here is the history on the Dunstan:
In the early 1950s, James Carpentar of Salem, Ohio, discovered a large living American chestnut in a grove of dead and dying trees. A member of the Northern Nut Growers Association, Carpentar was very impressed with the tree as it showed no evidence of blight infection. Over the next several years, he inoculated the tree with active blight spores and mycelia, but failed to induce any infection in the tree.
Carpentar sent budwood to Dr. Robert T. Dunstan, a fellow member of NNGA and well-known plant breeder in Greensboro, N.C. Dunstan grafted the scions onto chestnut rootstock and the trees grew well. He cross-pollinated the American grafts with a mixture of 3 superior USDA released Chinese chestnut selections: "Kuling," "Meiling," and "Nanking."
In 1962, seedling trees from the first cross began to bear. Selecting the individuals with the most hybrid characteristics, Dr. Dunstan crossed them back to the American and Chinese parent trees. The resulting second generation was moved to Alachua in north central Florida, on our nursery property, where the trees have been growing and bearing every year for almost 50 years!
In 1984 we planted a second grove of 500 trees using both grafts and seedling Dunstans, and many are now over 50' tall and 12-16" in diameter. These Dunstan Hybrid Chestnuts show a combination of American and Chinese traits. They are healthy, vigorous, and bear heavily every year. We have chosen several cultivars that have the very best combination of nut and tree characteristics. The Dunstan Chestnuts are the first chestnuts to ever receive U.S. Plant Patents.
The blight-resistant Dunstan Chestnuts make possible the re-establishment of chestnut trees and chestnut orchards in America.
RESISTANT TO CHESTNUT BLIGHT
There has not been a single reported instance of Dunstan Chestnuts dying of blight infection in over 30 years. This includes research and breeding programs as well as the many other locations where the Dunstan Chestnuts have been grown throughout the nation.
Dunstan Chestnuts have been tested for resistance by inoculation with blight. No significant canker formation was observed for 4 years. Limited growth of the blight cankers was seen on only a few trees and, in most cases, the inoculation wound healed completely.
Reports from growers at over 2,000 locations around the U.S., from New England to Michigan, south to Florida and Texas and the Pacific Coast have shown that the Dunstan Chestnuts have excellent survival, growth and nut production in a variety of climates, from Zones 4-9.
Many chestnuts sold in the U.S. are not blight resistant, such as seedling American chestnuts, or European x Japanese hybrids. Blight resistance is extremely important, even in areas that currently do not have blight. Accidental outbreak can destroy susceptible trees. In blighted areas (most of the U.S.), only blight-resistant trees will produce.
From one of their customers:
"We planted 62 Dunstan Chestnuts in 2000, along with 800 Collosal, Marigoule and Maraval chestnuts at our farm in northern Connecticut. We are surrounded by American chestnuts in the nearby forests, both dead trees and suckers resprouting from the roots, so there is a lot of blight. All 800 of the other chestnuts have died, but we have not lost a single Dunstan Chestnut. This year (2010) we harvested 400 lbs of nuts from the 62 Dunstan trees. They produce beautiful, mostly large nuts."
Bruce Luginbuhl, Little Pops Popcorn, Ellington, CT
Not that anyone should care, but I was born and raised in Salem Ohio.
