butternut tree nuts? - help us save the trees

[hoppy]

I have a request of you wonderful folks. my husband (we live in Maine) has recently become interested in growing his own trees. obviously since trees take so long to grow this isn't really for him, but for future generations. He has planted and grown from seed black walnuts, horse chestnut and american chestnuts. he is looking for butternut tree seeds (aka white walnuts)that have fallen to the ground. he will use these to plant seeds and grow new trees. there is a fungus in butternuts that is now killing butternuts throughout much of maine and they are endangered and he hopes to get some that are resistant to the disease. the trees that have this, do not produce seeds.
for more information here is a link, it has lots of pictures of the trees and the seeds so you will know if you have one of these or not.
http://www.treetopics.com/juglans_cinerea/index.htm
I am willing to pay you postage if you are not close by and some for your time to collect these if you have them on your property.
I am also willing to swap tree nut from trees we have on our property, currently collected are beech and oak.

 

[WingingIt]

I wish I had some, I'd send them to you. I hope you can find someone with some, I think it's a great thing your DH is doing.

 

[hoosier]

I think it is great that you are helping to preserve the trees for the future. I wish I had butternuts on my place to send to you. There is a state tree nursery near us, but I don't remember ever seeing butternut trees for sale.
I had two hickory trees that failed to leaf out last year. I am concerned about the rest of them. I think they are related to butternuts. hmmm...

 

[hoppy]

thanks, i hope we can get some too especially more local to our area as they are more likely to be disease resistant. I have a friend that has the trees but they have the disease and have no nuts.

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
I'm not sure if they are related but saving different tree species is important. we don't have much hickory in maine at all.
I have a great book called "forest Trees of Maine" put out by the dept of conservation. it's very informative.

 

[Bama chick]

hoppy,
I have a few butternut trees but they have not started bearing. I ordered my trees from www.grimonut.com. They are a company in Ontario. At the top of their home page there is a tab marked "nut clubs". They have clubs in both the US and Canada. Maybe you can contact someone from one of the clubs to get some nuts. I have talked to the folks at Grimo and they are very nice and helpful. I know ya'll wanted to "hatch" them yourselves but they also offer seedlings at a low cost. Some different varities may be more resistant to diseases. I hope that helps. Butternuts are kinda scarce.

Lisa

 

[StupidBird]

I remember these being every where when I was little - delicious nuts if I could beat the squirrels. Sadly, more and more species are biting the dust due to insects/diseases imported by human activity and habitat destruction. The American chestnut. Butternut. Beechnut. Chinquapins. Groves and groves of native hazelnut.

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
that is an awesome site, I found lots of links so hopefully will be able to find some nuts ( or trees)

 

[woodmort]

A few years ago I could have helped but, unfortunately, the fungus killed all my butternut trees as well.

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
see, doesn't that just suck. I hope we can really get some going that are resistant. I know the black walnut is and it's related.