Orchard People

[00:00:00] Introduction and Welcome
The following program does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Reality Radio 101, its advertisers and sponsors, or its listening audience. Listener discretion is advised.
Welcome to the Urban Forestry Radio Show, here on Reality Radio 101. In this radio show and podcast, we learn about fruit trees, permaculture, aboriculture, and so much more. So if you love trees and especially fruit trees, or if you're interested in living a more sustainable life, then this is the place for you.
I'm your host, Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care training website, orchardpeople. com. Thanks for tuning in. And enjoy the show.
Welcome to the Urban Forestry Radio Show with your host, Susan Poizner. To contact Susan live, right now, send her an email. InStudio101@gmail.com
[00:01:48] Holiday Chestnut Traditions
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
Yuletide carols. Being sung by a choir And folks dressed up like Eskimos Maybe you celebrate Christmas at this time of year, or maybe you celebrate winter solstice, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. No matter what you celebrate, that idea of eating hot roasted chestnuts on a cold winter day just feels good. So I thought this was a perfect time to talk in the show today about chestnuts and chestnut trees.
Hey, most of us don't even realize that there are all sorts of chestnuts from different chestnut tree cultivars. Some are big, some are small, and the flavor and texture can be totally different for each type.
[00:02:53] Interview with Alen Rosic
my first guest in the show today has probably chewed his way through thousands of chestnuts over the years.
Alen Rosic is from Waterloo, Iowa, and he's part of Iowa's strong Bosnian community. which hosts a huge chestnut festival each year. Alen is going to tell me about it. Then later in the show, we'll explore more information about the history of chestnut trees here in North America, the types of cultivars available, and the kind of care that these trees need.
We'll be talking to Dr. Sandy Anagnostakis of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and stories on the show for either of my guests. So please scribble down this email in Studio 101. at gmail. com. And I'll do my best to include your comment in the live show today.
We can even continue the conversation after the show on the Orchard People Facebook page. But first, let's party. On the line is Alen Rosic, who's involved in the annual Chestnut Festival in Iowa. Alen, how are you today? I'm pretty good. You're pretty good. You had a nice holiday? Yes, we had a great holiday.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Tell me where did you grow up and in what way were chestnuts part of your culture or tradition? I am originally from ex Yugoslavia, today Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our chestnut tradition goes way back, as we have a natural forest in Bosnia full of chestnuts. So every fall we would pretty much whole family get together. And we would go and pick up chestnuts through the forest. And then we would just either roast them, boil them, or hold them for the winter days. So how, you know what, I believe that chestnuts are notorious.
I know that when I do buy them, you have to make them right away, otherwise they go bad. how would you preserve them? Yes, they go very easy moldy if they're not stored right. We, in Boston, there's two different ways we preserve them. We preserve them in the traps, in the underground traps, where the hole would be digged in the ground, and you would store them inside with apples and potatoes.
And usually they could hold up to three to four months. The temperatures are around 40, 50 degrees the whole time. So they usually don't mold, as, as bad as the biome in this, but also we, in, in Bosnia, we have the other way of, we start, after we pick them up, we lay them on the sun for a couple of days, and we turn them twice daily, and off on the sun, let them start drying, and then we store them on the roofs of our houses, pretty much, and they stay there for about three, four months, they'll become, chestnuts and just open and the shell would be so crackly and dry you would just push them and you could just break them right away which you have without any much force and then those, chestnuts would be like a yellow golden nugget and you would just use them to boil them.
You can use them as a mashed potato or just eat them as they are when they're boiled. That's interesting. Yes, and those chestnuts could be stored for Probably five, six years before they start losing their flavor and nutrition. my father told me about it and that's his favorite way of eating chestnuts.
to dry them and then boil them sometime next year, I, myself, I would rather love them fire roasted or oven baked, but, Personal preference. Alen, just to clarify, when you, back in the old country, when you would dry the chestnuts, you would dry them in their shell?
You don't have to take them shell, correct. Oh. In their shell, they will be dried in their shell. You will keep him on the sun, on, turn him over, usually three, four days on the sun, to kill the ozzy mold and all bacteria, and then while they're still in the shell, we'll restore them under the roofs where it's really dry, and they would completely dry out, where there was like absolutely no moisture, so they would just be like Hard rock, but really light, So tell me, you came to North America. I think you told me in 1997, is that correct?
