American Chestnut Seeds
How to Get American Chestnut Seeds from TACF
The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is excited that you want to support its mission to restore the American chestnut by planting chestnut trees. The two types of plant material available to current members of TACF are wild-type American chestnut seeds with no blight resistance and improved American chestnut seeds (hybrids) with intermediate blight resistance. Both are only available in the spring. Learn more below.
Notice: Our Wild-Type Sale Has Changed from Seedlings to Seeds
For many years, The American Chestnut Foundation has offered its members access to a Wild-Type American Chestnut Seedling Sale. The sale was extremely popular, often selling out in under an hour. TACF recognized that its positive impact was limited due to short supply. In addition, seedlings couldn’t be shipped west of the Mississippi due to concerns about spreading chestnut blight.
To address these issues, beginning in spring 2025, TACF will offer its members the opportunity to purchase wild-type chestnut seeds (nuts) instead. Like the seedlings, these seeds come from verified wild-type American chestnuts grown in the wild or in TACF chapter-run Germplasm Conservation Orchards. We look forward to offering this updated and expanded seed sale to members in spring 2025!
The benefits of wild-type seeds vs. seedlings
- More abundant supply for sale
- Substantially lower price
- Availability west of the Mississippi River
- Germinating from seed in your native soil eliminates transplant shock and promotes faster establishment
- Growing a tree from seed can be a magical and rewarding experience!
Wild-Type
American Chestnut Seeds
Become a member at any level to receive access to TACF’s Annual Wild-Type American Chestnut Seed Sale in March (limited supply available).
Read important information about the seeds and sale below.
Improved American Chestnut Seeds
with Intermediate Blight Resistance
Become a Seed Level Member to receive the gift of improved American chestnut seeds mailed to you every spring.
Read important information about the seeds and distribution below.
Can I Get Chestnuts Shipped to my State or Country?
Seeds from TACF’s Annual Wild-Type Seed Sale and from TACF’s Seed Level Member program are soaked in a hydrogen peroxide or bleach solution to kill external pathogens and can be shipped to any of the contiguous United States excluding California, Oregon, or Washington due to state agricultural regulations. Seeds are not shipped outside the United States.
2025 Calendar
| Friday, January 31, 2025 | Seed Level membership cut-off date Your Seed Level membership donation or renewal must be received by January 31st for February 2025 delivery of TACF’s improved Seeds. Memberships received after this date will be placed on the following year’s seed distribution list. |
| Wednesday, February 26, 2025 | Seed Level Member improved seeds mailed The annual gift of TACF’s improved American chestnut seeds will be mailed to Seed Level members. |
| Saturday, March 1, 2025 | Wild-Type Seed Sale membership cut-off date Your membership or renewal must be received by March 1st and be current through March 18 to be eligible to participate in the Wild-type Seed Sale. |
| Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | Wild-Type Seed Sale TACF’s Annual Wild-type American Chestnut Seed Sale will open on the morning of March 18 at 9 AM Eastern Time. |
Wild-Type American Chestnut Seeds
All TACF members, regardless of membership level, will receive email access to participate in TACF’s Annual Wild-Type Seed Sale, typically held in March.
A wild-type American chestnut tree has not been intentionally hybridized with other chestnut species or genetically modified. These are sometimes referred to as “pure” American chestnuts but it is important to remember that all nine species of chestnut worldwide (the genus Castanea) can hybridize with each other in the wild and some wild trees may be natural hybrids.
While these wild-type American chestnuts are not resistant to blight fungus, they can thrive for many years and produce nuts for harvest and consumption with proper site selection and care.
Growing wild-type American chestnut trees helps preserve genetic diversity within the species for future breeding and wild adaptation, and also provides an opportunity to practice planting and maintaining American chestnut trees on your unique site.
Visit the Growing Chestnuts page for information about how to plant your American chestnut seeds.
Important Information About TACF's Annual Seed Sale
- This is a popular annual sale exclusively for current TACF members.
- Seed quantities are limited and are for sale while supplies last. Seeds may sell out quickly.
- The seeds in this program are collected from verified American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata) in the wild, or from Germplasm Conservation Orchards (GCO) that are not close to known hybrid chestnuts or other non-C. dentata chestnut trees. They are not sourced from or near our Meadowview Research Farm property. Because the source trees are open-pollinated, TACF cannot guarantee that seeds were not naturally pollinated by other chestnut species. In all but the rarest of cases, our wild-type seeds are non-hybrid American chestnuts.
- Seeds are sold in bundles.
- Bundle sizes and maximum purchase limits depend upon availability and are determined from year to year.
