As a part of our breeding program for native chestnuts, we perform controlled pollination. What we do is tie pollination bags on the female flowers of wild, surviving chestnuts. The first step is to count out and label bags. Then we get a bucket truck or orchard ladder and climb up into the tree. We go back a few days later, remove the bag, dip the flower into a vial of pollen, and replace the bag. We don’t need a lot of people to volunteer for this, but it’s kind of fun. We go back up when the nuts are mature and cut the burs down. Then a few days later we open the burs, which will be planted as part of the breeding program the following year.
Since the beginning of the VA Chapter’s pollination program, we have been trying to identify an indicator and the best we have found are chinquapins, which are approximately two weeks in advance of American chestnuts for both pollination and harvest.
The first five years the trees were on time to the day (Marshall target dates – Bag June 9, Pollinate June 19, Harvest September 28), but the last two years had cold wet springs and the trees were a week later and oddly, the harvest was a week earlier! We plan on the same this year; bag June 16, pollinate June 26, harvest Sept. 21). Note that these are target dates and not actual event dates. Also, trees in the same vicinity can vary by as much as 10 days and also tall trees can vary from the top of the tree to the bottom. Higher altitude trees tend to be a week later (early July pollination).
Persons interested in volunteering to help with pollination should contact the VA TACF office at (540) 364-1922 or ten.nozirev@tuntsehcav.
