We had a house in austin with a bunch of live oak trees. There was a fungus moving from tree to tree via the roots or open cuts. The trees would shut off branches to stop the fungus. Eventually the tree shut everything off and die. Only impacted live oaks. We moved before we got hit.
yeah, my dad told me a little about this blight. by the late 1920's to early 1930's the trees started to die off. he talked about seeing squirrels in the hundreds moving south to find food. they built a barn out of the wood and a lot of other things. he also said they cut a shitload of railroad ties out of the dead wood and sold in town. last time I was down in eastern KY, I remember the floor boards in the barn loft being over 12 inches wide and more. I was told that was nothing. they cut wider boards than that out of the dead wood. like most people I guess, I wished I had talked a lot more with my parents about such things before they passed on. kind of figures that a damn New Yorker had a hand in it. dave in pa.
My Papaw mourned the loss of the chestnut trees all his days. I heard him talk about it many times, but never understood the depth of the loss until I watched this.
Yep. This blight was imported because some greedy vermin wasn't satisfied with his already productive American chestnut trees. He ended up failing in his original goal of making a minimally more productive chestnut farm and his chestnut farm was ground zero for screwing the whole country. All those trees provided cheap calories for the less fortunate, the deer, etc.
I planted one Dustan Chestnut tree a few days ago, got two more to place around the nursery, and more growing from seeds. They were on clearance at Walmart for $10 there-about, because it was going into winter and people think the trees are "bad" because their leaves are brown. More for me. Spent my last few dollars on those trees because I wanted them to attract deer. Now I want to plant more because of what was stolen from us. The land here should be good for them, acidic, with clay slopes and sandy flats. Rats keep stuffed their ugly, short sighted faces with a lot of the seeds and killing trees that would feed their idiot species for centuries. My survivors are are ~a foot tall now.
I need to plant more Moringas as well as Dustan Chestnuts, I'm also planting Black Berries. Gota do my part to green this earth back up. Leaf cutter ants seem to love stripping my Moringas throughout the summer.
Spread diatomaceous earth at the base of the tree. The thinking the the angularity of the diatom skeletons rip into the ant. Or maybe try crushed course Cinnamon. Would crushed walnut shells work?
I was once told by a conservation man that deep in the forest of Va one could still find small groves of native Chestnut. I heard other folks say they had found small groves too. Others say bullshit, they all died. Nice to wish but as we know if wishes were horses, beggers would ride.
The blight does not attack roots, so there are a large number of plants that spring up every year and form small bushes. The above-ground sprouts then are killed and the cycle starts the next spring.
I am trying to think of something good that came out of China in that era and am drawing a blank. And I 100% agree with Arc. heres one, “when is the best time to plant a tree?” (20 years ago) This is a very sad story Saber 7
Saber, I'm a lucky guy. No idea why but I got into planting trees in my twenties. I can't tell you how many I've planted on land I owned , hard and soft wood plus fruit bearing. Hard mostly oak and maple, maybe thirty. Soft most of them I got from the Conservation Dept. Maybe 18" seedlings in I believe packs of fifty. Not those super pines but good ol pine or spruce. I think probably over the years I've planted over five hundred of them. Fruit I venture a guess at maybe thirty. I just planted four fruit bearing and a live oak two weeks ago so I'm still at it. It's never too late. Go ahead, stick one in the ground. I double dare ya.
Just bloody cool
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe had a house in austin with a bunch of live oak trees. There was a fungus moving from tree to tree via the roots or open cuts. The trees would shut off branches to stop the fungus. Eventually the tree shut everything off and die. Only impacted live oaks. We moved before we got hit.
ReplyDeleteyeah, my dad told me a little about this blight. by the late 1920's to early 1930's the trees started to die off. he talked about seeing squirrels in the hundreds moving south to find food.
ReplyDeletethey built a barn out of the wood and a lot of other things.
he also said they cut a shitload of railroad ties out of the dead wood and sold in town.
last time I was down in eastern KY, I remember the floor boards in the barn loft being over 12 inches wide and more. I was told that was nothing. they cut wider boards than that
out of the dead wood. like most people I guess, I wished I had talked a lot more with my parents about such things before they passed on. kind of figures that a damn New Yorker had a hand in it. dave in pa.
My Papaw mourned the loss of the chestnut trees all his days. I heard him talk about it many times, but never understood the depth of the loss until I watched this.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting video, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYep. This blight was imported because some greedy vermin wasn't satisfied with his already productive American chestnut trees. He ended up failing in his original goal of making a minimally more productive chestnut farm and his chestnut farm was ground zero for screwing the whole country. All those trees provided cheap calories for the less fortunate, the deer, etc.
ReplyDeleteI planted one Dustan Chestnut tree a few days ago, got two more to place around the nursery, and more growing from seeds. They were on clearance at Walmart for $10 there-about, because it was going into winter and people think the trees are "bad" because their leaves are brown. More for me. Spent my last few dollars on those trees because I wanted them to attract deer. Now I want to plant more because of what was stolen from us. The land here should be good for them, acidic, with clay slopes and sandy flats. Rats keep stuffed their ugly, short sighted faces with a lot of the seeds and killing trees that would feed their idiot species for centuries. My survivors are are ~a foot tall now.
I need to plant more Moringas as well as Dustan Chestnuts, I'm also planting Black Berries. Gota do my part to green this earth back up. Leaf cutter ants seem to love stripping my Moringas throughout the summer.
- Arc
Spread diatomaceous earth at the base of the tree. The thinking the the angularity of the diatom skeletons rip into the ant.
DeleteOr maybe try crushed course Cinnamon.
Would crushed walnut shells work?
I was once told by a conservation man that deep in the forest of Va one could still find small groves of native Chestnut. I heard other folks say they had found small groves too. Others say bullshit, they all died. Nice to wish but as we know if wishes were horses, beggers would ride.
ReplyDeleteThe blight does not attack roots, so there are a large number of plants that spring up every year and form small bushes. The above-ground sprouts then are killed and the cycle starts the next spring.
DeleteAs a 5-6 year old in Harlan County Kentucky back in the 50’s, there was a huge chestnut tree on the ridge line above our house deep up in our holler…
ReplyDeleteIt’s diameter was wider than my armspread and each fall, I would collect pounds of chestnuts prior to Christmas.
I am trying to think of something good that came out of China in that era and am drawing a blank. And I 100% agree with Arc.
ReplyDeleteheres one, “when is the best time to plant a tree?” (20 years ago)
This is a very sad story
Saber 7
Saber, I'm a lucky guy. No idea why but I got into planting trees in my twenties. I can't tell you how many I've planted on land I owned , hard and soft wood plus fruit bearing. Hard mostly oak and maple, maybe thirty. Soft most of them I got from the Conservation Dept. Maybe 18" seedlings in I believe packs of fifty. Not those super pines but good ol pine or spruce. I think probably over the years I've planted over five hundred of them. Fruit I venture a guess at maybe thirty. I just planted four fruit bearing and a live oak two weeks ago so I'm still at it. It's never too late. Go ahead, stick one in the ground. I double dare ya.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete