As many here know, this past September as part of a family vacation, my family and I traveled to Virginia Tech. There we participated in the harvest of potentially blight resistant, pure American chestnuts. For our efforts, we were given a sack full of unopened burrs. From the instant those burrs came into my possession, our vacation became ruled by a single minded focus on protecting the seeds contained in those burrs. Even while touring Joel Salatin's Polyface farm, my mind never strayed very far from their safety. While climbing Chimney Rock, my mind frequently turned to the safety of my seeds. Like a man possessed, I guarded them.
Once home, the process began to stimulate the burrs to open. They were kept dark, in a large feed sack along with a damp cloth to increase the humidity. As the burrs opened, the seeds were removed, placed in dampened peat moss inside of perforated plastic baggies and put in the bottom of our fridge. Every Sunday from then till recently, each bag was pulled out, opened for a moment to facilitate air exchange, resealed and returned to the fridge.
Along about 11-1-12, Ms. Lucille Griffin who is the president of the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation sent a letter stating that after giving out seeds to all cooperating growers, she had some left over and asked if they could be of use to me. I lunged at the opportunity to increase our seed bank. Sometime around the 1st of December, 83 additional seeds were received in the mail. Coupled with the 106 we had de-burred earlier in the year, we had 189 seeds in cold stratification.
On about 1-1-13, all then-available 3-gallon pots were filled with Mel's mix and in each pot, a single seed was placed. Forty-eight all total were potted up on that first day and placed outdoors on the north side of our house to allow them to germinate on their own schedule. Twenty-four more were potted up today for a total of 72 so far.
Earlier today, while out feeding the geese, I noticed that the superior surface of one of the seeds had been exposed by the massive amount of recent rain we've received. The seed was gently extracted. My heart swelled with fatherly pride upon seeing a radicle less than an inch long had declared that a potential life has been realized.
The plan is to continue to pot up each seed individually until all have a unique home. There they will be allowed to grow for at least a year under protected cultivation. After they are deemed ready to transplant, they will each be put into their permanent home with every ounce of protection that my wallet and back can provide.
This thread will chronicle the lives of these 189 seeds wherever that may lead.