[MassChestnutOrchards] Tree in Conway

[Yvonne Federowicz]

Hi Brian, sounds like a wonderful tree!

We had hoped for more western MA/higher elevation mother trees, I believe;
Charlotte can say for sure.

Re. using it this year:  are the male catkins bushing out yet? If they are
far along, it¹s too late to bag this year.  You can see some good pictures
of the stages at:

http://www.acffarms.org/pollination/pollination.html

It¹s probably too late in the year to start though for 2009, although
perhaps the higher trees are behind.  Sounds like getting access for next
year might be a very worthwhile project in any event.




On 7/8/09 10:53 AM, "Brian Clark" <brianeclark at hughes.net> wrote:

> I looked at a tree about 2 miles from the center of Conway last night
> (attached pictures).  The owner called a couple days ago, referred by a local
> state forester.  The tree is on top of a hill that was heavily logged about 2
> years ago.  My GPS indicated about 885 ft elevation.  It is 8" DBH and about
> 45-50' tall, with heavy blossoms in the crown (all above 30' unfortunately)
> and quite a bit of old mast on the ground.  I could not find any sign of
> blight. I did not find any indication of viable nuts in the mast I examined
> but only looked at a dozen or so - a thunderstorm was moving in.  Owner said
> the tree has had a lot of burs the last 2-3 years since he found it.  There
> was what appeared to be a seedling (3-4' tall) about 30 feet away and a small
> tree (2-3" diameter) at another spot 30-40 feet away (maybe sprout, but not
> obvious) - no blight evident in these either.
> 
> We have apple picking ladders up to 24' tall, but I don't think these would
> work here, even reaching from the top with a hook as the tree doesn't have any
> branches in the middle (below the crown) to set a ladder into to hold it away
> from the trunk far enough to be able to reach up into the edges of the crown.
> By the way - I can provide one of these ladders if there are other places they
> would work out - they are quite light (about 20 lbs) with long spikes on the
> bottom (drive into ground for stability) and can be set into fairly small
> limbs by an experienced user.  It does take some skill and nerve to use these
> around the edge of a big tree as they must be set close to vertical when the
> supporting branches are small.
> 
> The woods in the area (same owner) are being logged now (thinning under forest
> management plan guidance) and access to the tree was about a mile in from town
> road, mostly uphill on a logging road.  The road is being used by heavy
> logging equipment now so most of the way to the tree was quite wide and
> driveable although greasy due to rain earlier in the day.  I had no trouble in
> my 4 wheel drive pickup and I think a 2 wheel drive with good ground clearance
> could make it in dry conditions.  However the last couple hundred yards is a
> branch off the main logging road, up a steep hill and the brush has grown in
> some since it was used a couple years ago to log the top of the hill. The
> owner is very interested/supportive and suggested doing some road improvement
> if needed.  I have not had any experience with bucket trucks so don't know if
> the hill was too steep or not.  I currently don't have any contacts for a
> bucket truck either.
> 
> The GPS coordinates for the tree are: 42 31.020, 72 41.186 and the owner is
> Jack Lochhead, 130 Reedsbridge Rd., Conway.
> 
> I have more, higher resolution pictures I can send to individuals on request.
> I also collected some leaves, a small branch and burs.  Is this something we
> are interested to pursue for this year (or next)?
> 
> 
> Brian Clark
> 42B Clark Rd.
> Ashfield, MA 01330
> 413-625-2791, cell 507-269-4249
> brianeclark at hughes.net
> www.applevalleyapples.com <http://www.applevalleyapples.com/>
> 
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