The New London Conservation Commission potted 93 American Chestnut seed nuts and delivered them to Spring Ledge Farm (SLF) in New London on April 10, 2025. SLF has several commercial year-round greenhouses and the owner, Greg Berger, offered NLCC some space in this warm and sunny environment where several nuts germinated in less than 2 weeks. Eliza Howard, who is the manager of this greenhouse unit, is a college student who has worked on several American Chestnut Restoration research projects and is very familiar with the seedling’s needs and seems very excited to be involved in our project. This week marks week #7 for the seedlings, which now range in height from about 8″ to 10″. They look healthy and show active leaf development.
This is a great start for this year’s A/C crop. The greenhouse environment is so much better than trying to find some windowsill space at home, and we were able to get a good head start on the season.
NLCC is proud to be a member of the VT/NH Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, which has provided invaluable support to our restoration project.
This is year #7, and presently we have 3 A/C test sites on conserved NL Town owned land totaling about 100 trees in the ground. All appear to have survived the winter well and are in the process of budding now.
Our sincere thanks to SLF for all the support of our American Chestnut Restoration project.
For more information: www.nl-nhcc.com
