[MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news

Tue Sep 1 11:32:34 EDT 2009

Fred,

Ok, so ideally it's better not to reuse the BC3 orchard land for the seed 
orchard.  I do have another field, larger than the fenced one, that would 
not be hard to irrigate if we chose to.  Sounds like I should focus my 
efforts on prepping that field rather than expanding the BC3 orchard area. 
Thanks for helping me think through these options .
John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Hebard" <Fred at acf.org>
To: <masschestnutorchards at masschestnut.org>
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: [MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news

John,

The most important thing you have in that orchard right now are the
BC3s.  Eventually, they would have to be removed when the orchard
starts coming into production, but you need to be able to count on
them for 5-10 years after selection, and ideally it would be handy to
have them around longer than that.  For that reason, it is better not
to reuse land if possible.  Once your chapter starts to generate B3-
F2s, the nuts should prompt some people to offer land for planting.
Are there other parcels near that orchard that might serve for B3-F2s?

Our B3-F2 orchards are not irrigated, although they're fenced to
exclude cattle.  We don't have much of a deer problem, but there is
some deer browse.  Our care of older backcross orchards is minimal.
We only mow B2s, but still weed, mow and fertilize B3s since we are
still gathering seeds from them.

Fred

Frederick V. Hebard, PhD
Staff Pathologist, Meadowview Research Farms
American Chestnut Foundation
14005 Glenbrook Ave.
Meadowview, VA 24361

Email: Fred at acf.org
Web: http://www.acffarms.org
Phone: (276) 944-4631
Fax: (276) 944-0934

On Aug 31, 2009, at 7:26 PM, j.johnmeiklejohn at comcast.net wrote:

> Fred,
>
>
> Thank you for clarifying the space required for a seed orchard.
> This fenced in area once fully cleared will have more than the 2/3
> acre  needed.  It is irrigated, as well as fenced, and slopes to
> the south.  I expect to have maybe 7-10 BC3s survive the
> innoculation process out of the 175 that are in the orchard now.
> My question to you is:  Will these remaining trees pose an obstacle
> or not to having a seed orchard replace this BC3 orchard?
>
>
> Gratefully,
>
> John
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fred Hebard" <Fred at acf.org>
> To: masschestnutorchards at masschestnut.org
> Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 5:33:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news
>
> John,
>
> You need room for 20 plots of 38' x 38', or 2/3 of an acre.  An acre
> is 43560 sq feet, but most plots aren't even in shape.  You also need
> a 30-60' border, especially on the south side, to get full sunlight.
>
> Fred
>
> On Aug 31, 2009, at 12:36 PM, j.johnmeiklejohn at comcast.net wrote:
>
> > Hi Kendra,
> >
> > Thanks for getting back to me on this important issue.  To be
> > absolutely certain, I would like a 2nd opinion from Fred or
> > Charlotte on this issue of seed orchard block size as there is no
> > purpose in my expanding the cleared area of the fenced breeding
> > orchard if it won't meet the minimum requirement on size for a seed
> > orchard.
> >
> >
> > John Meiklejohn
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kendra Gurney" <kendra at acf.org>
> > To: masschestnutorchards at masschestnut.org
> > Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 11:36:46 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> Eastern
> > Subject: Re: [MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news
> >
> >
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> > Hi John –
> >
> >
> > To answer your question on seed orchard block size, you need one
> > acre of space.  I’d invite Fred or Sara to chime in here if there
> > may be room to plant a block in ¾ of an acre, but I believe with
> > the tight spacing there is less “wiggle room” on the size than
> > there is for a breeding orchard.
> >
> >
> > Kendra
> >
> >
> > From: masschestnutorchards-bounces at masschestnut.org
> > [mailto:masschestnutorchards-bounces at masschestnut.org] On Behalf Of
> > John Meiklejohn
> > Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 11:58 AM
> > To: masschestnutorchards at masschestnut.org
> > Subject: [MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news
> >
> >
> > Jamie & John Mirick:
> >
> >
> > Re:  developing a conservation easement for the Granville ACF
> orchard
> >
> >
> > I was glad to see John has started the process of developing a
> > template for easement agreements.  He and I had talked at past mtgs
> > about collaborating on this but we had not actively connected on it.
> >
> >
> > Here is the status on my end for developing an easement agreement
> > for the Granville orchard.  With help from a friend I am slowly
> > clearing the trees and brush from the remainder of the current
> > fenced orchard area to create a space that will be about 3/4 of an
> > acre.  My understanding is that for BC3F2 orchards we want a
> > minimum of 3/4 acre plots [please confirm that I'm correct here].
> > Once the new area is cleared the plantable area within the fence
> > will be .70 to .75 of an acre based on my recent rough
> > measurement.  If this is too small for a BC3F2 orchard plot then I
> > need to know and will stop the work of expanding this plot.  Also,
> > if the plot is not large enough for the next generation then there
> > is little reason to create an easement unless we want to protect
> > the 5-10 BC3 trees that will hopefully survive the innoculation
> > process. [This BC3 orchard should be ready for innoculation next
> > year.]
> >
> >
> > Since I'm determined to use a portion of our land for a TACF-MA
> > BC3F2 plot I've measured another field that is at least .75 of an
> > acre.  That too will take a bit of clean up to be ready for
> > planting.  It is not fenced but could be.
> >
> >
> > I'd prefer to use the first field for the conservation easement
> > with TACF-MA because it is set to one side of our main acreage and
> > it already has drip irrigation installed.
> >
> >
> > Could one of you or Charlotte or Fred confirm for me that the plots
> > for BC3F2 nuts must be of a certain minimum size.  Before I proceed
> > with John on the conservation easement I want to be certain that I
> > have chosen an appropriate area for the easement and for the next
> > generation planting.
> >
> >
> > On a different subject, I went up to the Granville State Forest
> > last weekend to check on the Am. Chestnut that the State Forester
> > had informed us about.  The tree is about 8"dbh, shows no signs of
> > disease on the main trunk, possible disease presence on an upper
> > branch, and about 20-30 burrs.  It would be accessible to a
> > smallish bucket truck in dryer weather.  It's about 50 ft down a
> > woods road off a main road through the Granville SF.
> >
> >
> > John Meiklejohn
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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