[00:07:52] Chestnut Festival Details
Correct, And then, when did the Chestnut Festival start and what was the motivation for having an annual Chestnut Festival? when we came in 97 on probably the next few years, we did not know that. our Boston love chestnuts and we have a community of like probably seven, five to 7,000 people here in loo.
we could not find chestnuts and the stores that would order small quantity, they could not sell in No. And. Over the year, we find out the southern part of Iowa, kind of Quad Cities, between Quad Cities, they're important. Iowa City, there's a natural forest of chestnuts on some planted Chinese forest lately, After we found that out, that's when the people started slowly organizing. We always had a small kind of get together in the fall. For like fast chestnut sauce, but then, probably last eight, nine years, we started organizing each year a bigger and bigger chestnut festival, trying to bring more people to try the chestnuts at first, because a lot of people never even try the chestnuts.
many people, it's first time they eat chestnuts, it's I never eat anything like it. It's not like any other nut. Yeah, it's amazing that it isn't. It really is a very meaty kind of nut. Yes, it's very different. It's very different, but delicious. It's more like a potato than a nut.
okay, you started the festival. Now, what, is the festival only for the Bosnian community, or did you open it up to the public? No, actually the festival is for everybody. we try to invite. as many people as we can, American and now a lot of people from everywhere else to try them out. A lot of Asians enjoy a chestnut stew.
We have a big community of people from South Asia, from Burma and Thailand, and they really enjoy the chestnut stew. They usually come to these festivals too, and A lot of time people never heard of Chestnut and especially of Chestnut Festival. It's new and we are trying to spread it. like now, like I said, we have it in Waterloo, Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois.
We switch it every year so people can get closer, don't have to drive too far away. Every, year, Yeah. That must be I would love to go one day. That'll be so much fun. Now. Okay, so you're giving out free roasted chestnuts, I understand. Yes. What else happens? Is there music?
Is there entertainment? Yes. We have a live boian music that is playing whole time. Usually. We also have a Bosnian males like, Bosnian, Different Bosnian soups on, some Bosnian meat and, dry sausages. Usually everything is free. Everything is donated by the companies here in town or by the members of community, So they usually try to use that money just to make a bigger and bigger fest. So far we did have every time it was better and better, or more people showed up, And how, so in recent years, how many people showed up for your festival? This year, we did not have too many, because we had a way before that we had a huge flooding, here in Midwest.
On the, main part where we're supposed to have it. So we got moved in the center of the city and kind of a surprise for everybody, what's happening, settling down, big festival, loud music, a lot of cars coming on grills going on a lot of time, people, Came just to check it out and they didn't even realize that everything is free and a lot of American really enjoyed it too It was they came this year, but last time we had Probably around 5, 000 people in the world here.
That was like three years ago and this time we had over Around 2,500 people for the whole day coming and going. That sounds like fun. So I need, it's fun.
[00:12:03] Roasting and Cooking Chestnuts
I need to ask you some advice because you are obviously a, chestnut cooking expert, which I am not , and when me with me, it's hit and miss whether they work out in the end.
is there a secret to roasting chestnuts? Is it the type of chestnut you buy? Is it the, how you, roast them in the oven? What's the secret?
in the oven, I love them in the, roasting them in the oven. It's the easiest for me. You do have to cut a chestnut a little bit with a knife. The skin kind of, damage it. Otherwise, they will blow up the steam inside while they cook. They will, grow and blow up. That's what happened a few times when I recommended to a few people to buy chestnuts.
And they took it home. they never knew that you're supposed to cut them. They would put them in the oven or they would just make a huge mess. But yes, you have to cut eight chestnuts with a knife, just make a small X on the top of it. And then you just put them in an oven. I usually do it through 380 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, depends on the size.
If they're larger, I leave them a couple minutes longer. If they're smaller chestnuts, I leave them a couple minutes less. But, on the end, after these 20, 25 minutes, I turn the broiler on for about three minutes and just leave them under the broiler with open door. That way the shell will blacken and be really easy to peel, but the nut inside still will be nice and soft.
Oh, that's a good secret. And I think that is the easy, that is the kind of easier ways to roast them. The other ways would be, another easy way is just to boil them. And you just put them in water and boil them for about an hour, and a half, and then you can peel them with a knife, too. the boiling method is easier.
It tastes totally different as the roasted one. it tastes more like, boiled sweet potato kind of taste when you boil them. Amazing. Alen! We like to roast Sorry, go ahead. No, We also like to roast them on the open fire, like a lot of songs, and that's how we do it on the festival. We have, special grills with the holes, and we just have open fire, and that way you don't have to cut them.
Because the fire just burns the shell, and so they have no time to steam and to explode, Roasted fire hits away, but you do have to do it outside, Alen, I just got an email from a listener called Adam.
[00:14:33] Listener Interaction and Festival Information
I don't know where Adam's from, but he says, Hi, Susan. Merry Christmas. I have been to the festival.
