Last spring our chestnut orchard was inoculated with both a strong and a weak strain of chestnut blight to test for blight resistance. In the fall, the trees were evaluated and the trees with the least resistance were cut down and burned. Two weeks ago, members of the American Chestnut Foundation again came and evaluated the trees. They were very impressed with the blight resistance that the trees in our orchard exhibited. Over all, the trees exhibited much more blight resistance than what the trees in other orchards have exhibited. At this point, only about half of the 500 chestnut trees in our orchard have been inoculated with the blight. The rest will be inoculated next spring. Because this is a breeding orchard, only the best trees will be kept. In the end, only about 30 trees will remain of the 500 trees that were planted.

Personnel from the American Chestnut Foundation evaluating the chestnut trees for blight resistance.