chestnut to dominance in parts of its range where it hadn’t been dominant before."
Yes, but how much exactly is hard to know- so it's an open question. Not all logging was clear cutting. Actually, with very heavy cutting you're likely to get early succession species like grey and white birch, pin cherry, poplar and many others- depending on which species are available for seeding.
Another way to look at the issue is- even if chestnut made up, say, 20% of the trees on any particular site- because that species can grow so big, it might have made up a majority of the cubic foot volume of the trees and, what we foresters say, the "basal area" of the stand. Also, much of the landscape has been thoroughly altered. Land that is now in agriculture- it's impossible to say what the species make up was in pre settlement times- except in generalities.
I've been a forester in Massachusetts for half a century- so I have a pretty good sense of how forests develop over time and how they respond to logging- whether clear cut or partial cut. Since we don't have the data and never will- it'll remain an open question.
By the way, several years ago I planted 3 hybrid chestnuts gotten from the American Chestnut Foundation. They were 15/16 American and 1/16 Chinese chestnut. Two died within a few years- the other is growing very nicely and is now about 15' tall.
@@JoeZorzin That's why Adam reported the claim of pre-contact dominance as "unsubstantiated." I think the point he was making is that, as with so many other things in life, when one person/entity in an echo chamber says something, many others repeat it as given.
Mike, I find your thoughts and observations interesting! You reference the resilience and strength of the Chestnut to reproduce itself with efficiency when cut down with new sprouts quickly growing from the parent stock of the stump or root years ago prior to the blight. In my South Carolina 'neck of the woods,' I see the same being true of the sweet Gum which is extremely prolific and will send new sprouts that grow quickly with little threat from any other species or enemies. Unfortunately, the common sweet gum has very few desirable qualities it seems, and is considered a nuisance in most cases. The fruit or "gumballs" as we know them, also add to our dislike! Phil Upstate S. Carolina
It’s an honor to have a nice person like you dedicated to propagate information important to people like me.
I spent many years of my professional life as an interpretive naturalist. I find your interweaving of fun, interesting facts with scientific research masterful. I look forward to your next video.
A wonderful profession! :-)
I have a customer who has a copse of chestnuts that produce heavily every year. She said the whole ridge behind her house was one covered with them but after the blight hit only the dozen or so remained. She gives seed to a chestnut restoration group every year and also to her plumber (me!) to try to breed a more resistant tree and roast a few as well. She's in her 90s but her children keep up the farm and the trees.
My mother told me an interesting story. My grandfather had an American chestnut tree in his backyard that survived the blight. He would bring chestnuts to work to eat during his lunch. He worked in a factory back then. I forget what kind but mom said his clothes would sparkle in the sun after being washed so... Anyway, a man saw him eating the chestnuts and asked him about them. The man was a part of an effort to conserve the American chestnut and they were not able to find fruiting trees to plant. My grandfather told him he'd bring him a bucket of them. And not only that, but he did that for years. Every year he would bring a bucket of chestnuts to this man. Mom claims that hundreds of American chestnuts that were planted in Pennsylvania are decedents from the one in my grandfather's backyard.
It is an interesting story but it is also an example of why human propegation of plant species is problematic. Plants exist in an ecological gradient with genetic biodiversity across an area. Because where they land they grow replicate and are crossed via pollinators when you take a ton of examples of one plant and spread it unnaturally you sort of collapse that genetic variety.
We see this clearly with animal sexual reproduction where you would find it really odd if we said hey Chuck you're a hunk lets breed you with women all over the place to spread your seed so more of the next generations come from your lineage. We would go oh thats not good from an impreeding perspective. But people forget that biodiversity of plants is also good.
See bananas.
Great family story. Thank you for sharing.
@@pbgd3 Absolutely, many times a species could have quite distinct populations even over small distances and relatively minor barriers, which are already at risk through habitat destruction, planting essentially monocultures of a single mass produced variety everywhere for "conservation" only serves to obliterate the genetic diversity. Not to mention in these cases the chestnut tree could even be a hybrid, it would have been difficult to determine in the circumstances.
@@pbgd3 For me, I often only have a single plant to collect seed from as I've bought seed or a plant and only have one mature. I kind of don't have an option, especially when I am "restoring" a typical .25 acre suburban lot. I'm not getting seed from an established location. I do realize this is an issue though.
