I brought a chestnut seedling with me when I bailed from South Jersey back in '92. Found it along a parallel dirt road to the Garden State Parkway near the Tuckahoe Inn, growing beneath a well established tree. Probably a hybrid. I picked up a few more seedlings locally that are Chinese and again, what appear to be hybrids.
Back in Jersey, my G Grandfather planted an American variety in his yard about a hundred years ago but didn't have a cross pollinator. It has suffered the blight all these years but keeps coming up from its rootstock. Some years ago, a cousin was traveling through this area and made a stopover. I compelled him to take a seedling back east to be a crosspollinator for Pops tree. I expect to get some viable hybrid nuts any year now, 50/50 at least, once the seedling matures to be a crosspollinator.
They've done some good work trying to back cross for immunity from the blight but it's time consuming....lifetime consuming. Seven to ten years for a tree to reach maturity, then check its resistance, then breed for the American characteristics, over and over. Gene splicing would git her done in no time. There may be a battle brewing there.
From what I understand, the American variety has the smallest nuts though the sweetest. I have one known Chinese tree. The nuts are large, no fuzz on the nut shell, glossy dark brown almost black like a Buckeye, but are starchy when eaten raw. My hybrids are smaller, lighter in color with a bit of fuzz on the nut shell and are sweeter when eaten raw. Some of these hybrids show some blight from time to time, a dead branch here and there but they continue to thrive and produce. However, their growth characteristics and leaves are more like the Asian and European varieties than the American. Genetic testing would tell exactly what I have........ain't happening....lol
