Has anyone heard anything about the Darling 58 genetically modified American Chestnut that is resistant to the blight? Last I heard the USDA was reviewing it for approval to sell.
American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
41–50 of 157 posts
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#42Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…
I sent them an email asking them for seeds a few months ago, unfortunately they stopped giving them out.
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#43This article makes it sound as if there's no large American Chestnuts, but that's not completely accurate. The largest trees in the US are a pair of trees in Thurston County, WA, that are 80-90' tall with ~10' circumferences: https://d3f9k0n15ckvhe.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/202...
IIRC, they do grow, blight free in the West. However, anything in the Appalachian range, (this species' native habitat?) dies from blight pretty consistently. Lost 4 billion trees in 40 years.
Edit:
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why don't they use agrobacterium transfection, gene guns, or molecular techniques to directly transfer the resistance genes over? Do we not know what the genes themselves are? I'm not criticizing their technique! Nor do I think I know better. This is amazing and valuable work, and I'd love to know more.
There is actually a parallel technique nearing the finish line that does sort of this. The gene they moved though is from wheat not another tree species, but still seems to give great blight resistance. Currently the barrier to it is entirely regularity. I believe it would be one of the first plants approved to just be released into the wild without something to prevent it reproducing naturally. The normal anti genet…
A buddy of mine has been involved in this project for years at SUNY ESF, and it's very exciting how successful it has been. There are dozens of test sites around central New York that have healthy (albeit very young) populations of American Chestnuts.
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought about finding this, or potentially building it if it doesn't exist. I was thinking for gardens and fruit trees. I'm particularly interested in well-suited plants because I will inevitably ignore them, and I'm hoping they can thrive without me. I'm planting figs this fall.
Fig trees are excellent. My wife has one in her gatden, snd after just a few years ee get so many tasty fruits from a pretty small tree. I live in Bay Area and pretty much it is just water it a bit and every so often cut back weeds.
They are supposed to do well in my region, and require virtually zero maintenance after they're established. No insect pests ruin the fruit, which is a problem with nearly every other fruit tree in this area (the Ozarks).
My neighbors have some figs and they really taste amazing, a lot like a peach. I'm getting the same variety, although the name escapes me now.
They do get emptied out by local robbers sometimes--raccoons and possums--but otherwise no issues.
I'm really excited to get them in, after seeing the success next door.
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fig trees are excellent. My wife has one in her gatden, snd after just a few years ee get so many tasty fruits from a pretty small tree. I live in Bay Area and pretty much it is just water it a bit and every so often cut back weeds.
> pretty small tree. Im in New Zealand and made the mistake of planting one. It’s turning into a monster and they grow in every direction, fast. When in SF unnoticed what out Pohutakawa have done over your way and was fairly impressed at their growth.
It may be a different variety.
My neighbors have had theirs in 3 years, and I think they bought...1 year old trees? I can't recall now.
Anyhow, they are about four feet tall right now, and max height is 10-15 feet (4.5m).
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#47The Seek app by iNaturalist is one possible way for armchair conservationists to catalog the trees on their property.
This app is unexpectedly fun to use. My family uses it like PoGo but with native plants and animals.
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#48Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…
For anyone wanting to learn more about this breeding technique, it's called backcrossing[1]. It's also used for agricultural crops, but requires many generations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backcrossing
Simple, yet effective. I've heard it said modern fruits are relatively tasteless compared to their older counterparts because they are bred for size and hardiness. I wonder if these can be backcrossed as well to produce more flavorful fruits with similar sizes
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#49The Seek app by iNaturalist is one possible way for armchair conservationists to catalog the trees on their property.
I like Seek but find I prefer the more "raw", self-titled iNaturalist app itself.
Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists
#50Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…
Why don't they use agrobacterium transfection, gene guns, or molecular techniques to directly transfer the resistance genes over? Do we not know what the genes themselves are? I'm not criticizing their technique! Nor do I think I know better. This is amazing and valuable work, and I'd love to know more.
Honestly there's probably a benefit to just avoiding more controversial tech like GMOs. There will be that much less resistance to re-introducing them back into the wild