@@pbgd3 That's all well and nice, but when you're short of breeding stock, you use what you have, and they did.
This is a tree that excites me. It’s historical impact, it’s impact as a food for man and beast... I’m hoping for a great recovery.
The American Chestnut foundation is working on it. They are trying to come up with a Blight resistant American variety.
Me too!
Kevin, find your local chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation... Even if you only volunteer a few hours here and there, they generally are in need of support to plant, and weed and whatever.
Get some seeds from the American Chestnut Foundation and plant them. I did 😊
I know they've done some large plantings
I just found your channel today. As someone who lived in Philly for 40+ years I never ate anything that didn't come from a market. I recently moved a few miles outside the city, have some lawn in the yard but don't care for "weed killers" herbicides. & learning to appreciate the land and God given food &nutrition. Thank you for having such an extensive library. I have a lot of catching up to do, but wanted to let you know how much I am grateful to have found your content.
I live in New Hartford, CT, on a small mountain. We do have American Chestnut on our mountain. We got hit with gypsy moths that killed huge amounts of our oak trees three years ago. Giving the Chestnuts the room now to grow bigger and expand. Thanks for the info.
Very informative! I have been working with American Chestnut trees in NC for approximately 15 years now and have a couple that are quite large(For their age). One was producing nuts at less than seven years of age. I collect nuts and start them every year in hopes that some will survive the blight.
Adam, I love your videos! As an herbalist and elementary teacher, I appreciate your research, humor, and dedication to teaching us about our land and the many sacred life forms that share it. Thank you!
I'm not sure if you saw the article "Native American influences on the forest composition of the Allegheny Plateau, northwest Pennsylvania" from 2006 (Black et. al.) where it discusses the change in abundance of chestnut relative to indigenous village distance.
I was doing a forest inventory survey for ANF a few years ago and was shocked by the dominance of AMCH in the understory because most of the nearby forest was beech / maple type - this article explained a lot.
Another interesting topic is the "black forest" of NC PA where all the writings say it was 80% white pine / hemlock. There are a few good articles out there showing how this perception was distorted by the fact most people travelling through the area used the river valleys (because steep hills suck) and commented only on the composition of the.. valleys - and ignored the plateaus that were mostly white oak / beech.
You work hard to make all these videos. Thank you for always finding a way to make information easy to digest.
I'm in central Virginia. I'm 68 and when I was about 14 an old man told me before the blight you could look at the mountains and ridges and see the Chestnut trees towering above all others. He was disturbed by the blight and was hoping for a comeback.
They were cut for lumber years after they died because they were very rot resistant.
I remember stepping over many fallen Chestnuts when I was in my 20's and 30's. If they were not laying on the ground, like laying on rocks or other trees, they were good for decades.
As 70 year old Virginian I remember everything you have mention above. I once lived in a old house built in around 1820, the all the timber and joists were chestnut that were notched and pegged. It still stands:)
@@dougnanceywoodson5020 Thanks Doug.
I've heard of someone in Rockbridge Baths that sells re-sawn Chestnut, but I've never found them.
The higher mountains here in Bedford County are not the same now as they were 50 years ago with the Chestnut dead falls.
Clint's chainsaws ... interesting story thank you for that little bit of modern history .
@@gardensofthegods Ubetchu.
Happy 2022.
@@ClintsHobbiesDIY thank you very much my dear and you too I hope 2022 is a much better year for all of us
chestnut is so gorgeous. I lived down the street from an early 2 story colonial house (late 1700's) in NH with 18" wide chestnut floor boards, and entirely chestnut doors, trim, etc in the whole house. I understand why everyone loves it. GORGEOUS.
In a previous video I, and others apparently, asked Adam to find a mature American Chestnut and he did just that. Good man.
Haha Yep! nice to see he reads our comments.
Excellent video. Thank you for all your hard work. Certified Arborist and Forestry Technician.
First video I’ve seen questioning the true density of American Chestnut in the Eastern forests. Great work! I love to see the objectiveness.
Cheers!