Amazing, he says. What a very cool event. Everyone should go. Thanks, Adam. So that's nice. one of the listeners has been. Yes, we, like I said, people never heard of it. First of all, first people don't hear a lot about Chestnut, especially about Chestnut Festival, or it is really some kind of different experience, to try them, to taste them, to taste different kind of food and hear the music, it's really, if we didn't have such a good turnout every year after year, we probably wouldn't do it, but, turnout is big on, to be honest, that makes everybody happy, because everybody who works in it, they are volunteers.
They're always, people who come and they take their time off to work and everything to set up everything and to help during the festivals. It's funny, Adam got back to us. He is listening from Toronto, so he doesn't even live near you guys. Toronto, Canada. Now, okay, people listening to this show may say, I want to go next fall to the festival.
How do I, find out when it is and where to go? Is there more information online? How can they get more information? like I said, festival is every October. It's the end of October every year. next year we'll be in Des Moines, Iowa, located. it's between October 20th and 28th, just depends how the weekend feels on it.
and you can check it on the, it's called, Castaneda. It's called the Chestnut Festival in Bosnia. They usually have a Facebook page built up for the coming year, just to add people, to see what people would like to do more, what people would like to see, and then they try to organize that.
this year we had a small Facebook page. You saw it. There was not much on it because it's run by the, All the gentlemen, he don't know too much about the technique on the social media today But he tried to do his best with uploading pictures and answering questions you know what we can do is Alen I would love it If you email me in September or August and as soon as you know the date and the location any information I can put it on orchardpeople.
com. I can write a little blog And we can make sure that, the listeners who want to go will find a way to get there. I certainly would love to get there one year. I hope that will happen one day.
[00:17:27] Music and Farewell to Alen
now you were mentioning music, and in a minute we're going to hear some music that's written and performed by a friend of yours.
So can you tell us a little bit about him and about the music we're going to hear? He is my friend from the day I was born, actually. He's my, Godfather, originally, so I know him my, probably my 40 years. we worked together in the effigy. War refugee from Bosnia in Germany before we came here to United States.
He stayed in New York. We moved to Iowa He's a great artist. He does all kind of Mediterranean music from Spanish Greek to Italian Bosnian. He speak several languages his friend, Sajjan, he came from, Serbia a few years ago and joined them and they now have the band that they, perform in New York City on surrounding area over the weekends.
he plays all kind of folk music to the rock music from the Balkan Peninsula. And what's his band name? Wukong and Sojong. You can find them on YouTube, but they have their channel on. They have some really nice music. So hopefully, Gary in the studio, hopefully right after I say goodbye to you, maybe Gary will play it.
We can hear a little bit of the song, cause I really enjoyed listening to it on YouTube, and I thank him. He played on my wedding on Heat Travel from New York. All the way to Iowa just to play for my wedding for one day on. It was the greatest wedding music I ever had. I could even imagine. Oh, I enjoyed listening to it a lot, so I'm glad to share it.
And Alen, thank you so much for coming on the show. In the second half of the show, we're gonna be talking a little bit more about, Chestnut Trees. We're gonna be talking about growing them and cultivars, but I so appreciate having this chat with you today. I've been looking forward to it a long time.
Oh, thank you. So thanks so much. Okay, you take care, listen to the end of the show if you can, and goodbye for now. Thank you. Bye bye guys. Bye. Okay. Maybe we'll get a bit of that music now. Let's have a listen.
[00:20:39] Sponsor Messages and Show Continuation
Coming up, we'll hear a word from our sponsors, and then we'll learn more about the sad history of chestnut trees here in North America. We'll also learn about chestnut tree cultivars. And the secret of how to grow these trees successfully. Now get ready to send in your questions to in-Studio one01@gmail.com.
You are listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show 1 0 1. I'm Susan Poiser, and we'll be back after this short break. Hi
everyone, it's Susan Boisner from orchard people.com. The holidays are here and I wanna celebrate with you. Winter is a great time to polish up our fruit tree care skills to get ready for the year to come. So if you need to learn fruit tree pruning, pest and disease prevention, and more, then I have a gift for you.
Until December 31st, I'm offering 25 percent off the cost of my online fruit tree care training. It's a great gift for you, or for anyone you love. Claim your 25 percent discount before December 31st, 2016. Go to orchardpeople. com slash workshops and use the discount code HOLIDAY16. Happy holiday everyone!
Hi, I'm Mark Cullen with some news about a wonderful lineup of garden supplies and garden tools that will absolutely knock your gardening socks off. They're called Mark's Choice and they're exclusive to Home Hardware, 1, 100 stores coast to coast. Mark's Choice. features great quality products that will not only last years, but in some cases will last a lifetime.
