An Early American Tradition

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I think it is important to have goals. A few years ago I added one to my bucket list. It has to do with recreating an early American tradition. When I grew up, one of the songs popular on the radio around Christmas time was called "The Christmas Song". The lyrics were:

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yule-tide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos

Nat King Cole was one of the singers that help to make this song a classic.
Anyways I began to wonder why I had never roasted chestnuts on an open fire. The reason why is because American Chestnuts became extinct. The American Chestnut was a predominant tree in North America. Then between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904.

So I added one item to my bucket list before I die. I would like to roast American Chestnuts on an open fire with my grandchildren around Christmas time.

Well it turns out that not 100% of the species became extinct. A few pockets survived that were blight resistant. Some industrious individuals are busy at work trying to reestablish this species. So I purchased a few of these blight resistant American Chestnuts and began growing them.

Trees are not always the easiest things to grow. Several of the trees were destroyed by deers and Japanese Bean Beetles. The seasonal floods and droughts did not help. But I am a persistent person. And these trees are beginning to get established. Here is a photo of one.



It will be good to reestablish an early American tradition, especially with my grandkids.

Bravo! Always hoped this day would come. It's like seeing passenger pigeons come back.

I hope this works for you & you can not only save some seeds, but also get some chestnuts to roast at Christmastime!

Regarding Japanese beetles, there are ways to get rid of them. Pheromone traps, fungal weapons, etc. have all been used, as gardeners hate them! Deer? Fencing them out might work; failing that, I'd go for a hunting license. They are quite tasty as well...

What did you do to get rid of the pests and save these rare trees?

For the Japanese beetles I am using pheromone traps. For the deer I am using thick aluminum pie plates hung on a string. The deer get spooked and disoriented by them. For the drought, I cover the adjacent area with mulch to hold in the moisture. For the floods, I have built a drainage ditch.

One of the things about American Chestnuts is that once they start to produce, they are very prolific.