I think for proof of abundance, at least in the Virginia Blue Ridge, one only needs to look at photos taken when Shenandoah National Park was established. That was around 1932. The photos show a sea of snags, composed of dead American chestnuts. I think you’re right that American chestnut did not dominate the entire Eastern deciduous forest. But on ridges in the Appalachian and ridge and valley province, it was quite dominant. I have known and talked to people who were alive before the Chestnut blight. They have told me of vast stands of chestnuts, which turned the landscape white during blooming season. In my walks in the Appalachians, I see countless chestnut trees trying for their place in the sun before succumbing to the blight. I have a photo of the mountains where I hike taken in 1917. It shows a basically uninterrupted stand of American chestnut on the ridge. In Southern Maryland, there are still very large chestnut snags standing, after having survived into the 1960’s. A magnificent tree. I’ll never see old growth chestnut in my life, but I hope that a blight resistant strain is developed.
Thank you for the info. The story of this tree fascinates me and we need to preserve it!
Jay Kaminski
1 second ago
I wrote my Masters Thesis on the future prospects of the restoration of the American chestnut. From my understanding, the forests of the eastern US before Europeans (particularly The Appalachia’s) consisted of far more mature, climax type species like eastern hemlock, white pine, etc. than currently. American chestnut is a more earlier successional type species that thrives in high sunlight conditions. I believe it became far more common after Europeans arrived and logged and disturbed the entire region. Once this occurred, the species did become a dominant species across much of Appalachia. I look at the American chestnut as not a dominant species before Europeans, but a dominant species about the 100-200 years after prior to chestnut blight, at least across Appalachia.
Very good point - something I thought might alter the perspective regarding dominance because their numbers at the time they were all dying made the most memorable experience by those documenting the decline.
Thanks for the info.
Forests are not uniform and they change over time, for many forests our lifespan is insufficient to really see the full impact of these changes in species mixtures. Then toss in site, slope, slope direction, soil type, bedrock type, moisture regime, soil nutrient status, temperature range, time since last major disturbance, type of disturbance and on top of all of that each species specific requirements for optimal growth and survival. So yes of course there were areas that were Dominated by American Chestnut but a mile away there may have been none at all while in other locations they were dying off to be replaced by other tree species then other areas where they were becoming the dominate species for a period of time.
@@chriscohlmeyer4735 Interesting comment, I think the natives purposely planted chestnuts as future food trees.
Before humans all landscapes were in constant succession based on changing influences. Climax forests were grown eating the dead bodies of tree ancestors. Humans have reversed this process, I'm thinking humans won't stop logging, as thus taking the nutrients for forests off the landscape, until there is only pioneering scrub that burns off from time to time. Already there in many more sensitive areas.
Climax forests will probably never again exist. I almost think this video is click bait, but there again, it stimulates thought.
What are the future prospects of the restoration of the American chestnut? What does your thesis say about it?
Such a calm and reasonable presenter. Thank you. And the comments are so far above in quality than the comments you see on many TH-cam channels.
The most encouraging "news" available for some of us: no war, no inflation woes, the majestic scientific miracle that is bringing our friend the American Chestnut back into our lives.
I think their massive size is a big part of the equation. Their usefulness had a large part to do with the claim too, I would guess. Oaks, hickory generally were worked with when still green in the days before power tools, chestnut was not too hard to drive a nail through when dried. I grew up with a stand of root sprouting chestnut trees still around in the 1980s in southern Ohio. They would get to 6-8" diameter and die, they grew more as a big shrub than a lage tree. They entire face of one ridge had been covered with them, and the rotten blown out stumps and a few massive rotten logs were still there. It was a rocky sandstone and mudstone, near cliff for the top 300' of the ridge, where the chestnuts had dominated. (Where the chestnuts grew, is by my Grandma, they were deffinitely American Chestnuts when I was a kid, because ODNR had gotten sapplings and multiple times for restoration projects, I think some actually went to Tennessee.) Guessing the huge rotting logs were on the ridge because they were near impossible to access with horses when they were stil good lumber)
Great video as always.
Very interesting/ great comment! I went to College in Southern Ohio and sometimes when we were out in the forest for class the Professor would always point one out if it was present. Makes me wander how many were in Northern Ohio since that's where I'm from.
@@Mr3bedid Thanks, same here. I am sure there are little pockets hanging around. We always under estimate.
That's great! They're probably part of the current restoration effort if they went to TN! That the chestnut foundation HQ at Meadowview Orchards. :)
Excellent video and great research. I was once a part owner of a 500 acre property in Clinton county PA outside of lock haven. The property boasts a log cabin built by the previous owner circa 1952. The cabin was constructed completely of American chestnut using only hand tools. I was of the opinion that it was widespread, but according to your research our area is where it occurred in its highest density. I have heard that Penn state has been working for years on breeding a blight resistant American chestnut that retains 99% of its DNA, but haven’t read anything recently.