Look for my various garden gloves, stainless steel garden tools, stainless steel digging tools, my new garden backhoe and many others. And as a matter of fact, there's over 160 different products in the Mark's Choice lineup. I'd love you to try them all. But start by sampling one that appeals to you.
Drop by your local Home Hardware, have a look at the Mark's Choice lineup of tools and garden supplies, including my line of garden soils, and decide for yourself. Great quality, lasting quality, and a great gardening experience. That's what I strive for with Mark's Choice. Look for it. The following program does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Reality Radio 101, its advertisers and sponsors, or its listening audience.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Welcome back to the Urban Forestry Radio Show with your host, Susan Poizner, right here on Reality Radio 101. To contact Susan now live, email her. In Studio 101, at Gmail. com.
And now, right back to your host, Susan Poizner. You're listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show on Reality Radio 101. I'm Susan Poizner, and in today's show, we've been talking about roasting chestnuts in an annual chestnut festival. many urban forestry radio show listeners, they like growing things.
And some of us might be interested in planting a chestnut tree on our properties, or maybe in a community orchard project in a local park. Now, I think that's a great idea. But before you rush off to the garden center to buy a tree, There's a lot to think about. Planting chestnut trees is like planting any tree.
You absolutely need to do your research first. in this part of the show, I've invited Dr. Sandra Onoknostakis. We call her Dr. Sandy. She's famous for being Dr. Sandy. And she has spent years working to breed better and more disease resistant chestnut trees at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
Dr. Sandy works at the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology and her expertise is fungus, a major bad guy when it comes to chestnut trees. She's also a past president and current board member of the Northern Nut Growers Association. So I think Dr. Sandy is on the line. Happy holidays. Are you there?
Yes, I'm here. Thank you very much. Did you have a wonderful holiday? I did. I had a great time with my daughter and her family. Oh, that sounds so nice. yes, did you hear the first part of the show when we chatted with Alen about the Chestnut Festival? yes, I did. I made a couple of notes about some of his questions, if you would like me to elaborate on them.
For sure. one of the things that he was talking about was storage, and the big problem, of course, is that when, grocery stores get in chestnuts from Europe, they tend to put them out dry in a bag, and under those conditions, the nuts are pretty much useless after a few days. So the chestnut growers of America have been trying very hard to convince grocery store people that chestnuts should be treated like tomatoes.
They really have to be refrigerated and they can't be allowed to dry out. But, the, alternative to dealing with dried out chestnuts from a store is to buy local. And there are lots and lots of chestnut growers in the United States. And, the list is available online. People can simply look at chestnutgrowers.
org, O R G, to get a list of all of the growers that are current with this organization, and I see that there are seven different growers listed in Iowa. Alen could expand his sources of chestnut by contacting some of those people. It's interesting because when I spoke to Alen before the show, he was talking, they order a lot of chestnuts because it's for the festival, and they have, they go directly to the growers.
I'm so glad you addressed that because I was the one who said basically I've had such bad luck with roasting chestnuts But I think it's for the very reason that you mentioned. I'm getting them. They're sitting outside in the sun basically outside My local fruit and veg store. So that makes a lot of sense I wonder if your list chestnut growers org has any Canadian producers or growers in there I don't think there are.
Certainly there are some in Canada. I can't think of any right off hand. But, there, there are lots of growers. What you need to do is buy local. Or if you want to order online, there are a number of these places that will ship chestnuts to you. The, Michigan Chestnut Co op has a, thriving business in, Not only fresh chestnuts, but many chestnut products.
that sounds wonderful.
[00:28:50] History of Chestnut Trees in North America
let's talk a little bit about the history of chestnut trees here in North America. And, I don't know, maybe many people, many listeners are like me. I know that, there were American chestnut trees and that there aren't so much anymore.
[00:29:03] The Decline of American Chestnut Trees
Can you tell us briefly, what is it that's happened to the American chestnut tree?
Sure. American chestnuts, which were native up and down the east coast and over about as far as the middle of the country, were at one time a fairly important timber tree. They grew to about 80 feet tall and were very straight and therefore were prized for lumber and, Were used by a lot of woodworking people and in Connecticut, they were burned to make charcoal for, All of the, metal producers in the state, but American chestnut trees were unfortunately very susceptible to a fungus disease and to another disease, which is a root disease used to be called a fungus, but people have decided that it's not a fungus.
So we have two major diseases that came in the 1800s. Probably from Asia, and those, diseases essentially wiped out the major, forests of America and chestnut, but didn't completely eliminate the trees because the, the root disease certainly kills them totally. That's more prominent in the south.
