Steve Hartman full American Chestnut Orchard
Scottsville, KY
Volunteers Steve Hartman with "Ches", Anne Bobigian, Jim Salmon and Ken Darnell met at Steve's Orchard, June 6th, to place 52 pre pollination bags...on selected trees whose catkins were still a bit green. Some of the bags contain three or four female flowers **** We will return on June 15th to apply selected pollen to those flowers.
Steve started this orchard 15 years ago with nuts from wild Americans. His Kentucky DNA trees are of special value, as they are part of the distinct "Southwest Appalachia" population.
Steve is a Partner to national TACF, KY TACF, and USFS. See more Chestnut photos and information on Steve's website: "Mater Maker"
matermakerfilm.com/american-chestnut
Steve sells full American nuts each Fall. Orders can be placed via his email: hartman@nctc.com
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Lots of Catkins in the full American Chestnut Orchard in the Kentucky Department of Forestry Morgan County Tree Nursery near West Liberty, KY
We checked their status today, June 5, 2023, and found that the make catkins are green and tight. No female flowers yet showing.
We will return in a few days to again search for female flowers that we will cover with paper pollination bags to prevent random cross pollination from adjacent full Americans. Then in the third week of June, when the catkins and flowers are fully ripe, we will "Control Pollinate" with chosen pollen, and rebag, with the nuts then to be harvested mid October.
Thank you Kentucky Department of Forestry for the strong Partnership with the KY Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation. * * * * * *
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KY TACF Partnership with USFS Daniel Boone National Forest May 17, 2023
Thank you Scott Ray for inviting us to attend DBNF Annual Meeting held at Berea College * * * *
Dr. Ellen Crocker, Scott Ray, and Ken Darnell, KY TACF Board Members conducted a presentation on TreeSnap and the State University of New York's "Darling 58" transgenic American Chestnut to 120 plus leaders of the Daniel Boone National Forest.
treesnap.org/
We also presented Hybrid American Chestnut Seedlings to Scott Ray, DBNF Supervisor and Brad Turberville, Deputy DBNF Supervisor for an educational planting on "The Boone".
www.fs.usda.gov/dbnf
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