Chestnut Harvest at the Pryor Farm, Edneyville, NC, September 27, 2025

Chestnut burs from the Pryor Orchard.

Hybrid chestnuts harvested from controlled pollinations.

Even with the threat of bad weather, we had volunteers come to help collect open-pollinated chestnut burs and nuts today, at the Pryor Orchard. We thank the first-time volunteers, Kelly, David and Gwen, for several hours of pulling burs off of the trees and collecting burs and nuts off the ground. Jamie Van Clief of TACF, and regular volunteers, Jon Taylor and Peggy MacDonald, were also present. The nuts will have several uses. Also, by removing the nuts from the fenced orchard, it will remove a food source for the chestnut weevil, a pest of chestnuts, by reducing its population in future years.

Sorry, no pictures from today in the orchard.

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The American Chestnut Foundation

4 days ago

June is packed with activities! There are numerous provisional field work projects that haven’t yet been added to the Event Calendar. If you’re interested in participating in your Chapter's planting, pollination, and various field tasks, please contact them to express your enthusiasm. Additionally, consider subscribing to their newsletter, which regularly provides updates on upcoming events.

Check out our event calendar: tacf.org/events/category/tacf/

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Barbara Stovall

The American Chestnut Foundation

1 week ago

The USDA has announced its desire to shut down or repurpose the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), putting TACF’s important chestnut orchard at risk.

This orchard is especially valuable because the trees are growing in soil naturally affected by Phytophthora root rot (PRR), allowing researchers to evaluate disease resistance under real-world conditions. It includes predominantly American chestnut hybrids that have shown promising resistance and could soon provide a vital source of seed for restoration efforts.

We are asking members and volunteers to contact their representatives in Congress and urge continued access to BARC to help preserve this irreplaceable research and restoration resource.

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Does the blight that affects the American chestnut live in the soil or is it airborne? I own several acres that once was a surface coal mine. The reclaimed soil is void of microbes (some consider it sterile). Empress trees grow on it, as well as many native species that don’t do so well in a mature forest. I’d like to try chestnut but not sure if it’s worth the investment.

That is a Chinese chestnut not an American chestnut

I hope they keep it open. These orchard are so important for forest restoration efforts. I created one for Butternut.

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The American Chestnut Foundation

1 week ago

It was so much fun to get out and nature and be a part of a community. Volunteer and check out events with your state Chapter to see what you have been missing!

Click the link in our bio to visit the "Volunteer" and "Events Calendar" links under "Get Engaged"

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