32 Surviving Chestnut Trees

On a recent workday, BRFAL members and partners found that out of the hundreds of chestnuts planted in a stand, only 32 remained. The survivors range in height from 2.8 to 12.5 feet. Only one tree showed signs of blight but was surviving and growing well. Why did so many die? John Scrivani with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) suspects the poor survival is due to site conditions, and/or root rot disease, rather than blight.  

Chapter members joined with members of the Friends of Smith Mountain Lake State Park, John Scrivani, the Virginia leader of TACF and our recently announced Chapter Advisor, Park Ranger Travis Wyman, to help asses and maintain the stand of chestnut trees.   About 400 trees were planted back in May of 2015 on a 10x10 spacing. This planting suffered high mortality due to drought and possibly root rot disease.  Root rot disease is common on eroded Piedmont soils and was a factor in high mortality in other plantings that year.  Some spaces were replanted with about 300 trees in 2016.  The trees are 3rd backcross trees (15/16 American, 1/16 Chinese, on average).  

Volunteers worked together to clear the area around the surviving trees of brush and competing trees, removed the tree tubes when appropriate, and reset the wire cages that help reduce deer browsing.  The release and cleaning provided by the volunteers should be beneficial and John with TACF is hopeful that the trees may speed up their height growth.

Report by Rick W.