[MassChestnutOrchards] Striking out

[Rufin Van Bossuyt]

Not having much luck this year. I was planning to pollinate a tree in Carver and one at Quabbin reservoir. I had an okay from NSTAR to help with the Carver tree. Then they had to decline as twelve electric circuits had to be trimmed on a priority basis. I went to the tree yesterday with a stepladder and pole to pull limbs down. Almost all of the flowers were at the crown and I hadn't been sure that I could have reached them from the bucket truck. Only a few of the flowers were lower and I could not reach them. Live and dead limbs are in the crown and large dead areas are along the trunk. Not sure if the limbs or tree would have lived through harvest if pollinated.
Today I went out to Quabbin ready to bag a tree. The tree is at the side of one of the gravel roads. It has no blight. It had been shaded and was not flowering. The DCR staff cut the shading trees down and last year it flowered and it was pollinated but only provided 32 nuts.
Today I had Bill Davis of MA Fish and Wildlife with me, Rick Farrell, area Arborist for National Grid, and a Bucket truck and two man crew provided by National Grid. As we approached the tree I could see a lot of catkins and it was ready for bagging. However; as I went up in the bucket I wasn't seeing any female flowers. I found only 3 female flowers.The new growth was lush and about two feet long. The leaves were dark green. Still no blight.
Bill and I then drove down to the tree we pollinated twice before. The crown is dead and lower branches had a few flowers. The seedling nearby is still alive.
Bill and I looked at a tree near the shore of the Wachusett Reservoir that is tall but was shaded until DCR staff cut down the shading trees a few years ago. It now had a few flowers. No blight. 

Maybe next year will be better. We take two steps ahead and fall back one but we overall make progress.

Rufin
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