Shop for wild-type American Chestnut trees

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American Chestnut History

For millennia, billions of chestnut trees reigned over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands until succumbing to a lethal disease known as the chestnut blight (caused by an invasive fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica) during the first half of the 20th century. This blight has been called the greatest ecological disaster to strike U.S. forests in recorded history.

This icon of America’s forests had many exceptional qualities: environmental, economic, and cultural. The American chestnut tree has a broad, protective canopy, grows quickly, and supplies straight-grained rot-resistant lumber. The wood is hard, light in color, and well-suited to furniture and building materials; chestnut lumber was a vital part of the economy generating products from cradles to coffins. These trees annually produced an abundant and nutritious food source for people, deer, bears, turkeys, and many other animals—mature trees produced up to 6,000 nuts each year. American Chestnuts are healthy, and delicious and can be used to make a range of food products.

Your Opportunity to Buy 100% American Chestnut Trees and Nuts

Now, you have the opportunity to acquire real wild-type American chestnut trees from nuts hand-gathered from mature trees in one of America's largest and highest-quality conservation orchards. Many of the trees were deliberately inoculated with three versions of the chestnut blight. Those that survived and produced nuts for your seedlings seem especially hearty. These are 100% American chestnut trees, and many are over 30 years old. Like all wild American chestnut trees, these seedlings are not immune to blight, but they were grown from nuts harvested from some of the best mother trees in America.

Jeff Zarnowski, author of the “Hazelnut and Chestnut Handbook” and owner of Z’s Nutty Ridge, and his hand-picked crew recently took over care of this 350-tree American chestnut orchard. We are delighted to offer you, for the first time, wild-type American chestnut seedlings carefully grown in Z Nutty Ridge’s greenhouse. All of these parent trees have been full-genome sequenced and growth and health data is regularly collected.

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Planting & Care

Be sure to plant your trees within a few days of receiving them. If immediate planting isn’t possible, follow our guidelines to keep them healthy until you can.

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Z's Nutty Ridge

Jeff Zarnowski, author of the Hazelnut and Chestnut Handbook and owner of Z’s Nutty Ridge, and his hand-picked crew recently took over care of a 350-tree American chestnut orchard. We are delighted to offer you, for the first time, wild-type American chestnut seedlings carefully grown in Z Nutty Ridge’s greenhouse. All of these parent trees have been full-genome sequenced and growth and health data is regularly collected. This is your chance to celebrate the history of this iconic tree while contributing to its eventual restoration.