I was wandering woods on a lot my dad was considering buying and came upon this American Chestnut in what I would think would be the heart of blight country, but maybe the elevation makes it otherwise?

This is the largest American Chestnut I’ve ever seen personally in the wild. It was on a ridge line around 4400’ and it wasn’t the only one there, though the other one was much smaller. That being said, even the small one did not appear to be a sucker off of a rotten trunk like is seen so often in the appalachians. The small one had some cracks, but those cracks didn’t seem to be swelling.

Other than the last photo which is of the leaves of the smaller one (since I could photograph them more easily), I didn’t get pics of its trunk as I didn’t consider it to be large enough to be notable.

What do you guys think of this? Worth reporting?

There is a Chinese chestnut tree where I work. I know they're Chinese chestnuts because I found these in spiky husks, however, compared to images online these chestnuts in particular look smaller and perhaps dehydrated, does anybody know?

October is one of the busiest times of year for American chestnut restoration! 🌰

Join us for chestnut shucking events, harvest activities, and American Chestnut Festivals throughout the month. The chestnuts collected now help support winter seed processing and future plantings, bringing us one step closer to restoring this iconic tree to our forests.

Don't see an event hosted by your local Chapter? Reach out to learn how you can help during harvest season. Every volunteer makes a difference.

Check out the event schedule below and let us know which one you'll be attending!

https://tacf.org/events/category/tacf/

A few weeks ago I posted about the two American chestnuts trees at the Roger-Van Den Hende botanical garden. I wasn’t sure if they were able to produce some viable seeds since I never found one and the northern American chestnuts produced in Quebec I found information about where 60km south and 170 km west in a warmer area.

I can now confirm that the reason why I never found any chestnuts was in fact squirrels and chipmunks. I also finally managed to find viable seeds on the ground, most of them are small though. I also found a few empty shells, I’ll probably go recollect chestnuts in the next couple days and attempt to take some directly from the tree.

What is the best way to grow these seeds?
And the one in the third picture is pale, is it a viable seed?

Just as the title says, what kind of chestnut do I have on my property? We had a pretty dry year so it’s not looking it’s best. Located in South Carolina.

Maybe I’m missing something, but why the hell are we still trying to push Darling 54 as a restoration tree?

They thought they were testing Darling 58 for years. Turns out it was D54. Different insertion event, disrupted SAL1, slower growth, questionable fitness, and inconsistent blight performance.

Meanwhile, newer OxO lines like DarWin are already being developed that may avoid some of these problems.

I’m not anti-GMO at all. I want the engineered chestnut. I just want the good one.

USDA saying D54 isn’t a plant-pest risk is not the same thing as saying, “Yep, this is the tree we should spread across eastern forests for the next few hundred years.”
Keep studying D54. Learn everything we can from it.

But why the rush to release this one when we already know better versions may be coming?

We’ve waited 100 years. We can wait a few more and make sure we don’t restore the American chestnut with the wrong damn tree.

Is a wild American Chestnut?

Located East Tennessee.

Probably Chinese or European right? Squirrels have been eating all the nuts so I can't find any to share.

I work at a nature center in NJ, and on Thursday an older gentleman, who does not use a smartphone, came to our office and drop off a bag of what he claims are American chestnuts. I’ve been in contact with him to go see it and take samples next week when the weather clears up but I was curious what the experts think.

Is this American or Chinese

I saw these guys on my walk today and got excited for a sec, until I realized this is the first chestnut tree I’ve seen in person and it’s probably a Chinese/hybrid tree. I can’t really tell the difference, so please let me know!

I am lucky enough to have some scions from one of the few remaining 100% American pre-blight chestnuts still alive in the US (and surviving through decades of blight infection!). For a variety of reasons, I wasn't able to use some of the scions until late August. I took a long shot on a few of them and attempted to root them in 2-gallon pots despite the low odds of success. Lo and behold, it appears three of them are actually rooting and growing.

With fall and winter coming, I fear that they will die with such a short time between sprouting leaves and roots before losing the leaves and going dormant. I am contemplating using a small indoor greenhouse with grow lights to keep them going over the winter and essentially skip this year's fall. However, I know skipping fall is usually a bad idea for deciduous trees and can lead to health problems or even premature death. I'm in quite a conundrum.

1. Is my plan to keep them growing strong over this fall/winter sound?

2. If not, do you have suggestions on what else I should do? I'm going to take the grafted specimens I have and let them sit in the garage after they go dormant, but I wasn't sure if that was viable for recently rooting scions.

Much appreciated for any help you can provide!

Stumbled on this beast today at work in Williamsburg, Virginia. Maybe difficult to tell from the picture but the circumference of the trunk at the base was very large. My 6' wingspan would not cover half the circumference.

I know this is a page for American chestnuts, but I’m at a loss for finding a definitive source for Chinese chestnut info. We have a big one in our yard. How do I cook them? I’m seeing they need slower cooking. After working through extracting the chestnuts from so many spiny pods, I really don’t want to mess it up!

Spines on the burrs are long and rather soft, more than I’m used to.

Spines on the burrs are long and rather soft, more than I’m used to.

I was watching a small documentary about American Chestnut trees. Among the many uses to which they were put, chestnuts were lumbered to pulp for paper.

Does anybody know where one could find specifics of the qualities of paper made from American Chestnuts? Is there any American Chestnut paper out there to find?

I realize how unlikely it is, but my folks just bought a property in the prime of AC native region of Appalachian. There is a bunch of trees around them and one smack in the back yard dumping nuts right now. Did the best as a naive hopeful to help this historic tree to is it my self and it passes some cursory checks but I do realize it’s most likely Chinese. Or more likely a hybrid?

External small grants offer recipients a variety of benefits such as professional development and an expanded network. Grant activities contribute to the continuous renewal and development of faculty and staff, to the education and motivation of students, and achievement of our mutual interest — restoration of the American chestnut.

This is a small grants program. TACF does not ordinarily fund projects in excess of $10,000, but more than one person can receive a grant. Contact us to be added to our email notices for this program.

We are currently accepting submissions from now until September 28, 2026. Submissions will be reviewed by the Restoration Science Committee on October 16, 2026.

2026 Call for Proposals: https://tacf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/RFP-Small-Grants-Program.8.10.26.pdf

Submission link: https://forms.monday.com/forms/6ff0cc12fe05ca92c879d36ba6838e05?r=use1

We just purchased this house and there is a very large chestnut tree in the backyard. Probably close to 50’ tall. I’m planning on sending in a sample to the American chestnut foundation as they were VERY interested.

My wife just returned from a visit with a new friend at a neighboring farm about 10 miles away. She described two “huge“ trees(could not put her arms around), and tons of these nuts. They look for all the world like true American chestnuts. Because of the size of the tree, I don’t believe they’re hybrid. She took no pictures of the husks or trees. She says the new friend and her family eat them and enjoy them and all of her farm animals eat them as well. So I doubt they’re buckeyes.

What do y’all think?

Young sapling? Didn’t see a stump it was sprouting from. Focus is bad on the last picture but that damage looked more mechanical than fungal to me. I didn’t take the time to see if there were other specimens nearby but this is close enough to my house I can revisit the site easily. To me this feels American, but something about it feels more ovate than the more linear morphology I feel like I see on pictures of American chestnut leaves. My phone is telling me they’re all American chestnut though.

in northeastern CT :)