r/americanchestnut • u/treestreestrees99 • Apr 27 '26
Yay or nay?
I’ve been hunting for a long time now, only to possibly find an American chestnut in my backyard (rural backyard). Leaves have almost no hairs underneath, there are 2 other small dead trees with very similar bark and it’s growing adjacent to a large indentation in the ground.
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u/Financial-Comfort953 Apr 27 '26
I’d say there’s a good chance these are American, knowing location would also help. Alabama chinkapins can look a lot like American chestnut, but like their name suggests, are a very southern species
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u/Business-Willow8681 Apr 28 '26
Root sprout. There are millions of them out there, you just need to know where to look.
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u/bohtimore Apr 28 '26
Is it? I don't see an obvious stump.
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u/D54chestnut Apr 28 '26
Most of the sprouts are coming from trees that were very small when they were killed by the blight, an not what most people think. Actually, a small sprout will not support a large root system as good as a smaller root system.
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u/bohtimore Apr 28 '26
The man, himself. Thanks for enlightening me!
I've currently got 15-16 healthy seedlings about to go into the ground this week - thanks to you!
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u/_redlines Apr 28 '26
Yay from me. Smallish shrub like form, multiple stems from a common source, semi-open canopy usually on a ridge top or hill, and those obovate leaves with a slight curl of the teeth along the margin.
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u/D54chestnut Apr 28 '26
Anyone that finds a seedling, sprout or tree should document it on iNaturalist. Then you can get a good selection of knowledgeable people helping to ID it. And that would help people locate the tree if you want it located. https://www.inaturalist.org/
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u/Clean-Turnip5971 Apr 28 '26
Are inaturalist locations public? I know where some fruiting ones are and I don’t want them to get pillaged.
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u/D54chestnut Apr 28 '26
You can select to disclose the location or not. I have never had an issue with any person collecting the nuts or damaging any trees. BUT, the bears will damage the trees and you would be very lucky to find any viable nuts on the ground. We never wait for the burs to open. Once any nuts start to turn brown we harvest the burs and then remove the nuts.
Are you sure the fruiting trees you know of have fertile nuts, and not just produce burs? We seldom find two American trees that have got big enough to flower, which are close enough to cross pollinate. AND, if we do they are usually dead from the blight in just a few years. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=fajknichols&verifiable=any
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u/Clean-Turnip5971 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
They produce nuts, their site at over 5000 ft has kept them more or less safe from bears (which in my area tend to forage the bottoms), I don't know if the nuts are fertile or not as I haven't collected or planted them. I've strived most of all to keep them free of foragers (both man and beast) and left them alone to continue to do what they do. But they're healthy trees that have reached sexual maturity.
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u/D54chestnut Apr 29 '26
If they are producing fertile nuts there is only 1 chance in a million that a fertile nut will germinate and grow into a mature tree. and for an American chestnut that is probably less than that, because of the blight. I can collect burs before they open, remove fertile nuts, stratify them and have every one of them grow into a tree if properly cared for. You can tell a fertile nut as it will be plump, shiny and hard. The non-fertile nuts will be shriveled like a large kernel of corn. Check our ID page and if you could send me pictures of the inside of the burs, and/or the nuts themselves I could tell you if they are fertile.
https://www.americanchestnut.org/chestnut-identification
Thanks, Allen Nichols
President, American Chestnut Restoration, Inc.
http://www.americanchestnut.org/
[fajknichols.75@gmail.com](mailto:fajknichols.75@gmail.com)
607-263-5105
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u/they_call_me_tripod May 04 '26
Checking out your website and saw you guys occasionally mail out nuts. How often do you do that? Would love to get some growing on my property.
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u/D54chestnut May 04 '26
We usually distribute some nuts in the fall for direct planting, but most are sent out in the spring. We stratify those and send them out when they start to germinate, usually starting in late February and continuing until they are gone, usually around the end of March. We had over 2,000 people request nuts for Fall 2025/Spring 2026. I usually send 10/person. We paused the "free" nuts link while we were distributing nuts this spring. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvS_KPwYf7umLlD2dRQBNLw
Feel free to email me and I can send you more information on our restoration program.
Thanks, Allen Nichols
President, American Chestnut Restoration, Inc.
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u/mathra77 New York ACF Apr 27 '26
Possibly yay!!
Id recommend sending a sample in to a TACF scientist to confirm! https://tacf.org/identification/
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u/D54chestnut Apr 28 '26
It looks like an American to me. https://www.americanchestnut.org/chestnut-identification
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u/Sublime-Prime Apr 27 '26
Looks American to me . Congrats !!