Even I was not interested in the topic, once I start listening to his talking and I couldn’t stop, end up I learnt something, very well explained👍.
And I love chestnut 🌰.
I think it'd be interesting to compare the forest from early european settlement (1600-1700s ) to the forest from the 1800s and early 1900s. It seems reasonable that land clearing eliminated a disproportionate number of generalist trees growing in valleys and bottom lands. Chestnut and other 'niche' species that preferred ridges and slopes may have represented a larger percentage at that time period do to the removal of other forest types. This could be another possible explanation why some sources claim it was a dominant species.
Wow this guy is a solid professional so enjoyable to listen to him discuss a topic that he clearly has the passion for but also clearly highly intelligent and educated I'm glad for him
Excellent and interesting video!
In isolated parts of eastern West Virginia where I grew up you can still find small stands of chestnuts on shady, leeward, rocky and wet mountainsides, the kind of locations you also find 4-prong ginseng. Grows among the black soil and small limestone rocks. Wet, but well-drained. Follow those slopes to lower spots where you can find morels. These locations are quite magical, and still exist today, the chestnut trees greatly diminished. (Monongahela National Forest, WV)
Adam, Thank you so mush for doing a video on American chestnut! Yes! the chestnuts are more akin to the eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, in their importance. They were dominant locally on specific environments where the survivors are still found today. I find it very frustrating that the focus on their restoration seems to start at them being a "dominant" tree, when trees don't need to 'dominant' to be important. I am glad you made this video because I am always looking forward to your videos. And in particular, I'd like to thank you for drawing attention to this less visible, yet still important species.
Well done. Thank you for pointing out this information. Too many writers and authorities just repeat information without verifying any of it.
Excellent work, Squire.
I've heard that chestnuts were a tree particularly prized and cultivated by Native Americans because of the ease of processing the nuts and it's relatively soft wood, which is important when using stone axes. It might be a case where sites suitable for settlement had been previously occupied by Native Americans, with planted chestnuts in those areas skewing the perception of the forest.
Great video Adam, I know of one large American chestnut tree near my camp at Clear creek state forest. Many sprouts grow out from old dead tree's only to died from the blight. What I and I'm sure others would like to see is the progress of the blight resistant chestnut trees being developed and raised at Penn State and other research facilities. It would be great to see such a video coming from you.
I sure would love to taste a roasted chestnut. They used to be sold on the streets of big cities in North America by vendors with carts .
They were very common until the blight started killing them off. The reference to " Chestnuts roasting on an open fire " in the song " Have yourself a merry little Christmas", envoked memorable images of a familiar smell that was universally recognized by most people living in North America at the time the song was written. The line in the song referring to Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, is still a memorable line. But few people know what a chestnut is in these days. And including myself, very few people know what Chestnuts smell like, or taste like when roasted. The trees were over harvested due to the valuable furniture that people made from their wood. Many of the wildlife species in their relied on the chestnut trees for food. Including swarms of bees in the spring when the trees were in full bloom. I have some very old furniture made from American Chestnut .
People should think before they clear-cut old growth forests.
We can always plant new trees, but we cannot restore ecosystems that are lost by clear cutting forests, and introducing foreign species. Every plant comes with its micro organisms.
I’m 65 years old and I have personally walked in to homes that were built out of nothing but American chesnut , also know people who were born in that same home , also seen with my own eyes the remnants of this great tree ,, fallen hollow logs , some of which were five or six foot through , it was a mighty chore to have to navigate in the North Carolina mountains after all these giant trees fell , to crawl over one meant to be five ft from the ground or more , had I only have known to record all that I saw as a young man ,just to have witnessed such a mighty tree is a grevious memory.
Pre-settlement. What about the period between post-settlement and blyte? Interesting that one of your sources was around Lake Ontario area. I recently read some geological survey reports of my area near Lake Ontario. I wanted info on ground, soils, and water tables because I was drilling a well. In a report writen some years prior to the blyte, the report noted American Chestnut being the dominant tree species in our forest. My folks, in their mid-80's now, said Chestnut trees were every where when they were kids.
