Georgia News

American chestnut seeds available from GA-TACF

NOTE: We have allocated all of the seeds from the 2023 seed crop!  We hope to run this promotion again next year (January 2025).

Special offer for new or renewing GA-TACF members

If you join TACF, renew a lapsed membership, or renew early plus add a donation of at least $25 to the Georgia Chapter (GA-TACF), we will send you a packet of 10 pure American chestnut seeds* along with planting and care instructions. To take advantage of this offer, please:

1) Email us at gro.fcat@retpahCAG to confirm that seeds are still available. We will get back to you right away and reserve a seed packet for you.

2) Join or renew with TACF with at least the $40 regular annual membership fee and add a $25 extra donation to The GA Chapter of TACF. The link to join and donate is: https://support.tacf.org/membership After adding your regular membership, click Continue Shopping to add the donation to GA-TACF.

3) When joining or renewing, please fill in the “Special Note” section of the payment page saying that you would like to receive a packet of seeds from GA-TACF.

This offer is limited to seed availability (first come, first served) and will expire March 1, 2024 or once this year’s seed supply runs out.

If you are unable to take advantage of this offer, TACF has several long-standing programs that enable members to obtain chestnut seeds or seedlings. See https://tacf.org/american-chestnut-seeds-and-seedlings/

*Pure American chestnut seeds will mostly be from source trees from the state of Georgia. They do not carry significant blight or Phytophthora root rot resistance. That said, when planted in the right location and properly cared for, they are capable of growing into adult trees with the potential to flower and bear nuts. If they reach that condition, the trees may be very useful to GA-TACF for future breeding purposes.

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We want to thank all of the volunteers who helped us this pollination season which is now complete! We were able to bag and pollinate 10 different trees (a record for or us) plus we collected pollen from a number of other trees. This work is crucial for our Best X Best (or RGS) chestnut disease resistance breeding program. Altogether, over the past three weeks, we have had 20 different volunteers plus several more who volunteered but had their shifts cancelled due to weather. We thank all of you! GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization except for a few interns that are obligated to certain orchard sites (Flint, Hurricane Creek).

Our next major volunteer efforts will start in mid-September when we will harvest and shuck burs and tabulate our harvest. Please stay tuned for announcements about these opportunities! Click here to register to volunteer with us or to sign the volunteer waiver form if you have not already done so: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

Here are a few more photos of our final two days when we were assisted by Berry College students who are working in Dr. Adrienne Ernst's lab this summer.

The American Chestnut Foundation
Berry College
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We want to thank all of the volunteers who helped us this pollination season which is now complete!  We were able to bag and pollinate 10 different trees (a record for or us) plus we collected pollen from a number of other trees.  This work is crucial for our Best X Best (or RGS) chestnut disease resistance breeding program.  Altogether, over the past three weeks, we have had 20 different volunteers plus several more who volunteered but had their shifts cancelled due to weather.  We thank all of you!  GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization except for a few interns that are obligated to certain orchard sites (Flint, Hurricane Creek).  Our next major volunteer efforts will start in mid-September when we will harvest and shuck burs and tabulate our harvest.  Please stay tuned for announcements about these opportunities! Click here to register to volunteer with us or to sign the volunteer waiver form if you have not already done so: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170Here are a few more photos of our final two days when we were assisted by Berry College students who are working in Dr. Adrienne Ernsts lab this summer.The American Chestnut FoundationBerry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment+3Image attachment

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Great photos...wish I were there to help with this....I got experience operating one of those boon lifts last year!

Here is a short YouTube video showing how we process catkins and store pollen for chestnut breeding purposes. Pollens processed like this are being used in this summer's Best X Best breeding program.

We are still looking for assistance from chapter volunteers for this program!

Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift. Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts). We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Our fallback "rain delay" date will be Thursday June 11. Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.

If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887

I hope you will be able to help!

The American Chestnut Foundation Berry College
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Video image

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Great video, Martin! Interesting and informative!

GA-TACF friends, members, and supporters:

We are approaching the end of this season's controlled pollination work for our chestnut breeding program, centered at Berry College and a nearby orchard site. At this point we have bagged and pollinated six trees and are looking to pollinate four more. We are again hoping for assistance from chapter volunteers - a good number have helped so far this summer!

Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift. Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts). We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Fallback "rain delay" date will be Thursday June 11. Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.

If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887

I hope you will be able to help! As I have said in several recent posts, GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization so there is no "us" without "you"!!

The American Chestnut Foundation Berry College
... See MoreSee Less

GA-TACF friends, members, and supporters: We are approaching the end of this seasons controlled pollination work for our chestnut breeding program, centered at Berry College and a nearby orchard site.  At this point we have bagged and pollinated six trees and are looking to pollinate four more.  We are again hoping for assistance from chapter volunteers - a good number have helped so far this summer! Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift.  Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts).  We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Fallback rain delay date will be Thursday June 11.  Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887I hope you will be able to help!  As I have said in several recent posts, GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization so there is no us without you!!The American Chestnut Foundation Berry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment
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