Because that organism doesn't overwinter, it's not really much of a problem, oh, north of, about New Jersey. But the fungus disease, which is throughout the range, kills the tops of the trees down to the ground, and then they sprout again. though American chestnuts have been seriously depleted in the southern U.
S., In the northern part of the range, they continue to die back to the ground and then sprout again from the base. So it sounds like what's left of the American chestnut tree is like chestnut shrubs. That's, about right. That's what you get. Do they have, do they get old enough to produce any nuts?
they do occasionally. Chestnuts, American chestnuts, don't usually start producing nuts until they're about 10 or 12 years old. if the, shrubs are able to grow that long before they get blight and die back again, then they might produce nuts one or two times, one or two years in a row.
[00:31:56] Chestnut Varieties and Their Characteristics
Now, the nuts, when you and I chatted earlier, they were never a delicacy for humans, they certainly were in the South, where they were an important source of, food. people in the Appalachian Mountains, for instance, relied on them. as, of course, did lots of, animals and birds that were eating the chestnuts. But when the people in the Northeast talked about chestnuts and chestnuts roasting on the corners in New York City, those were usually European chestnuts.
that had been initially brought over in the 1700s. for instance, Thomas Jefferson is supposed to have grafted European chestnuts onto some American chestnut stumps in 1773. So European chestnuts have been in this country for a long time. And those nuts are much larger than American chestnuts. the people who were able to get European chestnuts certainly would, buy those.
If you, had this stuff at Turkey and you needed, 30 American chestnuts and you could get by with, 10 Europeans, there's an obvious choice there. So the European are definitely a much bigger nut. They're a much larger nut. the flavor is different. the European chestnuts are, a little more like a potato in, texture.
And, they're certainly good. They're just, a different kind of, nut that, Some people like that. Some people prefer and that's something that's definitely taken into consideration by the growers, because if you're growing nuts, you have to know your market. You have to know whether the people in your area would prefer the small dense nuts or large flowery nuts the Europeans or, nuts of the kind that you find in Japan.
And all of the species, the seven or eight species of chestnuts have different characteristics. Interesting. And so you mentioned the, Japanese, chestnut trees. So how would that compare to the European or to the native North American chestnut trees in terms of the taste of the chestnuts and sizes and stuff?
Japanese chestnuts first came into the United States in 1876, and the, The people growing them in the Northeast, primarily, were hybridizing them with Americans and with Europeans to get nuts that would peel more easily because the Japanese chestnuts are harder to peel even after they've been cooked.
in order to get nuts that peeled better, People made hybrids and some of those early hybrids were very successful. There was one called Boone that, was, selected and, grown for a long time, starting, let's see, Boone was in, oh, I can't remember, sometime in the, in the late 1800s, was developed, and, sold, as a cultivar, that is, as a grafted tree all over the eastern United States.
I have a question from a listener here. Cliff says, what do most growers grow? Which type? So is there one or two cultivars that's really popular across the board? it's important to realize, first of all, that different species of chestnuts grow If you're growing chestnuts on the West Coast, most of those growers have Japanese European hybrids.
Those are the ones that succeed best under the conditions in California. In the Midwest, there are a lot of people growing Chinese chestnuts. In the Northeast, there's a whole variety of hybrids that have been produced, many of them from the Connecticut Experiment Station. Hybrids that are a combination of Japanese, Chinese, European, and American, and selected for nut size and flavor.
people in the South. Where they have to worry about the root disease on chestnuts are growing primarily Asian trees or Asian hybrids that will resist that organism. So depending on where you are, if you're looking for local chestnuts, you will find different kinds of hybrids and different species.
And within those, there are of course cultivars, which are clones that are grown and sold in different parts of the country. we've got another email from, a listener, Elise, from Orlando, Florida. She writes, Hello, Susan and Dr. Sandra. I love all forms of chestnuts. I'm going to listen to a message from our sponsors in a minute.
But just briefly, you, I know you have spent much of your career working.
[00:38:15] Breeding and Cultivating Chestnut Trees
on breeding different types and cultivars of, chestnut trees. what is your goal in doing this breeding? What is it that you are looking to create? the experiment station has a long history in breeding chestnut trees, both orchard and timber trees that would be resistant.
To blight disease and other problems, but in addition, we've been trying to find trees that produce large, nutritious nuts, which keep well, which store well, and ideally, which start to fruit early. That is earlier than Americans, which take 10 or 12 years. And have you been successful? Are there any cultivars that you have launched yet into the market?
I know these things are very slow to develop, but yes. yes. In fact, the experiment station released sleeping giants. a cultivar called Sleeping Giant sometime in the 60s. we have Little Giant, which is a dwarf tree. There are, a number of others that we have, given out to growers. And I've been continuing to make selections using some of The, major cultivars, like Cultivar Colossal, which is a Japanese European hybrid, I've been crossing that with some of our trees that have, exceptionally good flavor.