I grew up in NJ we had American Chestnut everywhere in the 70s I remember picking up the spikey fruit. We purchased a house in Central Pennsylvania it was framed with American Chestnut 🌰 I don't know about dominance but they were everywhere, I haven't see one in decades at least not the fruit.
My mom has a massive American Chestnut on her property sadly i think it has blight and is slowly declining year by year. On a plus side i have found a few saplings that have taken root and seem to be doing good so far.
I agree with you, Adam. I think the American Chestnut was common here, but not as common as most think. As with most tree species, they are spotty. As one walks through the woods, he will move between different species concentrations. One acre may be dominated with oaks, another with maples, still another with ash trees. Those reports were probably perpetuated by the fact that chestnuts were majestic trees, much more noticeable than maples and oaks, thus remembered longer.
I hope the American Chestnut comes back. It was one of the most important mast trees in PA.
Chestnut not being as abundant as once thought will help make it easier to re-establish the tree to previous levels. Kind of a glass half full thing...
I read Susan Freinkel’s “American Chestnut” many years ago, so my information and recollection may be faulty. I thought one of our big mistakes in dealing with the blight, was to rush out and cut down ALL the trees. This isolated the few survivors, rendering them unable to pollinate each other. We didn’t understand back then (early 1900’s) that usually about 10% of any species will have a natural immunity to a new disease.
Really well-researched and balanced approach, thanks for doing all the work and being willing to ask questions that some may not like.
I'm of Melungeon ethnicity who still lives on their ancestral land in Northeast Mississippi. I grew up hearing stories of our chestnut dominated forest from my great grandparents. And my family land still has dead chestnut trunks all throughout my forest. Forest that my family has reside on since before the US existed
According to my granddad, who lived in the mountains of North Carolina, very close to Joyce kilmer national Forest. He worked for a logging company. He told me that while the woods were full of Red, and White Oaks. He always talked about how huge and tall the chestnut trees were. We used to hunt, when I was a child. And the stumps of the Chestnut trees were still there. And they were so big both of us could sit comfortably inside the stumps and use them for ground blinds. Some were as big as Volkswagen beetles. As of 20 years ago the stumps still remained. I don't know if they were the majority of the trees, but they definitely were the most noticeable. The water table has been dropping for years in the mountains. He also told me if you were thirsty while cutting wood, and there was not a spring of water nearby; he said that the soil was so moist, that you could stomp your boot heel in the ground, and in a few minutes, you would have the equivalent of a bowl full of clean clear water.
Hope that this helps someone.
Good stuff. Breaks my heart to think of countless saplings dying of blight still today. Such an important tree to the history of this land. Glad to learn some myth debunking. Great length of the video.
Thanks, Learn Your Land 🌱 Our neighbor has a huge, old, gnarled American Chestnut 🌰 and I cry a little thinking of what a living miracle it is . . .
Dude, your videos are absolutely excellent. We are always so excited to see notifications for new ones. Appreciate your mission. Keep growin', Adam
Lucy Braun's work is incredible. She is pretty well known by nature enthusiasts in Southern Ohio where I live. Fascinating video, Adam.
Here in Belgium there is an artboretum, that was planted ±200 years ago, where a C. dentata recently was found to naturally reproduce, which isn't very common for "exotic" species. It was an American botanist on holliday that remarked it, it would be an understatement to say he didn't expect to find it over here doing just fine :p I think a growing program or something like that is in progress atm
Since they were such a huge tree their dying was noticeable and striking. My grandmother talked about it. She was born in 1898. I live in southern Michigan and watching how quickly the emerald ash borer has destroyed all the ash trees in the area.
I am very grateful to my parents for raising me in central Wisconsin...spent my youth "In the woods"...Beach trees 3' in diameter...mostly mature... ELM...Red Oak...Chestnut...Ironwood and wild Ginseng...Trilliums... Puff Balls 2' in diameter...even deep woods Indian Mounds, Petrified Wood and Isinglass rocks, I took home a piece I could hardly carry...most has been Raped at the behest of Zion Bankers quest to control the world...Chestnuts were rare but there...and more chipmunks than you could count...
I tell you we must have been neighbors because I grew up in the exact same environment in the exact same state.
In the late '60s early '70s I came across the chestnut tree and I had to ask my dad what it was. He said he couldn't believe it that he had not seen one of those since he was a child back in the twenties. I'll have to go back someday and see those trees are still there
Great video! I never would have considered this bit of common knowledge false, since I live in one of the historically highly chestnut-dominated areas--a rocky north slope of the Blue Mountain, in the area where Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, and Lehigh counties meet.
