Vermont / New Hampshire News

2022 Free Nuts

For the second year, the VT/NH Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) will offer fertile wild-type American chestnut nuts to Chapter members (as long as supplies last). Last year, Chapter President, Doug McLane, piloted the program when 43 Chapter members participated. This year, Tom Estill will run the program from Rutland, VT with help from fellow Board member Evan Fox in Bethel, Vermont.

This offer is free to TACF, VT/NH Chapter members. Each recipient will receive 8 to 10 nuts. If you receive this notice, but are not a TACF member, or a lapsed member, you will have to join (TACF), and thus the VT/NH Chapter, first. Go to https://tacf.org and click on membership.

Last fall, TACF volunteers gathered hundreds of fertile nuts from various chestnut trees around New England. They have been stratifying (hibernating) in refrigerators in moist peat moss all winter and will soon start to sprout. Once you receive your nuts, we will follow up with emails and videos of planting instructions and growing techniques. The nuts should be kept in moist peat in your refrigerator and should be planted outdoors in April or May. However, it would be better to pot them indoors soon after receipt and transplant the seedlings outdoors after the danger of frost. That way, you will have two-month-old seedlings to get a jump on the growing season.

Please keep in mind that these nuts, being wild type American chestnuts, are not blight tolerant. All trees grown from these nuts will be susceptible to chestnut blight. They may live for many years or only a few. However, if you develop chestnut raising skills now, you will be well positioned to plant the blight tolerant strain once it is developed and available for distribution.

Please respond by March 1st if you would like to participate in this ‘free nut’ program by emailing our chapter. Put “chestnut offering” on your email ‘subject’ line. All this will be reviewed later. As a heads-up: If your mailbox is outdoors and temps are below freezing, try to get the mailing package indoors as soon as possible and store the nuts in your refrigerator until planting. Nuts should be potted within a few days of receipt. You will want to have a supply of two-quart milk containers or deep pots and potting soil available. If you need proper size plastic pots we have a supply, so please request them.

Keep in mind that things can go wrong, this is how we learn, and if needed, more nuts will be available in the future. Above all, have fun. Jason and his daughter Elle (in photo) from Litchfield, NH had fun when they participated in the 2021 “Free Nut Offer.”

Thanks for supporting American chestnut restoration!

 

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🌰 Harvest processing at TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms is equal parts important science and hands-on fun! Staff and volunteers shuck burs and sort chestnuts with care, ensuring quality seeds for future plantings and solid data for research. It’s a lively, rewarding way to support restoration while sharing in the joy of chestnut season together. 🌳

#AmericanChestnut #MeadowviewResearchFarms #americanchestnutfoundation#ChestnutResearch #ConservationScience #harvest
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4 CommentsComment on Facebook

That was our job after school pick up the chestnuts, we opened them up with our feet.

This isn’t a chestnut tree, right? It’s too old and healthy to be one.

Mary Ellen McCoy

Join us on tomorrow, October 10, 2025, from 11:30AM – 1:00PM (EPT), for the next LIVE Chestnut Chat.

Our special guest, Dr. Trevor Walker, Assistant Professor of Forest Genetics and Co-Director of the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program at NC State University, will share insights from 70 years of breeding loblolly pine for disease resistance, growth, and stem form. He will also consider which practices are likely to succeed for American chestnut, which are not, and why.

Visit tacf.org/event/chestnut-chat-breeding-disease-resistance-in-loblolly-pine/ to learn more or register.
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Join us on tomorrow, October 10, 2025, from 11:30AM – 1:00PM (EPT), for the next LIVE Chestnut Chat.Our special guest, Dr. Trevor Walker, Assistant Professor of Forest Genetics and Co-Director of the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program at NC State University, will share insights from 70 years of breeding loblolly pine for disease resistance, growth, and stem form. He will also consider which practices are likely to succeed for American chestnut, which are not, and why.Visit https://tacf.org/event/chestnut-chat-breeding-disease-resistance-in-loblolly-pine/ to learn more or register.

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Just saw this. How was the chat?

Do you love pulling on your work gloves and cracking open freshly fallen burs to reveal the chestnuts inside? If you do, but don’t have any of your own yet, become a member and get access to our wild-type seed sale in 2026. In just a few years, your hands could be full of spiky burs and American chestnuts of your own. support.tacf.org/membership/new-regular ... See MoreSee Less

37 CommentsComment on Facebook

I use my boots to open them!

Porcupine eggs!!😂🤣

I have a bag full.

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We’re proud to share this segment from the PBS show Human Footprint, featuring former TACF staff member Sara Fitzsimmons. The American chestnut sequence was selected to be adapted into a standalone YouTube video, which launched in late September and has already garnered more than half a million views. Sara’s dedication and expertise have shaped much of the progress in restoring the American chestnut. Give it a watch to learn more about this important work. ... See MoreSee Less

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3 CommentsComment on Facebook

Great presentation!

I’ll show this to Ben. His English Chestnut is bearing nuts; Ben has been eating them. His American chestnut is bearing seed pods but not mature yet. We will definitely watch this. Thank you.

🌰 Harvest season at TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms brings both beauty and breakthrough science. Many of the chestnut crosses we gather are generated through recurrent genomic selection—cutting-edge research driving restoration forward. Each bur holds not only the wonder of new life, but also the promise of a future where the majestic American chestnut returns to our forests. 🌳

#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #meadowviewresearchfarms
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1 CommentComment on Facebook

Are there places we can purchases a Chestnut tree that is disease resistant? Thanks!

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