The battle against Chestnut blight continues today but as of yet the cure for the always fatal fungal tree disease is in it’s early stages. Introduced as an invasive spores common in an Asian occurrence of the Chestnut has raged through the Eastern hardwood forest since the 1940’s. It kills the tree by interrupting it’s ability to move water up through the trunk and limbs. Effots today are focused today on changing the DNA of Chestnuts to a variant that could withstand the blight as effectively as the Asian one but maintain the far superior qualities and fruit of the North American variety. If you over 60 you may have seen a few of these they have become very rare.
Key Takeaways:
- In the late nineteenth century, American chestnuts made up more than 50 percent of the trees in Eastern hardwood forests.
- Today there are none. Find out about the culprit–chestnut blight–and what’s being done to combat this devastating disease.
- The prognosis is so bleak that when experts are asked how to prevent chestnut blight, their only advice is to avoid planting chestnut trees altogether.
“In the late nineteenth century, American chestnuts made up more than 50 percent of the trees in Eastern hardwood forests.”
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/nut-trees/chestnut-trees/treating-chestnut-blight.htm