Castenea dentata (American Chestnut)

[rfwoodvt]

Hi!

I've been asked to work on a clump of Castenea dentata some of which are dead and must come down whilst the remaining trees (14 dbh) may need to be cleaned.

This is the first time I have seen this species as a) they are hard to come by and b)we are at the northeastern limits of their original range.

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions to minimize the potential of spreading the chestnut blight disease that may well be in the dead ones we will be taking down.

Timing, sanitation etcetera are concerns. Also since the trees are growing in a clump how cautious must we be about wounding the remaining trees ie, if limbs intertwine can/should we prune from the good trees or do we need to take the dead ones out one small cut at a time.

All thoughts and ideas are wanted!

ThanX!

 

[tomthetreeman]

My understanding is that ANY opening, no matter how small, can be considered a pathway for the blight. I have been told that the simple expansion of cambium as the trees grow is usually the first opening, which is why we rarely see larger ones.

You may want to contact the American Chestnut Foundation in your area for better info:

http://www.acf.org/ChapterNews_vt.php

-Tom

 

[robinia]

Apparently the fungus cannot live in our native soils. Once the blight has killed the aboveground portion of the tree it cannot progress into the roots because the native soil fungi kill the exotic pathogen. This is why C. dentata is usually a clump nowadays, due to the roots continuing to live and pushing up new shoots.
If it was Cryphonectria parasitica that killed the other stems than the remaining ones are probably not far behind

In that case disposal of the material is probably not a concern, unless of course there are other native Chestnuts around...

Tom's right. Check with the Chestnut foundations.

 

[rfwoodvt]

Laid in a call to the local chestnut people at the USFS research station...waiting to hear from them.

Thots from the field though are what I'm most interested in.