And then testing the offspring for the nutrients in the nuts. Nice. in just a few seconds, we're going to hear from the show sponsors, but I would love to get into more detail after our little commercial break about chestnut cultivars, how to care for them. I have lots of listener questions for you as well.
Dr. Sandy, can you hold on the line for just a minute? Certainly. Okay, thanks so much. You're listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show on Reality Radio 101. I'm Susan Poizner, and we'll be back after this short break.
Did you know that one of the best ways to ensure organic fruit tree growing success is to order the right tree for your unique conditions? cultivars from a specialist fruit tree nursery, where you can find heirloom trees. Disease resistant varieties and more. To download a free list of fruit tree nurseries in Canada and the United States, go to orchardpeople.
com slash buyfruittrees. That's B U Y dash fruit dash trees. Enjoy the list and your new fruit tree. And learn more about how to care for your tree by signing up for my free monthly newsletter.
Welcome back to the urban forestry radio show with your host, Susan Poizner right here on reality radio 101 to contact Susan live right now, send her an email instudio101atgmail. com.
And now right back to your host, Susan Poizner. I'm Susan Poizner and you're listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show, a program where we learn all about fruit trees, food forests, permaculture, arboriculture, and lots more. Thanks so much for tuning in. So today, to celebrate the winter season, we are talking about chestnuts and chestnut trees, a favorite treat at this time of the year.
And I've been speaking to Dr. Sandy Anagnostakis of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. And she's been breeding chestnut trees for many years. if you have any questions for Dr. Sandy, or even any chestnut stories to share, please do email us at instudio101. org. at gmail. com. Okay, so Dr.
Sandy, you still on the line, right? Yes, I'm still here.
[00:43:17] Listener Questions and Expert Answers (value added products, cultivars, and propagation)
So back to Cliff, a listener who has written in another question, and he asks, are other than the eating the nuts themselves, are there an increasing number of products like that are made with I don't know, chestnut flour, that kind of thing. Yes, absolutely.
Many of the growers are now selling not only chestnut flour, there's, chestnut chips, which are freeze dried little, pieces of chestnut that you can keep for a long time and then if you want a few in your soup you just take a handful to add. No, no fuss, no peeling. that sounds great. Absolutely.
Different kinds of, food products are being produced. And in Michigan, they now have chestnut beer, which I've not tasted yet, but one of my friends tells me is very good. that sounds amazing. That sounds really useful. Excuse me. we have a message from Aaron in Maine, USA. So Aaron says great topic here in the northeast.
A problem in chestnuts is that some Chinese hybrids don't drop their leaves early enough in the fall and that the branches break under early wet snows. So could Dr Sandy recommend some good nut cultivars for the northeast that don't have this problem? Mhm. I happen to think that the Japanese cultivars, or the ones that are hybrids with Japanese rather than Chinese, seem to do a little better in the Northeast, whereas the Chinese do better in the Midwest.
And possibly in the south. that would be the first thing I'd look for, would be some of the cultivars that have, Japanese as their source of resistance. But, the other thing to keep in mind is that if you're very far north Then winter temperatures are going to be a big problem for growing grafted cultivars.
Chestnuts won't root from cuttings. So in order to propagate a cultivar, which is by definition a clone, they have to be grafted. And that graft union often will, not survive very low winter temperatures. In fact, in northern Connecticut, one of our growers has had a lot of trouble keeping grafted trees alive.
So under those conditions, rather than growing cultivars, probably planting selected seedlings would be wiser. interesting idea. I should ask you, I know that I've taken quite, made an effort to put together a list of fruit tree nurseries, but I'm sure people listening to this show, I have some nut tree nurseries, but do you have a list available, or do you know of How can people find a great place to order, a nut tree that will be great for their zone and for their needs?
I think the most, the best list is one I mentioned earlier, www. chestnutgrowers. org. Dot org, so they'll, sell the trees as well as the nuts. Those are people, who have chestnut orchards and many of them sell trees as well as nuts. Yes. That's great. Okay, so we have an email from Jeff, from Iowa.
Has there been any news about the potential resistant native tree found in Maine last year? ? Yes. it's, it's, a common misconception that when a single tree is found surviving someplace, that it must have resistance to blight, but actually, more properly, one should call those trees blight free, because if someone has planted a tree, an American or a European, Both of which are susceptible to blight.
If they're planted outside the native range, where they're not exposed to blight, then they will survive pretty well if the soil and temperature are adequate. yes, the tree in Maine was blight free. I don't expect that anyone will ever find a truly blight resistant American chestnut, or blight resistant.