- Due to agricultural restrictions, no seeds are shipped out of the United States or to Washington, Oregon, or California.
- A private link with purchasing instructions is emailed to members two days before the sale goes live. Another is emailed the morning of the sale just before it begins. This link is exclusively for members and should not be shared with others.
- Be sure to check your spam folder, especially if you are a new member, and please update TACF if your email address changes.
- Check the calendar above to determine the membership cut-off date and ensure you are eligible to participate.
- The viability of wild-type American seeds is not guaranteed by TACF.
- Proceeds from this sale help fund research to rescue this foundational species.
Improved Chestnut Seeds from Meadowview Research Farms
Joining TACF at one of its seed levels means that, in addition to receiving access to TACF’s Annual Wild-Type American Chestnut Seed Sale, your membership will include a certain number of improved seeds from its research farms in Meadowview, Virginia to plant as you wish.
These hybrid seeds have some level of Chinese chestnut ancestry to confer blight resistance. They will tolerate blight infection more effectively than an American chestnut, but not as well as a Chinese chestnut. In general, blight will grow rapidly on an American chestnut, more slowly on these hybrids, and do minimal damage to a Chinese chestnut. At this time there is no 100% blight-resistant American chestnut seed or seedling and there is no guarantee that any seed will grow free from blight. Scientific efforts toward this goal are part of TACF’s mission.
Survival and health of seedlings depends on multiple factors such as proper site selection and managing competition. Visit the Growing Chestnuts page for information about how to plant your American chestnut seeds.
Important Information about TACF's Improved Chestnut Seeds
- Chestnut seeds are whole chestnuts that have been cold stratified (overwintered) and are ready to plant upon receipt.
- Your Seed Level Membership is a donation to TACF. Seeds are a gift for Seed Level donations.
- Seeds are shipped once a year in March.
- Your membership donation must be received by January 31st for March delivery. Memberships received after this date will be placed on the following year’s seed distribution list.
- Joining or renewing a lapsed membership at a seed level after the January deadline means that your first seeds will be shipped in March of the following year rather than the year you joined.
- Growing TACF’s improved seeds requires signing a Germplasm Agreement (GPA).
- GPAs are signed electronically during online membership enrollment or re-enrollment.
- GPAs are mailed to new members who join by sending in TACF’s membership form as part of the new member welcome packet.
- Seeds shipped to states west of the Mississippi River are soaked in a diluted bleach solution to prevent the spread of contagions.
- No seeds will be shipped to California, Oregon, or Washington, nor outside the contiguous United States due to agricultural regulations.
- TACF requests that you contact us within 30 days of receipt of seeds to report any issues.
- Germination rates are not guaranteed by TACF.
American Chestnut Plant Material Available at the Chapter Level
Some TACF chapters offer seed and/or seedling sales and offerings to their current chapter members at various times of the year.
Become a member of TACF to receive email updates from your local chapter about sales.
TACF’s American Chestnut Plant Material FAQ
Does TACF Make Recommendations about Where to Purchase American Chestnut Plant Material?
As a nonprofit, TACF does not make recommendations about where to obtain American chestnut plant material becasue it cannot vouch for the authenticity of the plant material nor the practices of a private business.
TACF recommends that you do not purchase seedlings from the native range if you live west of the Mississippi River.
TACF strongly recommends verifying that any seeds you purchase are soaked in a solution to prevent spread of blight and other contagions, especially if they come from the native range.
Why Doesn't TACF Ship Seeds to California, Oregon, or Washington?
TACF does not ship seeds to California, Oregon, or Washington because the agricultural regulations of these states do not permit American chestnut plant material to be imported from another state.
Why Doesn't TACF Ship Seeds Outside the Contiguous United States?
TACF does not ship seeds outside of the contiguous United States due to shipping regulations.
Why Doesn't TACF Guarantee Its Plant Material?
American chestnut plant materials are made available to current TACF members as a benefit of membership in appreciation for the funding of ongoing scientific research toward restoring this majestic species. TACF is not a retail operation and is not responsible for growing conditions of planted material after shipping.
Why do the Improved American Chestnut Seeds Only Have Intermediate Blight Resistant?
Transferring the trait of blight resistance from the Chinese chestnut to the American chestnut via generational breeding is one of TACF’s scientific efforts toward restoring the American chestnut to its native range. Unfortunately, there is no single gene in the Chinese chestnut that confers this trait. Instead, there are anywhere from three to 100 genes in the Chinese chestnut that contribute to conferring blight resistance. These genes also show up in different combinations in each individual Chinese tree, making it difficult to breed for resistance. TACF’s science team continues to work toward higher blight resistance in its Recurrent Genomic Selection program.