North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[DocKW@aol.com]

I guess misery loves company;
Here in zone 5 SW Connecticut we had a hot spell in April with a nice 3day 
freeze which killed the new chestnut growth and most of my fruit blossoms 
including apples and pears.  We had another growth spurt again killed by 
frost.  I have a hilltop where there was only one freeze on the chestnuts and 
we have mostly blanks and I hand pollenated many of the lower flowers because 
of the lousy weather.  These are the Dunstan hybrids and seedlings. 
I have an 18 yr old Dunstan seedling which produces some flowers but seems in 
no hurry to give a big crop ....and it is near 10 inches in diameter chest 
height.
In the past I have had many copies from the nursery grafted on various 
(probably mostly chinese) seedling stock,,,,most of which fail before 2 yrs 
old.  I have taken 
seedlings from a chestnut tree (the seedling Dunstan is a good stock for the 
Dunstan hybrids).  This has been the only way to keep these varieties from 
dying off.  So, as far as I can tell, the best tree is produced by grafting 
on nuts from itself or a sister tree....not too far away genetically.  As far 
as grafting , they work well on potted stock in the greenhouse with some 
green showing.  Budding takes well with a high percentage of takes.  The heat 
is the key here.
We have had some luck grafting native american chestnuts (from the wild) onto 
the 
Dunstan seedlings we make from our nuts.  We are trying to make a grove to 
keep the local varieties from dying out (happening rapidly anyway).
It is a good thing that this is a labor of love....we haven't progressed too 
far..., but we are always hopeful.
Karl Olson,  Easton, CT