Even a European, but, blight free turn up every so often. interesting. But even, so what you're saying is we may get a resistant, a disease resistant tree, but it will probably be a hybrid. You really don't think There will be a seedling that will be born somewhere that will absolutely never get, these fungal diseases wherever you plant it.
There's no such thing. that's, yes, that's my opinion. I think, there certainly are Both European and American trees that have a little more resistance than you find in the average trees. But I don't think that's going to produce a tree that will be truly blight resistant. Okay, so now Nancy in London, Ontario.
So she writes, In fall 2015, I went looking for chestnuts and a large chestnut farmer told me that there was an infestation. Of worms in the nuts and he could not guarantee the nuts I bought from him. He said they would leave, they, they would leave them a few months to determine which of the nuts were affected and they would sell those for a proper price.
He says, I think he said the infestation would only get worse. So what is this worm problem?
[00:49:24] Chestnut Weevil Infestation
this is the bane of, almost all chestnut growers. The problem is that there are two species of weevil. In the United States. And those weevils, I think most people know what a bull weevil looks like.
It's a little creature with a very long nose. Those two species of weevils lay their eggs in, into the burr, into the nuts, and the, the eggs then are present in the nuts as they mature. Now, as far as the weevil is concerned, the process is that those nuts, sit on the tree. When they are ripe, the burrs open, the nuts fall to the ground, the eggs hatch.
Inside the nut, and the, the egg turns into a little larva, a little white worm, which eats its way out of the nut, goes down into the soil, and overwinters and comes out the next year as a weevil. So those little white worms are present in almost all of the places where people grow chestnuts, and have to be dealt with.
They, The easiest way, the method I use, is to harvest the nuts as soon as they're ripe, parboil them, Dry them off and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer. And in this way, I'm, keeping the larvae from developing. And, the nuts are fine and, we'll keep for a long time under those conditions.
There are some growers, like Empire Chestnut Company, which has a very good system of heat treating the nuts. They can be collected and heated to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, and then cooled down, and that will also kill the eggs. Those nuts then can be refrigerated and kept fairly, easily for a long time.
So actually, essentially, if you are eating nuts treated in that way, you're eating the little eggs, the little extra protein in your nut. It's a little extra protein. That's fine. Okay, we have a question from Russ, who's in New England. So he has three questions, they're all related.
[00:52:01] Planting and Caring for Chestnut Trees
any differences in planting and care techniques for American versus other species of chestnut tree?
Part two is, my impression is that any species of Castanea would not be a good choice for a street tree due to the prickly burrs, which could possibly hurt people, pets, bike tires, etc. Am I right or wrong on that assessment? And part three is how many trees should be planted and in what proximity to ensure good cross pollination.
Okay, let's start with the first one, differences in planting. if you're planting, if you're planting American chestnut trees, I'm assuming that you're planting them some, someplace outside of the native range where there's no chestnut blight disease. In that case, you want timber trees. So you could plant them relatively close together in rows as people plant pine trees in plantations.
But if you're planting an orchard, they will be hybrids. They won't be tall and straight. They'll be short, spreading trees. And the best way to plant them is about 30 feet apart. I think, that Many people are starting out with seedlings, planting them a little more closely than that, and then selecting the ones that are vigorous and grafting cultivars on top of them.
That's one way of starting an orchard. But, if you're buying grafted trees, then they should be planted about 30 feet apart. And, as far as planting them as street trees, I always tell people, no, they're not street trees, and you don't want one in your backyard. The, the burrs are have very sharp spines.
I just imagine small boys throwing them at each other. But, the other problem with chestnut trees around houses is that the flowers smell really awful. And I don't think many people would want them. very close to their houses. actually, I'm really glad you mentioned that because I know that, many of the listeners are like me.
we want to plant everything, right? And I think it's just, I think that's really good advice. You think very carefully where you're going to plant your chestnut. fruiting chestnut tree and making sure, I think that, Russ's question is such a good one about a street tree and, your answer is really good.
Think of the prickly burrs and think of the size of the tree and just find an appropriate location. yeah, even community orchards. I'm not sure, would it be a great choice? I guess if they have a far corner where, would you think it would be a good choice for a community orchard somewhere?
I think that would be fine if it was, not right in the middle of, housing development. Okay, perfect. Now we do have a couple more questions, but it's okay for us to go a couple of minutes over time. So I'm just going to go do two more questions here. Okay. and that's Eric from Colorado, and he says, I understand chestnut trees can be hard to transplant.
