An American Chestnut trying to make it

Last week, while scouting for some bear sign over on my farm in Western NC, I happened upon this young American Chestnut. What makes this find sorta remarkable is that this one has grown beyond the fingerling size sprout stage. It's about 5 or 6 inches in circumference and has sprouted from the buried roots of a long dormant, supposed dead, American chestnut stump. It shows no signs of blight, and it will be interesting to see how big this one gets before it succumbs to the blight. I cleared out all moisture competition from around it so it will at least have a fighting chance.

See how nice and straight this one is; unlike a Chinese chestnut.


Here's another angle. The lateral on the right was protruding through several surrounding locusts in an attempt to get some sunlight. When I was a kid, in about 1965, I remember a big dead chestnut stump at this location.


Another angle, showing the lateral from the other side and a Dolmar PS-5100S for scale. I had to do a close leaf and bark examination to be sure that I was correct in my identification. You can see the remaining stumps from the surrounding locusts that I removed. This tree is on the edge of woodland and the hayfield seen in the background, and on a west-facing slope.

Around here, all the chestnuts I see get to be that size, or a little bigger, then get hit with the blight. We have a couple that produce nuts, but are showing signs of blight. Hopefully yours will last longer.

It's amazing that 100 year old stumps are still producing shoots, but I see it all the time.