We had a good day of bagging chestnuts yesterday. We placed 32 bags on the Hinlicky tree, 29 bags on the Absher tree, and 17 bags on the McPherson tree. A total of 154 burs are covered and ready to be pollinated in a week or so. I will be sending out an email confirming the date and time later in the week.
John Scrivani from the Virginia Chapter of TACF joined the crew to help keep us on track and to collect samples from the trees to confirm their species purity. Everyone appreciated John’s willingness to answer any and all questions about chestnuts, backcross breeding and American chestnut restoration. Basically, we had a great little American chestnut seminar right in the woods.
Special thanks to Jim Bush of the Roanoke Valley Tree Stewards. He brought some leaf samples from some trees on Bent Mountain that appear to be American chestnuts. Once we can confirm their species we will add them to the pollination list for next year. Diversity is a good thing!