Any suggestions for hacks to avoid damaging tap roots? I was thinking about sowing them cardboard carpet tubes. Okay, chestnuts make taproots. if you're intending to start them from the nuts, the easiest way is to either have something like, I like his idea of cardboard carpet tubes. I've actually purchased, tubes, tube like plastic pots from a commercial source, and I've used those.
But the easiest way to, to have them growing in your greenhouse in the early spring is to plant them, in your, potting mix in a container that's open on the bottom and sitting on, a screened, device. Let's see. I think it's called hardware cloth. It's, a mesh that's not terribly dense, and I have that nailed into a frame so that the pots are sitting on that.
When the roots grow out the bottom, they grow through this hardware cloth into the open air. And they're pruned off. by growing them this way, you end up with a very dense, fibrous root system, which transplants quite well. it's a system that, I've, recommended to a number of people and they've adapted it.
But the other thing I want to make sure people know about is that if you're then planting your trees outdoors, you will have to remember that the nut which is still attached to the root system Needs to be removed. If you leave that nut on the root of the tree, when you plant it out, you'll come back in a couple of days and find that all of the creatures of the forest have discovered them and pulled them up to get to the nuts.
And that's a mistake I made about 50 years ago. And I learned very quickly that was, important. So it's a mistake you never made again. That's right. It's funny because the last question I have is from Pam. She doesn't say where she's from, but she was responding to Eric's question. She said, I grew chestnut trees in drink cups and transplanted them out with no problem until the gophers discovered them and then it was game over.
Yes, There are directions on our website that I've written up. That people can look at for starting chestnuts from seeds, for growing chestnut trees, and there's information about chestnuts as a timber tree and as an orchard tree. So I'd suggest that people who want that kind of information go to ct.
gov. That's Connecticut government. ct. gov. G O V slash C A E S for Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. And once you're on the website ct. gov slash C A E S Up in the right hand corner, it says search. And if you type in chestnuts, you'll find all of my fact sheets about how to grow chestnuts from nuts, how to deal with them in the orchard, and some information about the trees themselves.
Oh, that would be fantastic to get that link onto our Facebook, on the Orchard People Facebook page. We have a posting where we talk about this show, and there's room for discussion. Dr. Sandy, would you be okay putting that link right on to the discussion? Absolutely. And if there's any other questions, can people post them and you'll give them a little answer on that page?
Sure.
[00:59:53] Conclusion and Final Thoughts
folks who are listening, sadly, this, show has, come to a, the end, believe it or not. This show always goes so quickly. It's crazy. But anyways, go to the Orchard People Facebook page and, search under Episode 16 and you'll find this, the posting, and you can ask further questions.
We can continue the conversation. But in the meantime, Dr. Sandy, thank you so much for coming on the show today. You're very welcome. I'm wishing you a wonderful new year, lots of great research, lots of great breeding for your trees. And, I hope we'll speak to you again one day. That'd be fine. Okay, thanks.
Bye bye. for the listeners, remember to go to Orchard People's Facebook page, search for Urban Forestry Radio, and you'll find the post about chestnuts. And you can share your questions and comments. But for now, the Urban Forestry Radio Show has come to an end, and I really appreciate both of my guests coming on the show today.
We have lots more great interviews coming up next month, so be sure to tune in again. The Urban Forestry Radio Show runs on the last It's Tuesday of every month at 1 p. m. Eastern on realityradio101. com. Now if you missed part of this show, you want to listen back, just go to orchardpeople. com slash network.
And while you're there, you can listen to the podcast, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter. which is packed with great information about fruit trees, forest gardens, permaculture, and more. And folks, did you enjoy the show? I really hope you did. And I would love it if you like the show and if you like the work we do, go to Facebook, to Orchard People's Facebook page, and like us.
You can also follow me on Twitter and my Twitter address is at urbanfruittrees. com. You're listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show. I'm Susan Poizner from the fruit tree care training website orchardpeople. com and I really look forward to seeing you on the radio again next month.
You've been listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show on Reality Radio 101. To learn more about the show and to download the podcast where I cover lots more great topics you can visit orchardpeople. com slash podcast. This show is broadcast live on the last Tuesday of every month, and each time I have great new guests talking to me about fruit trees, food forests, and arboriculture.
If you're interested in learning more about growing your own fruit trees, or just about living a more sustainable life, Go to OrchardPeople. com and sign up for my information packed monthly newsletter. If you like this show, please do like our Orchard People Facebook page. You can also follow me on Twitter at Urban Fruit Trees.
Thank you so much for tuning in. It's been wonderful to have you as a listener, and I hope to see you again next time.
Thank you for listening to the Urban Forestry Radio Show with your host Susan Poizner, right here on Reality Radio 101.