Vermont / New Hampshire News

Pollination Training at Beaver Brook May 2023

On May 18 the VT/NH Chapter took another step in its strategy to build a team of trained pollinators who will be ready to act following deregulation of the Darling-58 transgenic American chestnut tree. The Beaver Brook Association (BBA) in Hollis, NH hosted a combined Orchard Data Collection and Pollination Training workshop.

New England Regional Science Coordinator, Kendra Colins and UVM student intern, Russel Gomory, first instructed the 19 volunteers who attended how to collect data for each tree in the orchard. The orchard at BBA is a Progeny Test Orchard containing a variety chestnut species and hybrids. Kendra is pictured below demonstrating how to identify and record signs of flowering. Other information recorded included tree height and stem diameter, condition of blight (if present) and tree health. The volunteers worked efficiently in teams of three and were able to assess the condition all 111 trees in the orchard.

 

Following data collection Kendra demonstrated the controlled pollination process. The group will meet again June to locate flowers and bag them in preparation for pollination in late June or early July.

 

 

Vermont / New Hampshire News Chapter Menu

National Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Just a few years apart: the same wild American chestnut tree before and after chestnut blight took its toll.

Enter our 2026 Photo Contest from now until the end of December!

#americanchestnut #chestnutblight #ForestEcology #nativespecies #ForestConservation
... See MoreSee Less

Just a few years apart: the same wild American chestnut tree before and after chestnut blight took its toll. Enter our 2026 Photo Contest from now until the end of December! #AmericanChestnut #ChestnutBlight #ForestEcology #NativeSpecies #ForestConservationImage attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment

Please share your stories! ... See MoreSee Less

Please share your stories!Image attachment

American chestnuts produce separate male flowers and bisexual flowers on the same tree?! What a fascinating reproductive strategy for a species once dominant across eastern forests. 🌿

#americanchestnut #treefacts #treeidentification #ForestEcology #SaveOurForests
... See MoreSee Less

4 CommentsComment on Facebook

I have had these on the farm for years

BeeKeeper Mango

From looking at the leaves that is NOT an American chestnut. The leaves do not have the good fishhook profile on the edges, and from what can see they look like Japanese chestnut leaves which have small feathery edges.

Small Stem Assays involve inoculating young chestnut stems with the blight fungus and monitoring the resulting cankers, allowing researchers to assess how well different trees respond to infection.

#educational #Informative #americanchestnut #fieldwork #explore
... See MoreSee Less

2 CommentsComment on Facebook

You don't find out if the tree is resistant until it matures. That could be a decade later.

I am always amazed how big you all can grow them in 1 year. That is how big my second year seed8 gs always are!

Last week, staff at TACF’s national office in Asheville joined Carolinas Chapter President Peggy McDonald, husband Bob, and Chapter board member Jon Taylor for a hike at Albert Mountain in Western NC to visit wild American chestnut trees in search of flowering catkins.

During their venture, the team also came across a few cool amphibians: a red-legged salamander, which only inhabits portions of the southern Appalachian Mountains, and a red-spotted newt, which is much more common, but its brilliant red is stunning!

Of course, the biggest thrill was seeing large surviving chestnut trees and, as the day wrapped up, collecting some beautiful catkins that were high in the canopy of a tree on the way down the mountain. Pollen collected from the catkins will be used in TACF’s southern region breeding program.

#hike #nature #getoutside #americanchestnut #pollination
... See MoreSee Less

6 CommentsComment on Facebook

Whoa. Fascinating that some mature American Chestnuts have survived the blight. Taking pollen from these survivors is such a great idea. I didn't realize there were any survivors in NC.

Ils sont en fleur au Québec aussi, ça fait du bien de les voir grandir.

Fantastic

View more comments

Load more