I believe there was mention of the abundance of chestnut in the diaries of the Moravian missionaries in the 1750s. There are a ton of place names starting with Chestnut going back to the early 1800s, when the area was settled by white farmers (not a lot of Lenape names survive). The slope of the mountain was too steep in most places to cut timber, so it stayed pretty well untouched (and there are still remnants of stumps and logs up here, a hundred years later). When I was in high school in the 90s, I interviewed a local resident (b. 1898! which blew my mind) for a history project; he was a young man when the chestnut blight got here and we talked a lot about its impact (especially on the wildlife, but also how the mountain looked in the summer, with all the skeletons of the dead trees).
I've been thinking about this a lot the last few years, because in 2017-18 we had a massive oak die-off from a combination of drought and gypsy moths and I've wondered how it compares with the chestnut die-off. I know it's been terrible for the deer and other wildlife. The hemlocks are dying too and I wonder what's going to be left in 20 years.
Farther to the north Eastern Hemlock survives in certain stands in certain climes. It's possible they could evolve resistance here or father north and come back 1,000s of years from now. maybe sooner if we helped. It was my favorite tree before the adelgid. I long for the day its shade can form the place where a future Tom Riddle might meet the Devil once again.
Read my post above...about the Public School Organized Deception...and Public Libraries controlled by THE HIVE LIBRARY in the UK & MA...
A balanced investigation that is truly appreciated. While the American Chestnut tree is my all time favorite, the truth is....... I love all trees!
Great info! I work with various Castanea species and hybrids, and they are amazing trees! Chestnuts definitely have their preferences for well drained soils, and can really suffer from low spots and areas with poor drainage. It's not surprising that the American chestnut would be overtaken by other species in these places.
It's a shame that there's not a way to cross a horse chestnut with an American chestnut. Horse chestnut grow all around my place like weeds. Especially in the wetland next to the creek.
im in eastern PA and i have two beautiful old chestnuts growing right by me... they put off such a good crop this year it was amazing!! i must have buried a few hundred of them throughout the surrounding woods (mostly oak, pine, and maple) in nice open areas. i hope they take root in the spring i would love to see them make a comeback. the wildlife go nuts for them. funny watching deer jump up and down on them trying to get the spiked shells to pop open.
There are about 6 large chestnut trees near me. I live in Bucks county and i couldn’t believe the sheer volume of nuts they put out this year
I'm in the Southeastern part of West Virginia and I guess I'm lucky enough to have a chestnut on my property. The fruit of the chestnut that comes off of my tree is an acquired taste as it has a bitter somewhat acidic taste to it even after roasting.
Thanks for helping to change a wrong perception on this subject. Lot of info in a few minutes. Love it and your channel Sir!
Thank you for such an informative video. We have a park in Louisville, Kentucky that has a plot of land dedicated to growing American Chestnut tress. I have been enjoying watching the progress these young tree saplings are making.
I remember one of these trees being on my grandparents street. I get the feeling that it was taken down because it “makes such a mess”. So much for intelligent people 🙈
Very interesting and informative. Reminds me of the saying, "Don't confuse me with the facts; I've already made up my mind." Thank you.
We have a few near my house. The largest is about 40 feet tall. In the spring when it goes in bloom the odor can be a bit harsh. It reminds me of the Bradford Pear smell. I can't imagine a whole forest in bloom. It would be brutal.
Great video. I live in southeastern Indiana with steep rolling hills and realized 40 years ago that each species prefers a different soil type and topography. My favorite wood to saw on my mill is tulip poplar but I have to go twenty miles north to flat country to find a single tree. The same for beech.
Thank you Adam for this informative piece on chestnut trees. Thank you for sharing your videos with us. 🇺🇸
Great video and very appropriate for me as I was one of those who was under the impression that chestnut was "the dominant tree of eastern forests" . Thank you
When we were kids in new england we all gathered chestnuts and put a shoestring through the center and played a game where you smacked the other guys chestnut with your chestnut, if you broke your opponents chestnut, you won! It was a big deal back then, late 50's they were beautiful, color and glossy.
I always feel a sense of awed respect when I find chestnut sprouts, knowing that the tree's roots are well over a hundred years old. The roots have stayed alive all these years by sending up sprouts, which, although they eventually die from the blight, make enough energy to keep the roots sending up more sprouts. What persistence!
