Georgia News

GA-TACF Chestnut Seedling Distribution Event!

GA-TACF will hold a chestnut seedling distribution event on Saturday February 8 from 12 noon – 5 pm at River Remedy Brewing, Rome, GA https://www.riverremedybrewing.com/home

Most of the seedlings will be hybrids derived from the TACF backcross breeding program.  Most hybrids will be 15/16th American chestnut and 1/16th Chinese chestnut.

SSA Seedlings at Berry College

Chestnut seedlings at Berry College

We will ask for a donation of $20 per set of two seedlings (two are necessary for cross-pollination and nut production) and $75 for a set of 10 seedlings.  Information on how to grow and maintain chestnuts will be provided along with the seedlings.  GA-TACF board members will be on hand to help explain our breeding program, to accept new membership applications ($40 per year), and to sell other chestnutty merchandise.

As a fundraising and outreach event, we need to clarify that Asian type chestnuts will carry resistance to both chestnut blight and Phytophthora root rot (black ink disease).  Pure American chestnuts will have no resistance to these diseases and backcross hybrids will vary in resistance.  All seedlings will be provided as is.

If we run out of seedlings, attendees will be given an opportunity to receive packs of pure American chestnut seeds by mail (shipped later in February). More details on this program will be added later, and folks not able to attend the seedling distribution event will have opportunities to obtain these seeds as well.  We can mail seeds but not seedlings.

River Remedy Brewing is a community-supportive and family-friendly venue with both indoor and outdoor spaces near the Oostanaula River.  A food truck will be on site along with those tasty brews…

Even if you don’t want to plant chestnuts, please come out to what should be a fun event!

 

Georgia News Chapter Menu

Georgia Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

On Friday March 6 faculty and staff at the University of North Georgia (UNG) added about 70 chestnuts by direct seeding to the Hurricane Creek orchard near Dahlonega. Karrie Ann Fadroski, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for UNG’s Environmental Leadership Center (ELC) and Stacie James, Program Coordinator for the ELC, were assisted by Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator for GA-TACF as well as several UNG student volunteers. Student participants included Chestnut student intern Lillian McGinnis, Hurricane Creek student intern Jason Richardson, Conservation student intern Reece Maxwell, Kylee Melton, Ava Minor, Mary Alice Olewicz, and Jack Nicholas.

This orchard is designed to screen hybrid chestnuts for Phytophthora Root Rot (PRR) resistance (pure American chestnuts are entirely susceptible to PRR). Seeds selected for this orchard come from trees known or suspected to carry PRR resistance, in this case from two trees at the Berry College backcross orchard. Read elsewhere on our Facebook page about how to protect chestnuts from this lethal disease if you have planted susceptible trees.

To learn more about this work and what you can do to become involved, please come to our annual meeting on May 2 at the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford. Details are forthcoming, but the meeting will be held in the morning with lunch and a tour at Cloudland Vineyards in the early afternoon.
The American Chestnut Foundation University of North Georgia Berry College
... See MoreSee Less

On Friday March 6 faculty and staff at the University of North Georgia (UNG) added about 70 chestnuts by direct seeding to the Hurricane Creek orchard near Dahlonega.  Karrie Ann Fadroski, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for UNG’s Environmental Leadership Center (ELC) and Stacie James, Program Coordinator for the ELC, were assisted by Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator for GA-TACF as well as several UNG student volunteers.  Student participants included Chestnut student intern Lillian McGinnis, Hurricane Creek student intern Jason Richardson, Conservation student intern Reece Maxwell, Kylee Melton, Ava Minor, Mary Alice Olewicz, and Jack Nicholas.This orchard is designed to screen hybrid chestnuts for Phytophthora Root Rot (PRR) resistance (pure American chestnuts are entirely susceptible to PRR).  Seeds selected for this orchard come from trees known or suspected to carry PRR resistance, in this case from two trees at the Berry College backcross orchard.  Read elsewhere on our Facebook page about how to protect chestnuts from this lethal disease if you have planted susceptible trees.To learn more about this work and what you can do to become involved, please come to our annual meeting on May 2 at the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford.  Details are forthcoming, but the meeting will be held in the morning with lunch and a tour at Cloudland Vineyards in the early afternoon.The American Chestnut Foundation University of North Georgia Berry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment+7Image attachment

2 CommentsComment on Facebook

Hard to believe these students are in their late 30s now...

Coincidentally, exactly 17 years ago on March 6, 2009, Berry College students planted the parents of the seeds planted at UNG. Here are just a couple pictures from that day.

Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator of The Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, presented an overview of the organization's Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS) chestnut breeding program during the Tennessee chapter's annual meeting at Tennessee Tech, subsequently chairing the Southern Regional Science meeting held in conjunction with the TN-TACF meeting. At the latter meeting, chapter leaders discussed how to cooperate to implement RGS regionally and initiated plans for the coming breeding season. They also welcomed newly hired TACF Regional Science Coordinator Zach Anderson who has been working with Dr. Hill Craddock at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Zach's office will be located in Chattanooga. The American Chestnut Foundation ... See MoreSee Less

Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator of The Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, presented an overview of the organizations Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS) chestnut breeding program during the Tennessee chapters annual meeting at Tennessee Tech, subsequently chairing the Southern Regional Science meeting held in conjunction with the TN-TACF meeting. At the latter meeting, chapter leaders discussed how to cooperate to implement RGS regionally and initiated plans for the coming breeding season. They also welcomed newly hired TACF Regional Science Coordinator Zach Anderson who has been working with Dr. Hill Craddock at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Zachs office will be located in Chattanooga.  The American Chestnut Foundation
Load more