Inoculation at Fried Orchard June 14 – Volunteers Needed

Hi Chestnutners,

I just wanted to let you all know that we will be inoculating the Fried Orchard this Thursday, so if anyone is interested in joining us, you would certainly be welcome. Obviously if you can’t make it, especially on short notice, it’s no problem, We expect it to be an easy day.

The Fried Orchard is just west of C’ville, less than a half hour away. We are planning to meet at the parking area across from the Piedmont store at 9:00 AM, we will then carpool to the site together.

At the orchard, we will inoculate each of the backcross trees with two strains of the blight fungus. By inoculating the trees, we are able to assess which backcross trees cary the genes for resistance to chestnut blight and which trees are susceptible. In a year from now we will evaluate the blight cankers that form and select the best trees to keep in the chapter breeding program.

This is a crucial step in the backcross breeding program. We literally plant tens of thousands of trees throughout the TACF breeding program, but only select the few trees that actually show decent levels of blight resistance, as well as decent American chestnut traits.

If you’re interested in helping with this valuable and interesting part of the process, meet us at the Piedmont store at 9:00 this coming Thursday.

Bring water, snacks, lunch and dress for the weather.

Here’s the directions:

Piedmont Store

2958 Browns Gap Turnpike

Crozet, VA 22932

Hope to see many of you there!

____________________________________________

Thomas McNeill Saielli

Mid-Atlantic Regional Science Coordinator

The American Chestnut Foundation

900 Natural Resources Dr

Charlottesville, VA 22903

Tel: 828-450-9100

tom.saielli@acf.org

www.tacf.org