You’re confusing the question of ‘was chestnut dominant at the time of settlement’ and ‘was it dominant in 1900’ . I believe it is generally accepted that the indiscriminate logging of the Colonial and Victorian eras massively advantaged chestnut due to its spectacular sprouting capability.
I planted several restoration American Chestnut seeds that I got from the American Chestnut Foundation. I would like to see the tree make a comeback. Very interesting video! I am in Wisconsin in a mostly oak area, so maybe my trees will feel at home - if the blight doesn't get them 😮
It would be interesting to know the dates of the studies and level of settlement . They were prized trees for building cabins because of their rot and termite resistance .
The numbers might have been off because of harvesting them .
Just a thought
Thank you Adam, I’ve been trying to grow American Chestnut on my Southern Indiana karst property from seed.
Any success? I've got a half dozen producers of unknown parentage collected over the past thirty years with more placed out waiting for maturity. Switzerland County. Deer love them, I'm kinda fond of them too......
Thanks for this instructive video. I had been lead to believe by several videos and organizations like the American Chestnut Foundation that this tree WAS the dominant tree in eastern forests! I really appreciate you doing this research and sharing it with us. I do wonder why this claim has been made by so many and then realize that biomass might have had something to do with this claim, as these trees could get massive compared to any other eastern forest tree. I have grown chestnuts for over 20 years and chestnut blight is not their only challenge. American Chestnuts do not like to grow in swampy areas as they get root rot easily and a significant amount of swampy areas exist in the eastern forest. I often wonder if any species of fungi went extinct along with the "functionally extinct" status that the American Chestnut now has, as the biomass of the leaves would have been a great substrate for many fungi, and has essentially been gone from eastern forests for over 50 years. Anyone know of studies about pre-extinction forests and fungi?....Anyway, I am breeding chestnuts that are 3/4 American and 1/4 Chinese and I am hopeful they may have significant blight resistance...but maybe it will be too late if the GE Chestnuts are approved by the FDA anytime soon.
Great approach to true environmental study!
Living in NWPA, I have had difficulty getting started trees to grow; whereas just a little farther south and east, it seems to grow with ease. I postulate, as you suggested, that growing conditions, soil composition, and overall harshness if climate contribute. I do also think, if a chestnut tree gets an earlier start than neighboring oaks and hemlock, a single chestnut can dominate the canopy, with a higher and broader reach. So, depending upon the inferred meaning of dominant, if height and overall reach are meant, and not sheer number, the may have dominated in some areas. I live in Warren County, where we still have some old growth forests in protected areas, but chestnuts don't seem to do well overall. That being said, in protected areas, in Central PA, I have observed old growth chestnut that are beat up, broken, and battered, that still produce viable nuts. My son in law gathers said nuts, they readily germinate, and thrive in buckets there; when we bring them here to grow, they fail every time. They have rockier, drier soil, the slope is more severe and it is warmer and less impacted by lake effect weather than I get on the Allegheny watershed area.
Ahh, so you live in the artic circle of PA. My wife is from there. Yes, the NWPA is not great growing conditions for chestnut because of the colder climate and very importantly the poor soil drainage that is a result of topography, parent material, and glaciation. However, I agree and have witnessed (through records of old men) that any tree once established , may thrive in areas where it otherwise would not be found.
I own 155 aced in southeastern ohio. I only know of 5 chestnut trees on my property, Love them.
I have been fortunate enough to acquire some chestnut lumber from standing dead trees. It is a wonderful wood to build things from. Light, strong, and pretty grain. The biggest living chestnuts I have ever seen had about 250 board feet in them (maybe 19 inches at chest high). It would be great if they arrive at a cultivar that can be re-introduced to american forests, because it is a valuable and useful forest product.
American chestnut are quite dominant in my neck of the woods NW Pa.Great and informative videos!👍
A very interesting video, as usual, Adam! Including the names of the research papers in your video was super useful. I get a real kick out of finding even just the "ghosts" of the trees, dying trees that are still producing root suckers. I have found a few such dying trees here in a New York City park. Finding a mature and fruiting tree in upstate NY was the biggest thrill!
I remodeled an early American home in North western Connecticut a few years ago. After removing layers of more modern coverings from the floors and walls we found original slabs of native chestnut 18-26" wide to both floors and walls. A great find which we repurposed. I also remember collecting the nuts as a boy from three large trees in our town. Unfortunately they were taken down for developments.
This is really interesting information. Just a thought why this is believed by so many people today is it was such a big thing to the people it effected that generations later we still have hear the stories from grandparents and great grandparents. That is at least the cast for me. Thank you for this very interesting video.
My grandfather was a lumberjack. He said that the chestnut was one of faster growing trees. They would be some of the larger trees in areas that had been harvested.
I absolutely love learning about Pennsylvania forests, trees, fungi and whatever Adam is willing to teach us. I look forward to every video just wish there were more and they were longer. 😊🙂😀☺😊
I really enjoyed this style of video that brings healthy discussion and data. Thank you for what you do
I live at the edge of a Maryland forest, and the most common trees there today are oaks, beeches, and tulip trees.
Here in Indiana, I've always been taught - and from dnr- that white oak was the back bone of indiana forests. Settlers left accounts of their pigs fattening on acorns, as well as turkey, etc . The passenger pigeon and white oak seedlings went hand in hand.
As someone who was highly allergic to the Chesnut tree, I do not regret the loss of that particular tree. The oplen made me break out in hives if I came within 1/2 a mile of one. Picking up a leaf put me in the hospital a few times as a kid until the ran some allergy tests and discovered the cause. Thank God I never ate a chesnut!
Chestnut dominance in certain areas makes sense. We see that with most trees.
OUTSTANDING report.
Well done!
Adam I am very happy you took the time to find the truth. I too believed the American Chestnut was extinct and incapable of producing viable fruit, based on many TH-cam videos. This is why I asked your opinion a year ago. The ACF has a big stake in this issue because they are developing a blight-resistant variety and claim it is based on American stock. I was interested in planting some native seeds here in Ohio but have had no luck finding any and am opposed to any genetically modified option. Thanks again! I hope you will follow this subject in the future.
I think that a lot of amateur naturalists already know this, but are not in a position to publicly disagree with the scientists that have been parroting dubious facts and skewed data for so many years.
I was told as an undergrad in the '70s that the origin of the "Purple Valley" of Williams College in Westerm Mass was due to the chestnut forests on the surrounding slopes. All passed on as of then but remembered by poets "Smoldering at the roots and sensing up new shoots..." Not so per your citations.. Love your channel always learning Thanks!
As an antique lover and an ESFer, I appreciate your bringing this up. But I know I have been to many forts that were supposedly built from the might chestnuts of the region, of furniture that was supposedly made from chestnut wood. I wonder what the chance is it was Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) that shares some of the same area. Just a thought. Great analysis.
Excellent video.
The information was presented in a clear fashion and was very interesting.
Keep up the great work.
Such a good video. Thanks for clearing this up.
Great video Adam! Bringing the Chestnut tree issue under the spotlight only makes for more interest and hopefully more action to help recover this wonderful resource!
My forester friend in Summerville west virginia showed me a mountain side in monroe county wv that was white with chestnut bloom in the 1920s!! My father made a living , buying , logging and sawing chestnuts corpse in Preston county wv in late 40s and early 50s. It seems certain south facing hillsides were populated with Catania dentista . I’m a life long educator and nurseryman from Preston county , I helped start a small chestnut festival in Rowlesburg, wv!!
Love your videos ! I raise mushrooms and study wild ones and consume!
One thing missing in all this is that chestnut was the preferred wood for furniture, wagons and such before power tools. It was a hard wood that did not easily split by nail or hammer and was easier to saw. So a lot of chestnuts were harvested first for such uses. We had a big one in our little backyard when I was a kid. Spent lots of time in it. Easy and fun to climb, my double story tree platform, harvesting the nuts and oiling them to take to school to give away. I nice thing to rub in your pocket.
My house was built during the early part of the 20th century and all the original trim and woodwork inside is chestnut. We have a Chestnut St, and I've heard local historians talk about chestnut season where many people would be out collecting chestnuts and vendors would be out on the street selling roasted chestnuts.
Adam , as always once again you did a really great job .
I collected a huge bag of these weird knots and I have no idea what they are as they are not walnuts , pecans , acorns or hazelnuts .
The sheath they come in kind of looks like it has a little Sombrero hat at the top .
Dude you are an awesome recourse.
Thank you for your passion and expertise .